Merry Christmas!!

You are 'Silent Night'! You really enjoy
Christmas, and you like your Christmases
conventional. For you, Christmas is about
family and traditions, and you rather enjoy the
rituals of going to church at midnight and
turning off the lights before flaming the plum
pudding. Although you find Christmas shopping
frustrating, you like the excitement of
wrapping and hiding presents, and opening a
single door on the Advent Calendar each day.
You like the traditional carols, and probably
teach the children to sing along to them. More
than anyone else, you will probably actually
have a merry Christmas.


What Christmas Carol are you?
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I rather like this result. It's one of my favorites, simply because it's the song that we sang when we had the candlelight portion of Christmas Eve Services. It makes me think of my grandmother.

Most. Annoying. Set of Sentences. EVER.

"Your application for admission has entered the committee review process. This process usually takes several weeks."

Okay UGA School of Law. You rejected his wife 10 years ago. Well, 11. But anyway, throw him a bone! PLEEEEAAASSE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wrapping Presents and the meaning of "Touchdown"

Last night, as I sat wrapping my 50th through 53d presents for this Christmas Season, I reflected on the year and what it's brought into and taken away from my life. In all, it's been an average year. However, when you look at it in terms of standard deviation.... Ah, the numbers geek comes out in me again. More on that later, I guess.

I sat wrapping the last present I will give to my boss with a fake smile across my face. I pride myself in the gifts I give - I try very hard to ensure that what I give to the person is something that person will enjoy, regardless of my feelings about that person. I hope that in the future, I will be able to give genuinely to my boss, and not some token of the event at hand. At the same time, she genuinely appreciates what I get for her - and she knows it's something I put together, even if the entire staff's name is on it.

As I sat wrapping these gifts on the kitchen floor, Miss Baby sat in her highchair, smearing a concoction of mac 'n cheese and bananas all over herself (and, thankfully, scooping some into her mouth). She then figured out that banana bits make excellent projectiles. She tossed one and said "oh-oohhh". I got one back for her, and she stuck her hands in the air and said "Tah-daaahhhhhnnn".** She thinks this is what one does when one is happy and pleased with oneself.

I thought about the presents I've bought. See, a lot of people will be getting presents from me, under the guise of it being from someone else. My mother in law can thank my sister in law for the green sweater set I got for her. My mom can thank my Dad for the lovely pieces in her Stainless. My daughter can thank my sister for the adorable Piano. Miss M and Miss Baby can thank their grandma for the Chemistry Set and Little People Tea Set. I can thank my husband for a few things, even!

And that makes me happy - I like it that I can go out and take care of those kinds of things for people. My sister in law lives in New Orleans and works in Gulfport, MS. She's in a major dispute with her landlord. She has no time. My sister just bought a new house and is trying to sell hers, while having a toddler on-hand. My mother in law is recently widowed - she just can't deal with a lot of this stuff right now. My husband and father... well, they're boys. What do you expect?

So today, my mother in law arrives and it begins. My sister in law flies in Friday night (we'll have her a birthday cake when she arrives - her birthday was Monday). We pack up on Saturday, and Sunday late morning, we leave, get Miss M at noon, and drive the SERIOUSLY LOADED Minivan to the farm for Christmas. My mom is so damn excited to have 13 people plus two infants around her dining room table, she doesn't know what to do with herself.

So, I smile and think to myself - "Touchdown!" as I stick my arms up in the air. I've done good, and I'm happy, and life will be okay.

---
** See, my husband and I are sports nuts, and so we've taught her to stick her hands in the air and say "touchdown". She said it A LOT during the Texas Game on Saturday (even though it was basketball). I love my kid!

Used to, I just thought I was cool

Now, I *know* that I rule!!

"A venerated sage with vast power and knowledge, you gently guide forces around you while serving as a champion of the light.

Judge me by my size, do you? And well you should not - for my ally is the Force. And a powerful ally it is. Life greets it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us, and binds us. Luminescent beings are we, not this crude matter! You must feel the Force around you, everywhere."

Hell, yeah - I rock!

Blue Santy

Miss Baby accompanied Mr. Mac and me to Wal-Mart (yeah, it's evil - save it) for the procurement of Christmas Delights and a birthday gift for a neighbor kid. So we roamed around the store, marveling at the conglomeration of crap contained therein. It took some *serious* willpower for me to leave the snowman who sang "Ice Ice, Baby" and for Mr. Mac to leave Grumpy Santa (who was really hilarious).

So we roamed about the store looking at things when Miss Baby shrieked her "OMIGOD MA - THAT THING IS CUTE" Shriek. I looked to see what she thought was so darn cute and saw that it was, in fact, a stuffed Santa. A Duke blue and white stuffed Santa. In a big bin of doggie chew toys. Yeah, my child managed to pick out a doggie chew toy as her stuffed creature of choice.

So we grabbed Blue Santy (as he's now known) and put him in the cart with her. She loved him and shrieked at him and cooed at him. She even gave him a very complementary hurl across the aisle, and cried out for his return. She was clearly hooked on the $3.97 bundle of blue/white fuzzy squeakiness. Every time she mushed his belly he squeaked and she LAUGHED. So we had to get him, no question.

The only other event of the day was when we had to pay for Blue Santy. We took him away from Miss Baby, and she (of course!) cried. Then the Wal-Mart Wench wouldn't let me give him back to her - she insisted Blue Santy go in a bag with "the other merchndise" until after I'd left the store. So I made sure I kept squalling Miss Baby as close to her as long as possible. When we cleared the automatic doors, Mr. Mac rescued Blue Santy from his white plastic bag, removed the tags, and gave him to Miss Baby. She squealed with glee!!

Miss Baby's RADS Crap

I've finally gotten a name for Miss Baby's condition - it's called "Reactive Airway Disease Syndrome". It's unclear how this occurred in her. According to DrSears.com, it could be due to a cold she got at a very young age. She had a bad one at about 4 months (not long after I stopped breast feeding). Apparently, one of the major things that help prevent this condition in children is... yep... breastfeeding.

So now I'm all guilty.

But it's pitiful. She wheezes and hacks her little cough. She gets winded. We have to give her medicine via a nebulizer, which she LOATHES (it requires her to be still). She gets a sinus infection (you're welcome sweetie - it's a lifetime of fun, really!) which causes a slight fever, which is just high enough to make her completely miserable.

So I'm dead tired, and I'm sad, and I feel horribly guilty that I may could have done something to avoid all this.

At the end of the day, she's okay, and I'm thankful for that. She'll grow out of this condition and be just fine. She's very healthy and happy and all of that. And so we've got that going for us.

Which is nice.

Whoa Atlanta!

So it comes as no secret that the Mac Family went to Atlanta this past weekend. It's a LOOONG ole way up I-75 from Tampa to Atlanta. There are over 1,000 additional miles on my car as a result of the 20+ hours we spent in it from Thursday at 5 until Sunday at 5.

We went to see The REAL Santa Claus at Phipps Plaza. What a wonderful thing that was, to boot! He was fabulous. Spent a good 5 minutes with Miss M and Miss Baby talking about Christmas Joy and whatnot. Miss Baby wasn't so sure of him, but she did stay still long enough for us to get a picture, which I should have in another week or two. Heh. Miss M, however, was rapt. She hung on every word. It was worth the hassle. Funniest of all - we had my dad along with us, and of course, he got the videotape as well! :-)

After this, we went to my sister's house in Buckhead. Traffic in Atlanta is horrific, at best. On Friday afternoon during Christmas Shopping Season....

I got to see my neice, M&M. She's walking now. More accurately, let's say running. She's like Forrest Gump - whenever she is going somewhere, she is running. She can also say "Ball" and "uh-oh spaghetti-oh!". She thinks that "uh-oh-satti-oh" means, "Please get me that thing I threw across the room now." Susanna was rapt. She took notes. I tried to cover her eyes, but I'm afraid she's been corrupted by her cousin. Again!

That evening, we left the babies with my sister's nanny and took Miss M to see the Rockettes at the Fox Theater. WOW! It has STARS on the ceiling and EVERYTHING. This place is MAGIC - It's like HOGWARTS!!!! I died laughing.

She sat, leaned all the way forward, breathing down the neck of the poor gentleman in front of her. I would have felt sorry for him, but he had a little girl next to him, who was leaning as far as she could, breathing down the neck of the person in front of her. I think he understood, just like many of the granddads in that building that evening. Miss M was able to finagle a Rockette Barbie from my dad, and she had an overall great time.

Saturday was a whirl - we did portraits in the morning, and went back to my sister's so that all little and big girls could take naps. Miss M took the longest of the three. Then, mom, my sis and I all went out to Lenox Mall. On a Saturday. During Christmas AND while the SEC Championship Game is in town. Fun, I tell ya. I've never seen so many people in one place in my life. I'm just glad we didn't try to take Miss M to go ride the Pink Pig again this year. I think that will be a strictly early-November activity from now on, given the state of Lenox and Buckhead!

In all, at the end of the day, Mr. Mac had a WONDERFUL visit with the Dean of Admissions at UGA Law. He feels much better than he did before, but we still just want to have the acceptance in-hand. So hopefully that will work out for us all.

And maybe I can find the job that's right for me. And go home. Finally.

GO DUKE!

Take THAT, Seth Greenberg. You little twit.

Overheard from a certain Black-headed 8 year old: "Daddy - why are you screaming? What's wrong? Why are you using basketball words - it's not even past Christmas yet!"

Hunger Pangs

This article in today's NY Times Fashion & Style section discusses the fact that "grown-ups" suffer from "hunger crankiness" as well as do kids.

Thanks for pointing out the obvious.

This has been a long-known factoid around the Mac household. In general, I'm the offendor. If it's been too long since my last meal, the low blood sugar kicks in, and I'm a real bitch. I have a snap temper to begin with, but if I'm hungry... BEWARE.

Nice to know that I'm not so weird. That others have the same affliction. Maybe I can get over my hunger crankies now that my stomach seems to be accepting small bits of very bland food again.

LET'S GO DUKE!

Last night was sweet. Duke took one away from Indiana IN ASSEMBLY HALL before screaming, painted fans of their own, as well as Indiana glitterati. Schweet! Old time hoops like it should be. Can someone tell me why we don't have more of these kinds of games on our schedule? We should tour around the "hostile" arenas of the nation, toughening our guys up for the long road in March. But, I digress.

In the 2002 NCAA Tournament, Indiana beat Duke in the regionals of the NCAA. I think it was the Sweet 16 game. Anyway, after the game, Mike Davis (whose team had just physically mauled and man-handled Duke) talked about how "God wanted IU to beat Duke".

Bull hocky.

I'm sorry, but I don't think God really cares who wins a damn game, Mike Davis. To all you prayers who thank God for that catch - I don't think that's his interest. What He cares about is that you use the talents he gave you to suit His will as best you can.

I'm a Christian. I have my own views, but they comport well with the Bible (though not well with what James Dobson/Pat Robertson/Shrubya try to tell me the Bible says). I acknowledge that I have faults and that I fall well short of the ideal set forth by Jesus. One thing I detest, however, is when people use the Bible, or God/Jesus, or any religion at all to somehow prop up his or her political/personal/moral views.

But the subset of that which I especially detest is when people use God to somehow prop up their SPORTS TEAM. Yeah, their SPORTS TEAM.

Please.

So, Mike Davis, did God send you a message last night? Yeah, I thought so - it's only about God when you win.

At any rate, I'm pleased that, in the secular world, my Blue Devils are back on top. I know we'll stumble and fall at some point this year, but I'm so glad (at least for today) it wasn't to Mike Davis (gaggg!) and Indiana.

So, Let's Go DUKE!