week ending Dec 23, 2007:

Tasting cookies they made themselves


























Week ending December 23, 2007: This week I’d like to start off with a heartfelt apology to my parents for all the times when I was a kid and I said “He’s on my side!”, “He’s touching me!”, “He’s looking at me!” (in reference to my little brother, of course). I hesitate to even bring it up since many people have real problems during this holiday season and we are so generously blessed, but man the kids squabbling is annoying! It used to be that their fights were about problems that were solvable like they both wanted the green Happy-Meal toy and I’d find some alternative that would satisfy them, but the fights lately aren’t about anything and have no end (save for the rare extreme when I put them in separate rooms). They aren’t bad fights and no one is in danger or even doing anything that is really wrong except fraying my already jangled nerves as we scramble to get ready for Christmas. Maybe I should have just written about all the joy we’ve had this week making cookies, going to the Christmas party at school, going to the Bounce Zone and making Christmas trees out of an ice cream cone decorated with green icing with various colorful candies stuck on, going to Lights on the Bay (3rd annual visit!), etc. But, I’ve been so busy this week that I only notice the kids when they are doing something joyful or fighting, so that our week feels like it has been one long grouch-fest punctuated by moments of joy. I was listening to the kids’ latest argument-turned-screaming-match and I had a sudden clear image of my brother and me riding in the back of my parents’ station wagon. In the back seat we each had our own space conveniently and visibly divided by the seam of the seat. It was decided that if one of us intentionally crossed over the line in the other’s territory, the other had the God-given right to whack the intruding appendage as hard as we could, and thus we developed a back-seat version of the arcade game Whack-A-Mole. We’d each gradually ease a finger toward and then over the line until the other noticed and then we’d try to pull away before WHACK! the other came crashing down with a fist. Of course if one of us actually got whacked we’d wail and I remember my Dad in the driver’s seat getting so frustrated that while keeping his eyes on the road he swung his arm about the back seat trying to cuff one of us. It was with this memory that I realized that Casey and I have about 14 years of this bickening-for-no-reason to look forward to. I guess it is something I’ll adapt to in time. When the kids were first born I was pretty unhappy about being thrown up on and cleaning up poo, but now those kinds of things are par for the course. I guess I’m looking forward to a little holiday magic. Here’s wishing you peace and good will this Christmas, I know I could use some!