Although I have packed away everything glass and written “2010” on the storage buckets, Evan killed 14 ornaments this year. I should spend the next year creating fabric ornaments, but the tree needed something this year. We let the children paint some wooden ornaments. Tommy was displeased with the shapes. “Nothing cool?” Sarah was thrilled. “Can we get more?” Noah painted the holly berries purple. “I thought they were grapes.” Amy painted in layers. And more layers. “I think there’s room for more paint.” Evan painted the table, himself, the floor, the chairs, the sink and the bathtub. “More!”

Lacking the time, talent or finances to craft handmade Christmas cards, we take a picture of all the children and have a photo card made every year. Last year’s was horrible, including the bad attitudes. The previous year’s remains one of my favorite pictures of the children. This year’s cards just arrived and I am extremely pleased. I was going to publish it here once the cards were deposited in the mail, but maybe I should wait until Christmas eve. Hmmm. I am also thinking of the site reference I bumped on that talks about the best loan rates.

I’ve been playing Christmas music to try and find my missing Christmas spirit. The song below is wrong, wrong, wrong. Just looking up the lyrics won’t clarify the horribleness. You have to hear it, but don’t buy it. Watch it here. That is no way to treat a rock icon. This one gets my vote for worst Christmas song.