Domestic Psychology

Evan’s tree

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

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

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.

Dear Santa,

// December 11th, 2008 // 3 Comments » // holidays, parenting

The children have written letters to Santa. The youngest two want rides on his sleigh. The middle child wants a little bit of everything. The teenage girl is asking for things that she shouldn’t have to ask for as a gift. The teenage boy whose first semester at school suffered because of excessive electronic gaming is only asking for electronic gaming items. I can’t decide if I want to laugh or cry.

Christmas isn’t always white

// December 10th, 2008 // 3 Comments » // holidays, weather

This year, we get to spend Christmas Day with my brothers and their families. That puts all 9 cousins in one house at the same time. All of the children are excited about getting to play together, but none are as vocal about it as Amy. “After we open presents, we’re going to make a snowman and have a snowball fight and go sledding.” No amount of explanation can convince Amy that Christmas will not be a winter wonderland. Let’s hope she’s too distracted by the noisy chaos to notice the southern weather on Christmas Day. We might be wearing shorts and we might be carrying umbrellas, but the odds of a blanket of white on the ground are somewhere between slim and none.

Christmas Cards

// December 7th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // holidays, mail

After a few hundred tweets of complaint, I finally have Christmas Cards ordered. Now, I just need your snail mail address. Please take a millisecond and e-mail me your address. Thank you!

what we have here is a failure to communicate

// November 30th, 2008 // No Comments » // Doug, marriage, me

Doug: “Why are you so stressed?”
Me: “I have a million things to get done and most of them feel like pulling a rabbit out of a hat.”
Doug: “Why don’t you narrow the list down a bit.”
Me: “Well, there are three things that absolutely, positively must get done in the next two days.”
Doug: “Okay. No problem. I’ll help and it will get done.”

Twenty-four hours later with none of the three done:
Doug: “Umm, what ONE thing needs to get done?”

Happy Birthday Doug!

// October 24th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // Doug, flickr, food, holidays

Today is Doug’s birthday. Please jump over to his blog and tell him Happy Birthday. Yes, he probably just posted a paranoid conspiracy theory, but that’s okay. That just means he is happy. I don’t have anything special planned for the day. On my birthday, he made me the cake you see here. I’m pretty unimpressive in the kitchen, but I think the bar is set so low that even I can rise above it. Maybe not. We’ll see.

Happy 18th Birthday Tommy!

// August 15th, 2008 // No Comments » // flickr, holidays

I can’t believe this guy . . .

. . . looked like this at the 1996 Olympics or this little guy the day we brought him home.

The traditional on the way to the hospital picture, just because it’s funny. Yes, those are clothes, not pajamas.