It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas?

I've never been one to jump on the Christmas bandwagon early -- I think it's shameful and wrong for Christmas paraphernalia to show its face until after Thanksgiving. After the turkey and pumpkin pie have been cooked and eaten, however, I'm usually ready for Christmas. This year Thanksgiving has come and gone and I'm still wandering around with no Christmas spirit -- the weather we're having is totally throwing me off my holiday game! I'm ready for frost and snow and steaming mugs of cocoa, but the neighborhood boys are still running around in shorts.

Seeing the houses all lit up when I drove home from work tonight was a little disconcerting. The next-door neighbor's large, plastic nativity scene looks strangely out of place in such temperate weather. Mary smiles on as usual, but the Wise Men are looking a tad overheated. The light-up reindeer across the street looks awfully forlorn as he waggles his head back and forth over a lawn devoid of snow. I did some Christmas shopping on my way home, but it just wasn't the same without the giant puddles of slush in the parking lot. So, I need some help getting in the holiday mood -- let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

That being said, we did enjoy the nice weather during our long, lazy Thanksgiving weekend. Max and I went to the park and he had a blast. He has decided that he really likes the swings and kept asking to go on them "agem, peese." He still thinks that grass it a little strange. When he falls down and gets pieces of dirt and grass on his hands, he runs over to me with his hands stretched out so I can "fix" it. Puddles of water, however, are WAY fun.

Molly has discovered her thumb and is very pleased with this new development. She seems to be really happy to have found a "paci" that never gets lost. When she's hungry or crabby and the paci has managed to wander off, she jams her thumb in her mouth and happily sucks away until Mom or Dad can come to her rescue. Possibly related to the thumb discovery is the happy fact that Molly slept through the night for the first time on Wednesday. I put her to bed around 9 p.m. and she didn't wake up to eat until 5:30 a.m. -- that's all night in my book! Of course, she hasn't done it again, but I'm still holding out hope that it'll become a regular routine. Hey, I can at least hope, can't I? ;)