Hi my name is Melinda...

just in case you've forgotten who I am!

I've been a bad blogger. So many posts running through my head and an inability to put them together coherently. Perhaps you should just have a look inside? I'm not sure what the sound track would be for this post, something soothing? Marshmallow world? Deck the Halls? The Target ditty that I have on repeat in my head as it seems to ALWAYS be on?



Phew! MOST of the presents purchased. Only two left. And those are the hardest two! Only minor concerns of: "What if they don't like it? Will it be a pain to return?"

The kids have wrapped the presents so they are a bit of a happily rumpled mess with wobbly bows/ribbons and dodgy taping around the edges. They've wrapped things that aren't presents. I'm pretty sure there are a few ornaments, one box full of Christmas ribbons (which a certain six year old forgot would be needed to do the remainder of the presents) and some full of who knows what. If something is missing, it probably is wrapped and under our tree.

We have a new puppy, which is a bit like having a newborn baby. We've had an unusually cold December so far, with several nights below freezing (probably over our annual average already), so he's been sleeping in his kennel in the laundry room. He starts the "I've got to go!" crying sometime before 6 a.m. What joy to stand on the doorstep in the freezing pre-dawn hours waiting on him to finish his business. I swear it is just like Austin Powers when he first wakes up from the deep freeze. Go. Stop. Go. Stop. Gooooooo. Stop.

There have been school Christmas plays, dance recitals, sniffly noses and nighttime coughing, a funeral, canceled shopping trips, cookies that didn't work out (note to self: double ALL the ingredients when making a double recipe), fudge that did. All the whirlwind stuff that means Christmas is coming! Again.

And didn't we JUST DO IT a few months ago? Can we push it to every other year?

Building

It has been building, rising, creeping and now boiling over.

In their defense, we've had a hectic fortnight of holiday, trip to Myrtle Beach (five and a half hours in the car each way), rehearsals, recitals, practices, homework, testing, etc.

But today, they were cranky and defiant to the point that it resulted in a one week ban of use by either child of anything that requires electricity in any form. Be it outlet or battery, computer, DVD, television, video game, etc.

I think they'll be the better for it. We have let technology overtake us little by little and have discovered that we need to launch a counter-offensive. We are instituting a sharing policy of electronics with time limits strictly enforced.

So far we have played monopoly, visited the Wildlife Center at Georgia Southern, played outside far longer than usual, despite cool temperatures, and done some toy sorting in anticipation of Christmas.

More deep thoughts on this later. For now I am emotionally drained. It is very, very important to me for my children to appreciate that they are very lucky and to treat people with respect. Our meltdown (which involved both children AND parents) was a huge revelation to me that we have some work to do on that front. I don't mean to say that I want them to be pious and meek and let themselves get walked on or to crush their spirits under the weight of rules and regulations, but that we have to achieve a balance between good self-esteem and compassion and respect.