December 7, 2005
Winter sort of crept up on me this year. I was bitching nonstop about the seemingly endless heat and humidity at the end of summer, and then we bought a house, and now it's 20 degrees outside, there's a winter storm in the forecast, and the sun goes down at 4:30 PM. I am not prepared for this.
We haven't put up any holiday lights, we haven't written our Christmas letter or got our Christmas cards or even taken the yearly photo for the Christmas cards, for that matter. Frankly I'm not even sure if the photo and letter are going to happen this year. It's been a little hectic, to put it mildly.
However, in my defense, I will point out that we have been taking the kids out to do Fun Holiday Stuff on a regular basis. This past weekend was the city's annual Christmas festival, complete with parade. I was going to take the kids to the parade anyway, and then Keith called me from work on Wednesday or Thursday to ask if we wanted to be in the parade.
Apparently, the post office sends a couple of trucks to drive in the parade, at the very end right before Santa Claus. Postal workers walk behind the trucks with mailbags collecting letters for Santa. It is festive and jolly, which are two words not often associated with the USPS, so I told Keith that I thought it would be criminal for us not to go and take part in the fun.
The original plan was for Zeke to ride up front in the truck next to his Daddy, and for me to tow Stazi behind the truck in our red wagon. However, it was approximately 9 bajillion degrees below zero on Sunday, so Stazi and the red wagon and I all wound up riding on the back of the truck and waving hi to all the paradegoers. Zeke instantly bonded with the (nephew? son? brother?) of one of the other postal workers, and they happily argued and traded toys and punched each other for most of the parade. Stazi looked suitably adorable for most of the route, although the cold and the overstimulation finally got to her about a mile before the finish, and she spent the last little bit of the parade wailing piteously in my arms.
However, I would say that overall it was a good time.
My other concession to the holiday season has to been to get chai eggnog lattes from Starbucks and share them with the kids. I think that probably more than makes up for the lack of decorative lights here at the house.
Posted at December 7, 2005 11:08 AM