Domestic Psychology

Saturday night at the Cove

// December 27th, 2008 // No Comments » // flickr, holidays, local

How I spent December 26th

// December 26th, 2008 // 3 Comments » // flickr, me

Christmas 2008

// December 25th, 2008 // 2 Comments » // flickr, holidays

shopping assistant

// December 24th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // holidays, me, relatives, sandwich generation, shops

Grandaddy: “I’m at the bookstore and I need to find something for your mother.”
Me: “Do you want to give her a book, music or coffee?”
Grandaddy: “I want to get a CD and one book.”
Me: “Okay. Walk to the music area and find the pop section”
Grandaddy: “Found it.”
Me: “Look for Jack Johnson or Josh Groban or Jason Mraz or . . . ”
Grandaddy: “That’s too many choices, just tell me what to get.”
Me: “Get the CD with a cute guy on the cover.”
Grandaddy: “Done. Now I need to know what book to get.”
Me: “Okay. Walk to the just released paperback section.”
Grandaddy: “Found it.”
Me: “Look for a book with a couple on the cover who have the wind blowing their hair.”
Grandaddy: “Done. Thanks.”
Me: “No problem. Need anything else?”
Grandaddy: “Nope. I’ve got from here.”

Fifteen minutes later he dropped off the bag of purchases so that I could wrap them.

waiting is hard

// December 23rd, 2008 // 2 Comments » // holidays, parenting

One of the children who is old enough to know better went to bed at 8:30 tonight. Earlier than his school night bedtime, during his winter break, without prompting, he tucked himself in bed. Doug and I quizzed him to find out if anything physical or emotional was causing him pain. Eventually, his words revealed that he thought tomorrow is Christmas. As soon as he realized his mistake, he was wide awake and out of bed. Ironically, tomorrow night, the actual Christmas Eve, it will take me hours to get everyone calmed down and tucked into bed.

Evan’s tree

// December 22nd, 2008 // 2 Comments » // flickr, holidays, preschoolers

$2 tree + bugs and dinos from the toybox = one happy 3-y-o

tree reflections

// December 21st, 2008 // 2 Comments » // flickr, holidays

family traditions – thanking the trash collectors

// December 20th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // holidays, people

The trash day closest to Christmas, we always put a six pack of soda in plastic containers on top of the can with a bow. It’s not much, but I don’t think they would feel comfortable with the much preferred baked goods. Trash collection is thankless, very important and not at all economically lucrative. Not only does nobody thank the trash collectors, everyone loves to complain about them. When New Orleans flooded, the trash company offered work to the displaced and bought groceries for employees with family members seeking refuge in their homes. When someone calls because their personal trash can was accidentally destroyed, an employee runs out and replaces it. When a horrible tragedy happened on an adjacent property, the trash company bought the property to have a memorial built. Maybe the reason that trash collector didn’t react when you were screaming obscenities at them was because they are one of the larger employers of the Deaf community in Knoxville. Add thanking the trash collectors to YOUR holiday traditions.

Sarah’s letter to Santa

// December 19th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // flickr, holidays

Alright Stephen Colbert , you have got some ‘splaining to do. The Jeep that hasn’t moved in several years is very unlikely to be functioning by this summer. Other than that, I think Santa will get some of the things Sarah has asked for this Christmas.

family traditions – stockings

// December 18th, 2008 // No Comments » // holidays, relatives

In our family, the adult children (my two brothers and I) give our parents stockings every Christmas morning. Every year when we were children, my brothers and I would bounce out of bed and open our stockings to pass the time while waiting for other relatives to arrive. One year when my brother and I were teenagers, we began to realize that Christmas wasn’t just about ourselves. We decided our parents should have something to look forward to every Christmas morning. From that point on, we made sure our parents had stockings on Christmas morning. There are no rules to filling their stockings. Practical, absurd and everything in between is fair game for stockings. The only rule is that it doesn’t matter where they are or who they are with, our parents have stockings on Christmas morning. The joy is not in watching them open them, it is in knowing that they get to experience what they made sure we experienced our entire childhoods.