LML Monday - Christmas Eve Edition

It's Monday once again, my friends. And as always that means it's time to reflect on the things that made us happy over the past week. And of course now is also the perfect time to set the tone for a great week to come! 

If you missed my take on LML, you can find it here. If you missed the explanation of LML Monday, you can catch up here.

For me, this time of year is all about family and friends, and making the most of the holidays. It's been a crazy, busy, hectic week around here, but it has also been wonderful, and full of reasons to be happy.

My mom moved into a new house this week, so now instead of being 45 minutes away she is about 4 minutes away. (Not only did she move out to my small-ish town away from the city, but she managed to find a house in my neighborhood. It's 1/2 mile by car, and a little less to walk there.) My kids are absolutely thrilled. Since she first started talking about moving they've been talking about how great it will be to ride their bikes to Grandma's house. This week they finally got to do it. And yes, it was every bit as thrilling as they had hoped. :)

On Friday my son's class had their Christmas party, and it was (even if I do say so myself) a huge success. I read How the Grinch Stole Christmas, which I always enjoy "performing" for the kids. And I was quite impressed with how respectful and well-mannered the class was through it all. (It was a nice surprise.) We did some crafts, and had some snacks, but the most popular part of the day, it seemed, was when we let the kids make their own milk carton/graham cracker "ginger bread" houses. Again I was impressed with how well all of the kids did. And the houses turned out to be quite adorable.

And perhaps the best gift of all this year is that my brother and his family came to town to spend Christmas with us. It's been great having them here, and of course the kids could not be happier. (It turns out that very few things in life beat cousin-time.) So the house is full, and busy, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Tonight was a nice big noisy tangle of Christmas Eve chaos. And tomorrow will probably be even noisier and more chaotic. But the joy and love and laughter will be immeasurable.

I hope you are all enjoying the holidays (whichever ones you celebrate.) And if you don't celebrate any of the current holidays, I hope you are still enjoying the week. And as always, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave me a comment and share some of your recent LML moments. Focus on the happy thoughts, and let's all have a great week!

Our Favorite Misunderstood Christmas Lyrics

If you have kids, or have ever been around kids, you probably know the joy of hearing how they interpret things they don't quite understand. It's particularly amusing with song lyrics, and at this time of the year (with all of the seasonal songs that everyone is singing) there seems to be a never-ending potential for hilarious misinterpretations. (You've probably all heard about "Round John Virgin" in the song "Silent Night.")

My daughter loves to sing, and she has really gotten in to the Christmas music this year - everything from the classics to the more modern hits. Her favorites would probably have to be "Jingle Bell Rock" and "Holly Jolly Christmas" (and she knows all the words to both of them.) But she still has a little trouble with parts of "The 12 Days of Christmas." I've been trying to help her, but in her mind "6 bees away" doesn't make any less sense than "6 geese a-laying," so that's still how she sings it every time.

Earlier this year my son came to me. "Mommy, what's a dirdledot?"
"Um... a what?"
"A dirdledot."
"I have no idea."
(Frustrated) "You know! Like in the song about the 12 days of Christmas!"
"Oh! It actually says 'two turtledoves.'"
"Oh, okay." (Pause for contemplation.) "Mommy, what's a turtledove?"

Now he gets it, and he sings it correctly. But to be honest, I kind of miss the dirdledots a little bit. :)

Ok, how about you? I'm sure you have some stories to share about your kids. What were their best misunderstood song lyrics? (You can keep it in the holidays if you want, but it doesn't have to be Christmas songs.) Please share your favorites!

Random Reasons to Celebrate

In the midst of a fairly stressful week, Tuesday was particularly craptacular. Noting especially huge or tragic happened; it was just one of those days when the universe thinks it's funny to keep giving you paper cuts and then pouring lemon juice in them. Just one thing after another... and then another, and another.

So yesterday I was determined to leave it all behind and have a better day. And not surprisingly (because it is so often the case) my kids gave me the motivation that I needed. Sitting at breakfast, my son suddenly asked me "Mommy, can we celebrate?" Um... celebrate what? "Today is the last time that all of the dates are going to match!" And he and my daughter both looked at me with beautifully hopeful and excited faces.

I took a quick mental inventory, found no reason to say no, and agreed to have an impromptu 12-12-12 party. Because, as I told them, "I guess it's as good a reason as any." And, really... why not? Life puts us through the ringer sometimes. So if we can find something to be happy about, why not grab onto it and squeeze it for all it's worth?

And the best part is, not only can the reason for the celebration be totally random and silly, but so can the way that it's celebrated.

Since it was a "special" day, I pulled out the special new ornament that I had been meaning to put on the tree but had never gotten around to.

And the kids helped me put together the Christmas village. (Again, something I had been meaning to do anyway. But when presented as a "party game" it made it that much more festive.)

And after dinner I made homemade ice cream (in my awesome Kitchen Ninja.) It's always a hit. And frankly, what kind of a 12-12-12 party would it be without it? ;)

That was the extent of it. But the kids were happy, and once again I proved that it's all about how you spin things. Treat the day like a special occasion, and that is how it will be remembered.

A Very Taylor Swift Christmas

Despite what some of my Facebook friends might think, I actually don't hate Taylor Swift. I'm not really her target audience, but I do think she has a decent voice, and she's kind of cute. But I do wish (if ever a wish there was) that she could find some other inspiration for a song besides failed relationships. And I know that I'm not alone in this.

Yeah, you could say I'm not the only one who has noticed it. And I'm sure that to the girls in her demographic the subject is a lot more meaningful than it is to me. And hey - it's working for her. So I suppose we could go the "you go girl" route.

But I have to say that I got a pretty good laugh the other day when I heard her version of "Last Christmas" on the radio. Now, I go back and forth on that song to begin with. On one hand, it's kind of irritating. On the other hand, I like George Michael, so sometimes I listen to it anyway.

So I heard a little bit of it as I was debating about whether or not to change the station.

Last Christmas, I gave you my heart.

The very next day, you gave it away.

Yep. So far this sounds like an appropriate song for her to be singing.

This year, to save me from tears,

I'll give it to someone special.

Nope, sorry. That's where you lost me. But I suppose that "I'll give it to the next guy I'm going to write a song about" just doesn't have the same ring to it.

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Do you find yourself very motivated to read other "V" posts? Feel free to visit ABC Wednesday. :)

LML Monday - Movie Marathons & Helpful Wrapping Paper

It's Monday once again, my friends. And as always that means it's time to reflect on the things that made us happy over the past week. And of course now is also the perfect time to set the tone for a great week to come! 

If you missed my take on LML, you can find it here. If you missed the explanation of LML Monday, you can catch up here.


Movie Marathons
Santa came to our house a little early this year.

Thanks to my son's obsession with Angry Birds (and the latest version, Angry Birds Star Wars) he has been dying to see the Star Wars movies. We discovered that for some strange reason we had never upgraded from the old VHS copies that we had from decades ago, so we decided to join this century and go for the Blu Ray collection.

So this weekend we stocked up on the requisite junk food (popcorn, Cheetos  M&Ms, etc.) and settled in for a family movie marathon. We only made it through the first three movies so far. (So we get to do it again next weekend! Yea!) It was a great time, and the kids loved the movies. (My son is chomping at the bit to watch the rest of them.) And getting to finally expose my little geeks-in-training to the joy that is Star Wars was just as much fun for me as it was for them. :)

Helpful Wrapping Paper
It's such a little thing, but it's one of those little things that makes my life a bit more convenient, so I appreciate it greatly.

I was wrapping some gifts this week when I discovered that some of the wrapping paper was printed with these helpful little grids on the back. I don't know about you, but it always bugs me when I cut wrapping paper and it turns out to be crooked. (I know it doesn't really matter, because you fold it anyway, but for someone as persnickety as me, it's an irritant.)

So to the makers of these helpful wrapping paper rolls, I say thank you. I for one love anything that can take even a little bit of stress out of the holidays.


Ok. I shared mine - now it's your turn! Please feel free to leave me a comment and share some of your recent LML moments. Focus on the happy thoughts, and let's all have a great week!

And if you're a blogger and would like to get in on the LML fun, feel free to grab the code and join the blog hop! Your post doesn't specifically have to use the "LML" label (although you're welcome to use it if you'd like.) But if you have any kind of happy, positive Monday message that you'd like to share you're welcome to join. The more happy vibes, the better the Monday!