Christmas is over and New Years is coming. We have survived the chaos (mostly). Other than battling a second round of colds and fevers we’re in good shape.
My children have been out of school for over a week and are starting to work each other’s last good nerve. Precious is used to having the house to herself during the day so not having the older kids leave has totally thrown off her routine. She has taken to announcing that everything in the house is hers and is running from toy to toy guarding it as only a 3 year old can – by screaming at the top of her lungs. The biggest thing she has taken to protecting is the computer. She discovered NickJr.com a couple of weeks before Christmas and loves it. She normally would get her time during the day but this week has had to wait her turn. This has been misery for her. It has hit the point that she refuses to leave the computer even to eat once her turn has started because she is afraid someone will take the computer while she’s away. At this very moment she is asleep in the chair in front of the computer. Yes, curled up in the big office chair asleep.
We’ve tried unsuccessfully to move her 3 times now and each time has resulted in her waking up and throwing a fit. I even tried just rolling the chair away from the computer but that woke her up crying as well. She definitely gets the concept of squatter’s rights and is guarding her territory – even while sleeping.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Where’s the Daddy? A Christmas Story
My husband spent yesterday afternoon looking for an extension cord for the small Christmas tree in the living room. In this process of looking for the extension cord he found my grandmother’s manger set. I haven’t set it up for years because, well, I have 5 children and didn’t want it broken.
My husband decided that now that the children are a little older we should have the manger set up. So, he set the manger up on the table by the front door. He put the Baby Jesus and Mary in the stable but he set Joseph and the 3 wise men along with the camels and a cow outside the manger looking in. Not your normal set up. Well, this caused some confusion with the neighbor’s daughter who is 4 years old. She walked past the manger on her way out the door to go home and noticed the strange set up of the manager. She looked at my husband and asked “Where is the Daddy?” Now my husband, being the devout Muslim that he is, said, “There is no daddy.”
Now begins the confusion:
4 year old neighbor (whose family is Mormon): “But where’s the daddy?”
My Husband: “There is no daddy. God willed Jesus to be born. It was a miracle called the Immaculate Conception.” Now, how many of you knew Islam believed in the Imaculate Conception? I didn't and I've been married to this man and dealing with this culture for 20 years all together.
Princess (my 6 year old) after pondering this for a moment: “Well then who is Joseph, Mary’s boyfriend?”
My husband (wondering how he got himself in this mess): “No, Joseph was Mary’s husband, but he is not Jesus’ daddy. Jesus did not have a daddy.”
Princess: “So, Joseph was Jesus’ Step-daddy?”
My husband: “Well, sort of.”
Princess (who, by the way, had announced that Frosty the Snowman has a wife named Sally so now they can have children just this past Sunday): “So, how was Jesus born if he didn’t have a daddy?”
My Husband (really trying to keep a straight face): “Jesus doesn’t have a daddy because God willed Jesus to be born.”
4 year old neighbor: “But where’s the daddy?”
My husband (giving up before he digs himself in any deeper): “I think you need to go ask your Mom about that.”
He then walked her home, but did not warn her mother about the conversation that had taken place. I gave her a call later that evening because I felt I should warn her. I just knew that this Sunday in the middle of church that lovely little girl is going to repeat her interpretation of the story of Baby Jesus as told to her by Mr. M. I can just hear it now. “Jesus doesn’t have a daddy. Mr. M told me so. Did you know Joseph was Mary’s boyfriend? ” I like my neighbors, so I thought I should try to give them the heads up. My neighbor thanked me for letting her know because her daughter didn’t say a word about it after she walked in the front door. The neighbor said she would go over the story of Jesus with her girls tonight just to be safe. She also pointed out that my husband could spared himself all of this if he had just set Joseph in the stable next to the Baby Jesus. I giggled and said that I had already pointed that out. He agreed that next time he would just stick to the standard set up.
My husband decided that now that the children are a little older we should have the manger set up. So, he set the manger up on the table by the front door. He put the Baby Jesus and Mary in the stable but he set Joseph and the 3 wise men along with the camels and a cow outside the manger looking in. Not your normal set up. Well, this caused some confusion with the neighbor’s daughter who is 4 years old. She walked past the manger on her way out the door to go home and noticed the strange set up of the manager. She looked at my husband and asked “Where is the Daddy?” Now my husband, being the devout Muslim that he is, said, “There is no daddy.”
Now begins the confusion:
4 year old neighbor (whose family is Mormon): “But where’s the daddy?”
My Husband: “There is no daddy. God willed Jesus to be born. It was a miracle called the Immaculate Conception.” Now, how many of you knew Islam believed in the Imaculate Conception? I didn't and I've been married to this man and dealing with this culture for 20 years all together.
Princess (my 6 year old) after pondering this for a moment: “Well then who is Joseph, Mary’s boyfriend?”
My husband (wondering how he got himself in this mess): “No, Joseph was Mary’s husband, but he is not Jesus’ daddy. Jesus did not have a daddy.”
Princess: “So, Joseph was Jesus’ Step-daddy?”
My husband: “Well, sort of.”
Princess (who, by the way, had announced that Frosty the Snowman has a wife named Sally so now they can have children just this past Sunday): “So, how was Jesus born if he didn’t have a daddy?”
My Husband (really trying to keep a straight face): “Jesus doesn’t have a daddy because God willed Jesus to be born.”
4 year old neighbor: “But where’s the daddy?”
My husband (giving up before he digs himself in any deeper): “I think you need to go ask your Mom about that.”
He then walked her home, but did not warn her mother about the conversation that had taken place. I gave her a call later that evening because I felt I should warn her. I just knew that this Sunday in the middle of church that lovely little girl is going to repeat her interpretation of the story of Baby Jesus as told to her by Mr. M. I can just hear it now. “Jesus doesn’t have a daddy. Mr. M told me so. Did you know Joseph was Mary’s boyfriend? ” I like my neighbors, so I thought I should try to give them the heads up. My neighbor thanked me for letting her know because her daughter didn’t say a word about it after she walked in the front door. The neighbor said she would go over the story of Jesus with her girls tonight just to be safe. She also pointed out that my husband could spared himself all of this if he had just set Joseph in the stable next to the Baby Jesus. I giggled and said that I had already pointed that out. He agreed that next time he would just stick to the standard set up.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Like my new haircut?
It is never a good sign when the 3 year old comes upstairs and says "Mommy, how do you like my new haircut?" Now she's the fifth child, so I know hair will grow back and honestly looking at her I can't tell she's cut her hair. She has so much that it really doesn't look any different. But I know the older children are downstairs cutting paper to decorate for Christmas and don't doubt that Precious has cut her hair. It's my own fault, I have had my nose in my laptop working most of the weekend. We are having some production issues with the new system at work so I've spent very little time really paying attention to the children all weekend. I just set them up on a project and do a walkthrough every so often to make sure no one is too out of hand. There are lots of messes being made in the family room at the moment. Princess and the Imp are in the process of building forts all around the room, which consist of every toy and chair we own being used to build a miniature version of the wall of China in our family room. This will also include every sheets out of the laundry strung from the sofas to the top of the tallest nearby toy or chair. It makes me wonder why I've bothered to wash the sheet because you just know that someone is going spill something any minute. Son #1 and #2 are making snowflakes for the front, which do you think any of the paper cut outs from the snowflakes will be dropped in the trash can? Oh no, that's what Mom has a vacuum for. Now I also need to figure out where the pieces of cut hair are so I can get that all vacuumed up. It's always an exciting weekend at our house.
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