Caroling: the Good, the Bad & the Ugly

Every year we try to go Christmas caroling to all the houses where we went trick or treating. We sing a song and hand out candy canes and wear silly hats. It does tend toward mixed results, but this year was remarkable:

The Good: The L family. They smiled, they clapped, they danced along - they LOVED it!

The Bad: The house where the lights were on but they were taking a while to get to the door. Mxyl said, "Someone's there, I can see them. Hey, look at that! They're drinking wine straight from the bottle!" The Emperor and I (in stereo),"O.K., let's move on to the next house!"

The Ugly: The house of the really nice Chinese folks where we started "Joy to the World" in 2 different keys and never recovered. I am guessing they are still wondering why total strangers showed up, made a horrible noise and then gave them candy. They actually asked, "Where do you live?" and the Emperor pointed out the house on the corner. I doubt it would have helped if I had answered, "We're from the planet Zoom."

Have Yourself a Messy Little Christmas

It looks like a bit of a messy Christmas here.

Leena got sick Sunday and was fine on Monday, so we figured we were out of the woods. We would at last have a Christmas where no one was sick!

Except the Emperor came down with it. Which means it's possible that I haven't had it yet either...

My parents won't be able to make it due to a combination of our health, their health, and bad weather.

Lastly, we had been hoping that Leena would be making her First Communion at Christmas, and, for a variety of reasons, that won't be happening.

Messy. No "perfect" Christmas this year.

Makes me think of the first Christmas.

I have easily more than a dozen nativity scenes around my house and every single one of them show a sweetly smiling Mary on nice clean straw with Baby Jesus tucked just so into an adorable manger.

I've been thinking two things:

1. That would have been really messy. Have you ever been in a stable? Do you know what the straw on the floor is for? It's because the animals aren't house broken. And they were busy - the inn was full. When was the last time that stable had been mucked out?

Let's suppose you haven't spent a lot of time in a stable. That brings me to the second thing.

2. What would a modern equivalent be? My best guess is this: They had to take a bus - the kind you see in third world countries with all the people hanging out of it. It still took 3 days. They got there and there was no room. Someone finally let them sleep in the garage. If you've ever given birth, how would you feel about doing it the first time in an unheated garage without help? Very messy.

So if you could have it absolutely any way you wanted (like if you were, say, God) why would you make it so messy? Wouldn't you have gone the castle/hospital/jacuzzi route?

I think it's because our lives are so messy. He came to help us out of the mess and He couldn't do it without getting His hands dirty, at least not in a way we'd understand.

So He started here. It's like He's showing us that all the external stuff is irrelevant. Christmas isn't about having our messes cleaned up or papered over. It's about Jesus coming into our messy places to bring us joy! It's perfect!

Merry Christmas!

A Well Rounded Education

At lunch, further proof that the learning never stops around here:

Klenda: So, who would win, Hulk or... Who's that guy with the really powerful crowbar?
The Emperor: That's the Wrecker. The Hulk would win.

Klenda: That's true, he's not really in the same class as the Hulk.

Quick, Cheap Present Idea

Shhhh! Don't tell the Zoomlians! They LOVE bookmarks.

You can do this in Word or a photo program. Open a document in landscape format and insert a bunch of pictures across the top (I fit in 11 or 12).

If the bookmarks are for a particular kid, I do mostly pictures of things they like. Text (going perpendicular to the picture) is a fun option. Something like a squirrel holding a nut may say "I'm nuts for this book!". Google Images is my friend.

If they are for an adult, like a grandparent, I do pictures of the kids, maybe with funny things the kid has said.

I print it on photo paper and cut with our rotary cutter.

Yeah, it is cheap and easy, but this is a present that the adults and kids have really used, enjoyed and commented on, even several months later and it's a great gift if you have avid readers in your family.

Fifth Down

I was making pies with Leena, the Kid of the Week. That means she gets to plan all the weeks meals and help make them. She thought we really ought to have apple pie for breakfast, so we were working on it.

Choclo wandered into the kitchen, "Diaper change, please?"

"OK, honey, in a minute." We finished mixing the spices in, dumped the apples into the crust and put on the top crust.

"Choclo?" He was lying face down in the middle of the kitchen, snoring.

I really wanted to take a picture, but just didn't have the heart to leave him there. Instead, I carried him upstairs and changed his diaper. He actually woke up in the middle to give me a chipper, "Hi, Mommy." And he was out again.

By the time we got him up for dinner, the fever had hit. Not too bad, controllable with ibuprofen. He'll have a happy truck video day tomorrow and probably be fine the next day. The first 4 kids have recovered and the grown ups only had a mild case. This just leaves Leena... Waiting for the 6th shoe to drop...

Hero

Zorg was just born with the heart of a hero. I have seriously never appealed to this kid's noble spirit in vain.

Today I was already going in 6 directions when I picked up the mail and realized I had been delivered my neighbors outgoing mortgage check. Oops. On the 16th of the month, that can't be good.

No mailman in sight, but the truck was still there. Oob chose that moment to wake up crying.

Zorg to the rescue!

He waited at the door, watching for the mailman. When he finally saw him across the way, he dashed out into the chilly rain, (looked both ways before crossing the street) and gave the mailman the envelope. Through the window I saw him explain to the mailman and the guy give Zorg a hearty slap on the back.

When he came in, I said, "Zorg, you are a superhero!"

"No," he replied, "I don't have any special powers. I'm just a hero."

All this and modesty, too.

Christmas Lights

We are having a small year for Christmas lights. We have fake evergreen garland (wound about the part of the porch that frames the door) threaded with purple and white lights. The purple lights are for Advent; we'll light the white ones during Christmas proper. We also have a boy scout wreath on the front door (thank you, Mxyl). And the outdoor nativity, of course.

We are much more decorated inside, but I do feel the outside could be more festive.

So maybe next year we could do something like this:

Or perhaps this, if you don't think it's too much.

Hmm, we have all year to plan...and get the degree in computer science...

Fame and Fortune

Well, fame, anyway! We are featured in a fun article by Kate Tsubata in the Washington Times .

In a bizarre coincidence, we are also in an article in Faith and Family this month, but that won't be available online until next month.

We'll just bask in the glory for a moment...

OK, times up!

Happy Gaudete Sunday! I guess that's redundant, since "gaudete" means "rejoice!"
For your rejoicing, my favorite version of "Gaudete" on You Tube:

7 Quick Takes

1. Cool home made present for kids: get 2 ten foot lengths of 1/2" PVC pipe and one bag each bag of (1/2") end caps, T connectors and elbows (make sure they are "slip", not threaded). Cut the pipes to various lengths and sand the edges (if you want to be fancy). Presto! A building set which can be used plain, with water, or air pressure. Total cost: $13. This is what the Zoomlians used to build marshmallow blasters.

2.I really like to knit...scarves. I don't have the, how shall we say? Attention, precision, presence of mind, moral fortitude to do sweaters. I like to just sit and knit while listening to the Emperor read without really having to think about it much. And all my hats come out funny. OK, the matching blue frog hats I knit for my parents were meant to be funny, but the rest of them weren't.

3. Secret of the Universe: If you don't want to be late, don't try to be on time. Aim for a little early and the last minute traffic/diaper change/baby blurp will be factored in. You will be a little early some of the time, on time most of the time, and sometimes a little bit late. If you think I'm being extreme, I'm a moderate: my Dad always says, "Five minutes early is ten minutes late."

4. Oob has learned to say, "Pleeeeese!" The only way he knows how to say it is in the tone of a starving child begging for a dry crust with large eyes and furrowed brow. And he says it often. I feel like Scrooge: No, you can't eat the entire package of marshmallows, bah, humbug!

5. I want to visit Mongolia. When I was a kid, my Dad traveled the world and brought me dolls from different countries. I look at the cluster map here and think, I have a doll from your country, and your country...

6. Ah, Mongolia... As I got older, he brought me a wide variety of Mongolian arrow heads. From rough cast in sand to a sleek barbed 3D triangle, I could touch the evolution of the arrowhead. I devoured all information about the Khans. Then I got older and saw The Story of the Weeping Camel. Some people wish for gondolas or towers; me, I yearn for a yurt.

7. My husband would like some of the quality attention I have been lavishing on this blog.

But you can read more with Jen!

12 Days

The Zoomlians love "The Twelve days of Christmas"( partly due to this You Tube, no doubt). At lunch today, we discovered a really interesting number pattern in the song.

There was a heated discussion about whether the person gave every single item listed on a given day ("Today, I give you 3 French hens and another 2 turtledoves, and yet another partridge in a another pear tree." as opposed to "Today, I give you 3 French hens, and remember those turtle doves and so forth I've given you so far.")

I flatly stated that it was the first option. We designed a chart to show how many of each gift you would end up with. We wrote the numbers 1-12 down the page and placed an icon for each gift on the appropriate day. We kind of ended up with a tall column of pear trees, a shorter column of turtledoves, etc. Then we skip counted them (the older kids multiplied).

To see the number pattern we found, highlight the next space (or, even better, find out be doing it yourself!):
12, 22, 30, 36, 40, 42, 40, 36, 30, 22, 12

Once we saw the pattern, we could see why it had to be that way, but it had never occurred to me to even look! How cool is that?!