Christmas Traditions

We only got a live tree once when I was growing up. Most of the time, we lived in Texas or The Middle East, where life Christmas trees were in short supply. In fact, in Saudi Arabia most Christmas-type things were in short supply. (Hallowee things were in short supply, too - one year we carved some green squash because there were no orange pumpkins) Most of the Christmas decorations we had on our tree were from a craft fair that the ladies of Dhahran put together. So we had care bears made out of bread dough, angels made out of macaroni, and unicorns made out of styrofoam on our tree. The Styrofoam Unicorn (yes, in capitals) was my particular favorite. Every year, even when I was in my teens and in college, I would say, "We HAVE to have the Syrofoam Unicorn on our tree! It won't be Christmas without it!" And my family would roll their eyes and say, "Sure, since it means so much to you."

And after I got married I went to my mom and said, "Mother dearest, would it be ok if, maybe, perhaps...if I took the Styrofoam Unicorn to be my very own? Please?" There was little to no argument from anyone.

When I was a kid we had these really neat-o Advent candles. They marked off all the days in December up to Christmas, with a little nativity scene marking Christmas day. I haven't ever found these in the shops as an adult but I'd really ike to have one. Every day we burned the candle down past the day. Sometimes if we skipped a day or two, then we got to burn the candle longer. I especially loved this as it was my first introduction to fire. I love campouts and "roasting" (burninating) marshmallows and other situations that call for fire to be played with.

But back to Christmas. As far back as I can remember we were allowed to open one present on Christmas eve and somehow that present was always pajamas. For years I couldn't figure out how that worked until I realized that my parents were the ones who picked out which present we were allowed to open.

We used to hang our stockings from the mantlepiece, if we had one (we moved around some), but the last decade or so it's become tradition to take our stockings the night before and pick a spot in the living room for Santa to fill it. We each need a stocking area, you see, because Santa usually sees fit to deliver more candy than can actuallay sit in the stocking.

A favorite tradition from my husband's side of the family is his Mom's stockings. Every year she puts together a stocking full of candy and other yummy treats roughly the size and weight of my 5-month-old son.

This year we have plans to celebrate Christmas at my husband's brother's house in Vegas with his family. I still want Christmas jammies for everyone so I think I'll go buy some flannel to make them myself. I already bought some candy for our stockings.

I think that as my kid grows up, we'll teach him about Santa Claus because of the grand and noble tradition thereof. I believed in Santa up until I was about 9, and finding out "the truth" didn't hurt me any.

Nano not so wrimo

Yeah, so I kind of threw in the towel pretty early on. Writing my novel very quickly became a chore, and I think my real love is in blogging.

I love my blog. I love having my own little soapbox where I can write whatever I please and people will read it. Well, at least my mom will read it. Time was, my mother represented around 50% of all page views (hi, Mutti). But on the bright side, my readership is twice what it was last year, although that might be because The Husband posted a link from Wikipedia's article on Darkwing Duck to my blog post listing each of his metaphors.

It's been a smashing thanksgiving weekend, and I fully intend to blog all about it, but right now I'm tired because I spent most of my evening watching four episodes of Star Trek: Voyager and three episodes of 1963 Doctor Who. So much TV. Maybe tomorrow I'll blog all about that, too.

And then I'll blog about my little biology experiment I have going on in my kitchen window. Oh, and I finally finished my t-shirt quilt. And I am knitting some lurid pants for my son. And I'm going to try once more to quit biting my nails. Once more into the breech, my friends!

But now it's midnight and I have a busy day of Mommying ahead of me tomorrow. Adieu.

Stay at Home, Rule the World.

I started another blog recently. I call it, "Stay at Home, Rule the World." It's dedicated to glorifying the moms who sacrifice their time and talents to raise their children at home instead of entering the workforce.

http://stayathomeruletheworld.blogspot.com

There is a sentiment in the modern world that doesn't value children or motherhood. My goal for this blog is to elevate people's esteem of motherhood and of nurturing behavior. Even if you can't stay at home to be with your kids, this blog is for you, too.

If you'd like to be featured on the blog, don't hesitate to email me at stayathomeruletheworld@gmail.com.

Five Months

My little boy is five months old today. I don't tend to talk about him much on this blog, but that doesn't mean that I am not obsessing or swooning over that little guy every waking moment. I spend a lot of my time tickling his feet and kissing his little cheeks, or reading to him or taking him on walks in his stroller. My joy is full.

I have a big problem with abortion activists and people who are concerned about overpopulation. All it really means is that those people do not value children. They see a picture like this one:

and think, "ew."

My child isn't just a baby - he is a person. He was a person before he was even born. I could tell very early on that he had a lot of personality. I can't imagine life without him being a part of our family.

I do think that there are medical circumstances that indicate abortion - cases of rape or incest, for example. I have known women (plural) that have had missed miscarriages that require surgery to remove dead fetal tissue, essentially the same medical procedure as an abortion. Those people should have access to adequate medical care, of course. But I'm not going to tread lightly here: those who want to terminate their pregnancies just because they don't feel like being mothers are horrible, amoral sociopaths. I know that's going to offend people but I'm not sorry. I do not see a difference between abortion and murdering a child in his cradle, Herod the Great style. "Pro-Choice" is a myth. What about the choice of the child? Doesn't he get a choice? Look at that little face! Don't you think he is happy to be alive? Why would anyone ever want to erase him from existence?

There are thousands of couples in the United States who would be overjoyed to adopt a baby whose mother is unable to parent him or her. Unfortunately, babies who would have been adopted in generations past are being aborted now. And there is such a thing as accepting the consequences of one's actions.

When I was 8 weeks pregnant with him, I went to the Midwives to get an ultrasound to make sure that everything was ok. My first pregnancy was a "blighted ovum" (a term that I dislike intensely), so the midwives were good enough to allay my fears of a repeat performance. He was still too little to let us listen to his heart beat, but we could see it on the monitor. It was transcendent. It was like a little baby bird, or a little flickering candle flame. Only someone who really hates children could see what I saw and still want to snuff out that little life.

Vocab word of the Week

I was watching Bones this evening on Hulu. The main character is supposed to be extremely intelligent, yet she made a crucial vocabulary mistake. She said that a body's phalanges were "completely decimated."

For the record, decimate does not mean to rot beyond all recognition. It means to decrease by one tenth. Back in ancient Rome if a legion mutinied, they'd round up all the guys and count them off like this: "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, [kill], one, two, three, four..." Except it was all in latin so it would have been, "Unus, duo, tres, quattor, quinque, sex, septem, octo, novem, [necare], unus, duo, tres, quattor..."

So if one's phalanges (fingers) are decimated, that means that you get one chopped off.

It's used colloquially to mean a drastic decrease or a lot of damage, but technically it's an incorrect usage. More incorrect colloquialisms would be "funner," (a word I have always hated), and "its a beautiful day," and "your mean."

To make Sourdough Bread from Scratch...

...you must first invent the Universe.

Hahah, That Carl Sagan. He kills me.

But seriously, I made sourdough bread today. I created a starter this morning and made bread with it this afternoon, in order to break in my new (da hum!) Kitchen Aid mixer!! [cue singing angels].

I read online that sourdough bread is tastier than other kinds that use pre-packaged yeast and I think I am inclined to agree. I did use packaged yeast to make the starter, but somehow the process of using the starter to make a whole batch of bread to rise did indeed make it taste different. It was more yummy.

To be all "artisanal" I added carroway seeds and some rosemary, along with some flax seed. It came out of the oven about 1/2 hour ago and between the two of us, we've nearly polished off the first loaf.

In the past I haven't really liked sourdough bread but THIS stuff is yummy. Plus there's nothing in the world that's nearly as nice as fresh bread still hot from the oven.

This is what I did for my starter:

In a glass bowl (the internet says that glass is best) mix together:
2 c whole wheat flour
3 c water
2 TBSP dry yeast.

Leave until frothy. Take 1 c starter and substitute for yeast in any bread recipe. Use less flour and less water than the recipe calls for. Enjoy.

I hope my friend Thora comments. I feel so proud of myself.

What we're (not) Watching

I have been very frustrated with Television in recent weeks. I used to watch a ton of TV shows but they've all turned to garbage. And I do not mean the rock band from the late 90s.

Here's a breakdown of the damage - which shows I have sworn never to watch again and why:

The Office: Aside from the usual inappropriate jokes and bathroom humor, main characters openly mocked those who value chastity, as if it was no longer an acceptable worldview.

30 Rock: Made a disparaging comment about religious undergarments.

Flash Forward: Lesbian makeout scene.

Stargate: Universe: Instead of focusing on the really cool Science Fiction opportunities a space ship a gajillion light years away from Earth affords, this show is more like a Soap Opera in space and is overtly pornographic.

I'm glad we have our collection of Star Trek: TNG and Voyager episodes. We know that those are clean (with a few exceptions).