Here we go a wassailing....

Not really, I just couldn't think of another title for this post. 

It's been almost three weeks since I've been here. I've been furiously shopping and after a quick trip to Dallas and more online shopping, I'm almost finished with Christmas 2016's hopes and dreams. OK, that's not really true, I'm almost finished with some wants for Christmas, some needs for Christmas and HO HO HO, Santa is donzos again. Frankly, Santa's pretty tired of making sure people are happy and not disappointed. The pressure is real.

My house is a wreck just in time to celebrate the birth of Jesus. My house has always been too small by half, with NO extra closets able to hide all the clutter. And spoiler alert: I'm not getting a new one for Christmas. My one real dream for Christmas will always be to get a brand new car with the biggest reddest bow on the top and when I open the door and see it sitting in my driveway, I'll be shocked beyond anything I ever saw in my life. That's probably never gonna happen. John would NEVER do that ever, ever, ever. And that's part of the beauty of the surprise because if he ever did? It would be THE biggest shock of my life. But you see the irony? If he did, but he's not gonna, but if he did, but he's not.....I'm gonna stop now.

Here's what, in reality, I'm working with. John ordered one pair of house shoes for me yesterday that I SENT HIM THE LINK TO and he was griping as if I'd sent him to eight stores and four cities, only to come home with nothing. So I think I might never expect to see a new car in the driveway on Christmas morn. I'll let you know if I ever do. 

Moving on....Owen's out of school for a month. He works for the admin at ULM and when he arrived home last week with his gift from the office ladies, it caused a stir and a phone call. As he was leaving the office before the holiday he grabbed his gift from them and hurried out the door. When he got home he hadn't opened it and so I asked him to. It was then he pulled out a bottle of body wash, a loufah and hand sanitizer. After seeing what I believed to be a hint, I said, "They think you stink." To which he replied with a shrug of his shoulders, "Eh." As if to say, it's possible. After a brief discussion between the two of us, he offered up a dare in the form of the office phone number as well as a, "Please call them." 

Challenge accepted. 

So I did. He was gobsmacked. 

After exchanging pleasantries, I got straight to the point and asked the lady to whom I was speaking, "Do y'all think Owen stinks?" Not to my surprise she seemed shocked and asked me to repeat myself. So I did. It was as if she was trying to absorb what was happening while being stuck somewhere between laughter and total shock. She managed between her giggles to say they had such a difficult time thinking of something to buy the boys, (so they went right to bodily cleaning products...my description not hers). 

We soon ended our convo and I assured her I wasn't offended because I know my son's personal hygiene regime....or lack thereof...and she assured me I hadn't offended them as well. To say my son was stunned and amazed is the understatement of this century.

Speaking of crazy, it's that part of me that keeps my kids (even though they're grown) slightly unsure and a smidge afraid of what I might do when pushed too far. Gotta keep em guessing and be willing to SEEM crazy to make crazy work for you in a positive way. 

Later he tried to make the case for me exaggerating his hygiene processes until I asked him how long it'd been since he smelled a piece of clothing he'd put on his body. He asked how long it'd been since he'd gotten dressed that day. And that, was the period on my sentence as well as the end of the conversation.

In other news, I don't really have any. I'm not sure my life is interesting enough these days to warrant blogging about it. 

I do have one blogging request though and I'll soon begin the process of fulfilling it. 

For the last some amount of years the girls in the family have been making gingerbread houses on Thanksgiving night. It's become a tradition that involves many people watching and participating. Mollie has requested I post all of the gingerbread houses made over the years, and I have good news and bad news on the subject. In looking through my photos I couldn't find that I'd taken pictures of all of them, so I checked with Melanie. Thankfully she was able to fill the gaps and between the two of us, we've covered as many years as I know exist, even though the house made in 2012 is documented with one single photo. What were we all thinking? 

I'm starting with the very first year, 2001, my kids and I made a house out of sugar cubes during the holidays, not Thanksgiving night.

The participants. 

It was a good first effort for us and it sat on the table for the Christmas season. I remember the roof being made of cardboard with the peppermints glued to it. Not a house for eating for sure. BUT. The thing our kids remember about this house the most is, at some point it was set on the floor for some reason. Rosie, our Golden Retriever, found it and despite the cardboard roof, found it to be quite delicious. She in fact enjoyed a good amount of it before she was found out. 

I'm happy to report it didn't make her diabetic and she lived a long life after that event. And it made for a funny memory regarding our first foray into the making of houses of sugar.

With that memory, I'm off to an appointment. Come back to see the other years of houses I'll be posting in the next few days. It will be a flurry of them so I can finish before Christmas! 

I cannot believe Christmas is only 12 days away! 

Christmas is coming....

And the goose is getting fat.

Poor goose, no one likes being told they're fat. It's rude. 

And besides, they weren't worried about the goose getting fat. It was more like, mmmmmmm it's getting fat. Not good for the goose. 

So...what's good for the goose is NOT always good for the gander. 

I've got to stop.