Sap! Lot's of Sap!

Well, I see I still have no followers....

So, we threw a successful Christmas party for the teachers today. Real Italtian Real fast (as they say) cheesecakes, and an adorable take home gift bag (filled with 10 hershey kisses) for everyone! They loved it. They are quite fond of the PTO this year...bribing them with lunches and expensive coffee pots will pay off!

After that I was privvy to a very special Christmas treat, a classic for all time...a 5th grade production of A Christmas Carol. It was incredibly charming. The lights were turned down in the cafeteria. Really cozy feeling watching this sweet play about such an old, inspiring -- one for the ages type -- story.

Hmmm this year there is a certain "strand" of thought that keeps wrapping itself around my mind. As I decorate the tree, get in the cabinets to make some recipe, sit down to write Christmas cards to the "ole list," attend the kids' Christmas programs I am reminded of when I did this same thing last year.

Our ornaments have morphed from balls and figures.. into "the one Erin likes", or "the one we got when Gina was born." The recipes are recalled as the one I made at Gina's first birthday party or something Erin helped me make last year.

I have finally got that sense that Mom's get. I have finally come to that place where an actual gift for me is just gravy...

(What the! Who the! What the!) No really...

These ornaments that the kids touch and twirl are finally worth way more than their weight in gold. I fianlly have that VCR in my mind that can replay a moment in time when I look at a Christmas card or hear a Christmas song.....

Layers and layers of Christmas memories make me very happy.

.....it is such a Wonderful Life.

What is this?? A sequel???

I'm over it now..but....

I had another dream ...another disturbing dream ...

Matt told me I don't do any work around the house...specifically we talked about "the dishes."

He also told me I was FAT!

...in my dream...

The guy knows never to tell me I'm fat to my face. For one thing, I'm not.

The man works hard and comes home at the end of the day to a sometimes hoppin' ..homework here...playdoh there..kind of house. I'm usually somewhere near the kitchen....cooking dinner, doing dishes. For all he knows I just got there. How does he know I haven't been watching tv all day?

Well, all he really has to do is look around...the kids are happy, bigger than they were when he left that morning, usually running to him for a hug. The house is standing beautifully where he left it, the lights are on....hmm, who paid that bill? There's usually a smell of something cooking. And...my cell phone is ringing. During all this.... people are buying houses...getting answers...getting helped -- SUCCESSFULLY!

I suppose all this could be happening because the house runs on auto pilot...but (clear throat) allow me to squelch that little rumor right here, right now! MY HOUSE DOES NOT RUN ON AUTO PILOT. And although I have a very helpful husband whom I can depend on to do a lot of work around here...The "day to day" -- that's MY job...and I GET IT DONE!

...And from this moment on I will forever consider myself VERY GOOD AT WHAT I DO! No more bad dreams about this subject.. no more insecurity about this subject. It is settled..it is proven... I should be getting a raise on my next review, don'tcha think?