I've got an extra kid today. Molly's friend Zeb is spending the day with us because their mutual daycare is closed for the week and I've decided to just give up on working until 2008. Another snowpocalypse is looming (4 inches? Can 4 inches really qualify as an END OF THE WORLD!!! storm?) I'm eating cookies, drinking coffee and trying to ignore the ache of missing Junior. TMOTH took care of burying him last night (which was, I'll admit,a bit more respectful than my "leave him under the deck until we tell the kids" plan. What? It's cold! He would have been frozen!) We keep vacillating between tears and laughing about what a ridiculous creature he was. The kids don't know- and probably won't until after the first of the year. We just don't want to have this be a Christmas thing for them.

Plus I'm pretty sure they'll immediately start asking for a puppy and I'm just not ready for that right now.

On a more uplifting note, isn't it amazing that the Charlie Brown Christmas movie is still a winner with the kiddos? Molly and Zeb are glued to it- and they've both seen it 5 times already. You'd think it would be dated, but there's something about it...

Do you hear that? I think it's a cookie calling me.

Update: Here's what "playing in the snow" looks like today.

People have been all over me to build on the unbelievable buzz generated by Stress Mix 2007, but sequels are tricky, you know? They take time, planning, serious artistic vision and commitment...

So I'm taking the easy way out and going with the whole "it's the holidays! Let's get commercial!" theme. (Worked for all those bands teetering on the brink of artistic oblivion...) Here's my start to Christmas Mix 2007- help me fill it out with the latest and greatest holiday tunes. Here's where I'm starting- fill me in with your hot holiday favorites. And please- no instrumentals. I'm *so* over the whole Charlie Brown music thing and don't even get me started on the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. :::Shudder:::

It's a bit on the mellow side at this point- but I'm doubtful that Linkin' Park did a holiday album. All are available at iTunes, assuming you're able to cross the WGA picket line and do iTunes.

Snow in Austin- Ellis Paul (a non-traditional choice to start us off, but really- who can resist a cactus Christmas tree?)

White Christmas- Bing Crosby (seriously? You need an explanation? *Seriously*?)

Christmas Together- Shooting Star (bonus points if you actually *know* of this band. Bonus points to me because I'm related to the drummer)

Better Days- The Robby Sea Band (Also a non-traditional choice and again with the bonus points- see above. Not that I"m related to this band's drummer. If they even have a drummer. Do they have a drummer?)

Count Your Blessings- Rosemary Clooney (*How* can you go wrong with Rosemary, aunt of George? Plus, the whole White Christmas thing?)

Christmas Wrapping- The Waitresses (retro touch- I'm a child of the 80's. So sue me.)

Come on- fill in the list! You know you want to. All the cool kids are doing it.

Be your best friend.

I put pickle relish on my grilled cheese sandwiches. My grandpa did and, as a kid, I liked liking something that he liked too. I make stuffing from my mom's recipe for the same reason. I take naps during football games because having the game on reminds me of my dad. I feed birds and grow tomatoes and flowers (especially peonies) because my Grandma does. I can't imagine how many other things I do on a daily basis not because I would do them on my own, but because people I love did them first.

So right now, as I do the Christmas preparations, I look at my kids and I wonder- what random habit will they pick up because TMOTH and I do them? Will they make a big production out of getting the tree, or over-decorate cookies to the point that no one over the age of 10 will even eat them? I guess no one gets to pick what they hand down. If they did, I can't imagine that pickle relish would have been the thing my grandpa would have picked.

Spent yesterday and the day before shopping with Heather, trying to knock all of the shopping out in one massive orgy of shameless consumerism. At the end, we both felt like we'd done, but it was a little sickening at times. She just couldn't force herself to buy the stuff Molly would love (all pink, dolls, Princesses, etc) but which she could tell I really didn't want her to have. (Don't even get me started on the Barbies with which I was raised but which cause me to visibly cringe when offered to Molly). We ended up giving up, choosing to drown our sorrows in Nachos Bel Grande rather than make that final purchase after buying fun, active, interesting stuff for all the boys and each other. (Now, if there were WordGirl toys out there, I might have been able to get onboard, but I just can't deal with the toys that assume Molly will want nothing more than to wear high heels and pearls while caring for her babies and waiting for Prince Charming to come home from a hard day on the throne. Which, of course, is *exactly* what she wants to play at this stage. Sigh)

Plus, the kids have three floors full of toys and I feel like I'm raising the Ugly American timew two when I hear them holler "I want that!" over and over while they're watching TV. Of course, that doesn't mean I turn *off* the TV. Really- a girl's got to have priorities and currently blogging and painting my toenails? WAY higher on the list than preventing that whole Ugly American thing. So while we're currently dancing along the edge of the Toypocalypse, I'm fiddling away like Nero with a Toys R Us bag.

Please pass along the term Toypocalypse to everyone yo meet. It's come to me from MotherTalkers and I dearly want this word to become part of the lexicon.

Boy, this is really rambly. I shouldn't post before coffee, should I?