It’s December 21st, people.  December twenty-first.  (This becomes meaningful later in the post.) As I listen to my parents reflect upon my childhood Christmas’s, we all laugh about what they remember.  When I was very little we would pack up and drive to my dad’s family in Westlake, Ohio.  One year, according to the telling of the tale, my dad...

Those giggles you heard tonight at 8:30pm, neighbors?  Those were my magnificent kids making a snowman and snow angels in our yard.  Maren had practice after school, so she didn’t get Round One in the snow with Greta during daylight hours.  After practice, Brad took them both to see our high school friend perform in the high school’s band concert...

Tonight I got a soliciting call (after two hang-ups earlier today from the same number).  “Hello, ma’am, I’m So-and-So with NameOfFamousBreastCancerCharity.” Me, cheerfully, “Hello.” So-and-So: “I am calling because you know how important it is to help those that are struggling this with breast cancer this season, and I am...

Today I slept in.  So did the girls.  (It was a fun weekend, obviously.)  I woke up Maren first by climbing into her bed and snuggling her.  (It’s the only way she doesn’t whine when I wake her up.)  I mitigated her need-to-rush anxiety by telling her I would drive her to school so we have twelve extra minutes.  Next I woke up Greta who was already...

With Cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday, it feels like it is full on holiday mode now.  I’m so glad we decorated before Thanksgiving (a first ever for us, I think) because it feels like I’m ahead.  (Feeling ahead.  Huh.  So that’s what that feels like.) I love gifts and gifting.  A lot.  I want to go be on Ellen’s show, not to be in the audience...