Domestic Psychology

method to my holiday madness

// November 11th, 2011 // 4 Comments » // flickr, holidays

Dear relatives who have finished all of your Christmas shopping except for my children,

I will send you the requested list of ideas. Making that list requires that I first plan our shopping list. Before I can sit down and plan all that shopping, I have to plan our Christmas Card picture. Deciding that picture has to happen before Thanksgiving, when the picture will be taken. That means that I will compose my master list and your micro lists in less than two weeks. You will still be able to have ALL your shopping completed by Thanksgiving. Remain calm. I will BEGIN my shopping, after the card picture is completed.

In the meantime, a review of past card picture triumphs and failures:

Christmas wish list for bloggers

// December 20th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // holidays, people

In no particular order, I wish:

KA could see in the mirror the beauty that everyone sees when they look at her.
MW would get the job of her dreams.
TS could be with her two and four legged loved ones together under one roof.
P and her family to have a happy, healthy new year.
KG could have a moment of sheer, unadulterated bliss.
BP would get recognized for her ability to tell the stories of the living and the formerly living.
EV could find a cure.
DM would finish the playhouse.

Okay, maybe that last one was a little bit selfish.

Christmas Card 2010

// December 13th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // flickr, holidays

2009, 2008, 2007, 2006 & 2005 Christmas Cards

Merry Christmas!

// December 25th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // flickr, holidays

A song by Amy

// December 24th, 2009 // No Comments » // holidays, kid quotes, music

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, “a sister who loves me.”
On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, “two Germend Sheperds.”
On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, “three loving brothers.”
On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, “Evan who is 4.”
On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, “five pets to feed.”
On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, “six teddy bears.”
On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, “me who is 7 years old.”

“I only did seven ’cause I’m just seven.”

failure to communicate

// December 24th, 2009 // No Comments » // holidays, parenting

Amy spent the entire morning drawing pictures and writing love notes to the shelf elf. “He’s going to take them all back to the North Pole tonight.” I suggested that the elf had plenty and perhaps she should do art for other people. “I’m going to make enough pictures for the shelf elf to take back and give ALL the elves!”

letters to Santa 2009

// December 15th, 2009 // 5 Comments » // holidays, kid quotes

Despite my attempts to avoid letters to Santa this year, Amy took it upon herself to leave notes out from herself and Evan. Evan’s is fairly easy, although I am perplexed why a child who has never seen a batman movie or cartoon would suddenly focus on Batman. Figurines are priced and built for adults, but I think Santa can find a way to satisfy the request. Amy’s note makes me twitch.

“Amy, we already have two dogs.”
“They are DOGS. I want a PUPPY.”
“Puppies grow up to be dogs and we don’t need three dogs.”
<- cue giant crocodile tears ->

Is there a puppy club that allows members to “borrow” puppies for a few hours each week?

Christmas Card 2009

// December 14th, 2009 // 4 Comments » // flickr, holidays

Our 2009 Christmas Card as photographed by the lovely and talented Kristyk.
previous cards: 2008 2007 2006 2005

Christmas Movie Marathon

// December 12th, 2009 // No Comments » // holidays, movies

While watching the Rankin/Bass channel aka ABC Family this week, I started mentally composing a list of my favorite Christmas movies. In no particular order, I like to wrap, craft and snuggle while watching:
Elf
The Santa Claus 1 & 2 (not 3)
Die Hard
A Christmas Story
Mixed Nuts
Fitzwilly
While You Were Sleeping
Christmas Vacation
Scrooged
The Homecoming
Auntie Mame – original version
How the Grinch stole Christmas – animated version
The Nightmare before Christmas – which is more Halloween than Christmas
Gremlins – again, more Halloween than Christmas

Also:
Home for the Holidays – even though it is technically a Thanksgiving movie

Related: Halloween movies

good idea at the time

// December 11th, 2009 // No Comments » // holidays, travel

After seeing the umpteenth car with reindeer antlers, I suggested that we Griswald our van with an old, ratty, artificial tree. What Doug heard me say, was “Decorate the car for the crazy wife.” What he should have heard, was “Let’s weigh down the mileage on the car with bald tires and broken tie rods.” A three dollar yard sale tree was quickly found and attached to the top of the van.

The first problem was the unexpected monsoon winds that wreaked havoc for 2 days in Knoxville. Trees down, power outages and reports of holiday decorations flying through the air should have been a warning that the tree was a bad idea. Instead, we realized there was a problem when a 40 mph gust hit the van while it was flying down the Interstate. If driving the van that day was anything like navigating a sailboat in an ocean storm, I think I’ll stay on land. I apologize to all the other drivers on the road who couldn’t understand why I was driving so slow on one of Knoxville’s raceways. If I had gone the usual speed, you would have had a tree on your windshield or I would have been in a floating car. Neither would have ended well.

The second problem was that I am not very bright. The proof of this is that while taking Amy to an eye doctor appointment, I haplessly pulled into a parking garage. Immediately, I wondered what was causing the strange noise. As quickly as I asked myself the source of the noise, I realized that everyone else in the garage was staring at me. I was making the noise. Well, not me personally, but the tree on top of the van that was dragging on every single support beam. It was too late to escape the garage, so I parked as quickly as I could and checked the tree for damage. None. That u-g-l-y tree was still firmly attached to the car.

Although I am now hyper sensitive to the weather, car’s speed and overhead clearance, I do enjoy not having to make a mental note of my chosen parking space. That tree on top of the van is more effective than any antennae topper.