Homespun Christmas

Last year we finished a family room in our basement one week before Christmas. I don't know quite why we call it a family room, in actuality it is a shrine that houses our "family Christmas gift", a 46" flat screen television. In truth I rarely go down to that room. Not because I don't like it, (I almost have it decorated to my specifications) but because I rarely sit and watch television. With a room separate from the rest of my house I can't go in and out of it putting things away, or make dinner while a movie is on. It wouldn't make sense to fold the laundry while watching TV downstairs because my laundry room is upstairs. So I guess the newly, almost finally decorated room makes me uneasy. What? I have to do nothing but sit here and watch TV? I don't think I've watched a movie without doing something domestic in my house, or for my house in fourteen years. Who has the time?
So this year my husband and I decided to put the family room to good use, we were going to celebrate Christmas in it.
We set up two Christmas trees. One upstairs which is decked out with new decorations and to the vision of my husband (Everything new. Everything in traditional red and traditional green). Which I found endearing he had so much interest in the look of the Christmas tree we were going to showcase in our front room window. The second tree was of course put up in the basement. This was our sentimental/kid-friendly tree adorned with homemade ornaments and paper ones the kids made at school over the years. We even bought colored lights for this tree, it just seemed a little more whimsical with bright lights.
Christmas Eve, the kids are finally in bed, and pretending to be asleep. We have finished wrapping the gifts and were transporting them from under the grand tree to the basement tree. We were deeply concerned because we didn't buy large amounts of toys this year. We decided to invest in a Wii and bought each child a few games to go with it and then bought token toys (mostly non-electronic)as basically filler.
That night, we experienced the worst snow storm in something like 30 years. My husband happened to be awake around 6:30 when he heard the power go out. The humming just stopped. He waited and waited for it to flicker back on, but nothing happened. I was oblivious. I was tired and I was asleep at 6:30 on a non-school, non-work morning. The kids came into our bedroom at 7:30, reverberating with excitement. When can we open presents? Do we think Santa came?
Unfortunately, our power was off. Unfortunately, the family room in our basement only has one window in it. I decided to go downstairs and see if with the blinds open, we could see anything. I went down. While trying to navigate in the dark around corners, couches, the coffee table and the presents I realized my kids were right, it is scary down here at night. I finally made it to the window and opened the blinds. It hardly made a difference. So my husband and I began bringing up the gifts and putting them under our upstairs tree. My kids were now vibrating with anticipation. My husband had put the Wii game and its components and all the games aside with a label of an X to know which ones were which. My kids unwrapped their gifts in probably 8.8 seconds (we try every year to be organized and drag out the unwrapping experience and every year it takes only 8.8 seconds). My kids were visibly shaken with what they received. Clothes, socks, and about two non-electronic toys each. They are really good people, my kids, they didn't want to hurt our feelings. They really liked the socks, they needed the socks, the toys were good and they liked the shirt and pants they received. We then let them open the "X" boxes. Shrieks and shrills ricocheted off our walls, and this was minimal compared to my husband's Whoo-hoos!
When the presents were undone and we looked at the mess in our dimly lit room, we realized, all four of us, that our power was still out. We couldn't set up and play the Wii. Christmas was ruined!:)
I pulled out one of the non-beeping, no lights and no buzzing family board games the kids ignored almost immediately after unwrapping it. It so happened to be the game of Life. And like "real life" this game was complicated to set up, you had to figure out what things were and what components went where. My husband sat behind a big sheet of instructions and called out what we were suppose to do to set the board up properly. Finally, he read,"OK, to begin playing, start..." The entire house revved up into an electronic frenzy. The humm was back. We had power.
The kids jumped up, throwing their blue and purple plastic "Life" cars in the air, "Let's set up the Wii!" and all three of them (my two kids and my husband) were gone.
I don't know how much I'll play the Wii. It is located downstairs in the basement where I can't do anything else but be downstairs. But I have to say, it's fun. So far I've played a few different games, my husband is trying to sell me on it. I had fun, but then funnest part was knocking the snot out of him playing Boxing.

Santa Cause?

I have a bone to pick with Santa and his elves.
Last Monday night my husband and I took our two children to see Santa at the Fashion Place Mall. We waited, and waited, with the long line not moving and my six year old starting to fall apart. My almost eleven year old and my husband left us in line and went looking at Christmas present ideas, 45 minutes later they found us in the exact same spot, in line behind a lot of sad and tired families.
The reason the line hadn't moved was because Santa and his elves had been unsuccessfully, working to get two dogs to pose and look at the camera for their picture. The two dogs weren't together, and they weren't being posed with their owners either.
There sat Santa with "Fluffy" and three elves with squeaky toys trying to get the animal to look at the camera. When ever they were close to a shot they thought worked, the elves would snap the picture, the owner would walk over to the computer screen and then shake their heads. No, the camera didn't really capture "Fluffy" and the elves needed to try again. I was so irritated. My son was so irritated. The woman behind us with a large, and very young family was irritated. Being from a large family myself, I understand her frustration. You see, the longer your family has to wait for a picture to be taken, the messier the kids become. She was on a count-down and was running out of precious "clean photo" minutes.
In between "Fluffy" and then "Fido" a baby was placed on Santa's lap. The baby immediately began sobbing. I didn't blame him. Who was this guy with a fake white furry face and why is mommy leaving me with him?
The baby wouldn't stop crying, so the elves delivered the baby back to his mom waiting beside the camera. That's when another elf brought dog number two,"Fido" to Santa, and the whole "look at me, puppy" and squeaky toys resumed. Luckily "Fido" was a professional and it only took two shots to make its owner happy.
Then mommy and screaming infant went back to Santa's lap. Was I missing something? Why do they get to try again? Baby isn't happy. Baby doesn't want to sit on Santa's lap. Baby doesn't even know who Santa is!
From the side door, that led to more Mall parking came a man walking a bigger dog towards Santa's Photo Workshop. The man didn't come over to where the line was, instead he walked over to one of the elves and talked to him, mono y' mono. The elf then announced to the other elves and Santa, that dog number three was going to get his picture taken. Was this a joke?
I began looking for the sign that instructed all dogs and owners were to receive preferential treatment and to butt in line.
I became enraged.
I had been waiting in line for 45 minutes waiting to see Santa with my cute, but now discouraged six year old. He had a list of presents he had been reciting in the car on the way to the mall. He believed in Santa. He actually knew who Santa was. He would look at the camera, on cue. I would buy the pictures, all the pictures of my kids on Santa's lap. And, I knew that both my six year old and my almost eleven year old would not pee on Santa's knee nor would they try to bite his fingers if Santa touched them on the head.
The world is crazy, right?
I'm not ignorant of the love between owner and pet. I love my dog. I admit, I like to take him in the car with me when I run errands or have to pick up my kids from Basket Ball practice, but come on! When did it become alright to choose a dog's time with Santa Clause over a hopeful child's?
We never got to meet with Santa last Monday night.
With dog number three waiting in the wings, I just didn't have the patience.
We are going to visit Santa, but perhaps at a different mall, and we will probably have to wait in a long line, again. I just hope it will be a dog-free experience this time.