A Tisket, a Tasket...He Ain't Gettin' in the Damn Basket.

We got to the mall and he was in a GREAT MOOD.
He looked so handsome in his plaid shortalls that his Gigi bought for him.

We get in line and their eyes meet.....

Big smiles all AROUND!

We are so gonna OWN this picture.
 When it's our turn, he walks right up!
Even waving hello!
YESSSSS!


But then it's time for him to sit in his lap and smile for the camera....


NOT.SO.MUCH.

They're friends and all, but they're not THAT close.

There were no screams or tears, but it was clear that there weren't going to be any snuggles or smiles either.


Sigh.

At least it's a step up from our run-in with Santa....

I think.


Guys! Ahhhhhhhhhhh! Look at how little he was last year!!!!!!

I may cry.

....excuse me. 
SOB.

Gettin' all Holly Jolly up in this mug!

Or, maybe not so much...

O's visit to Santy this year was a little dicey.

But, C'mon, how cute is that picture?

Husband said that I just enjoy schadenfreude.

I say that I enjoy adorable....

Speaking of  adorable (as in adorably loud), my angel of a son who is supposed to be napping is now screaming from his crib.

I gotta go.

I'm waaaay behind!

How is it December? 
(I still need to complete my last TOP entry...sorry'boutTHAT.)

I've completely been dropping the ball on my blogging and tweeting...

Truth be told, Twitter intimidates me. It's so all-consuming. I feel like I can't keep up, and need a crackberry/iphone/smartphone/compuphone to just maintain...


No thank you.

I'm not going to delete the account. but I've given up the ghosty of being all tweet-pro.

As for my blog, I reaalllly wanted to try and do at least 1 short post a day, with at least 1 meatier one a week, but so far, that hasn't happened either...

This is partially because I feel like it's silly.

Who wants to hear from ME on a daily basis? Isn't that a bit indulgent?
My life revolves around Elmo and shoring the tides of laundry that flow through my life.
This is not thought-provoking content.

I'm just not feeling particularly interesting these days...

Side Note: Does any one else feel like they've gotten drastically less intelligent since they became a mother?

Or am I experiencing my own personally deserved intellectual decay?

The other day, I couldn't remember how to spell knowledgeable.

Really?!

I used to be an editor for CRYING OUT LOUD. Now I'm stumped by an elementary-school vocab word.

For Shaaaaame.


Moving swiftly along-

We bought a new car! Yay! Well, new to us. It is a pre-owned 2010 Chevy HHR.

Yes, it was going to be tough to add yet another bill to our pile, but the time had come, and the Jetta needed to be put out to pasture, so we decided to at least look...


And as luck would have it, we found the perfect car for us at a amazing deal. 
 After showing it to my FIL, who is very savvy about these things, and getting the thumbs up from him, we decided that we were gonna go for it!

We were terrified, but we needed to pull the trigger.

THEN, on the way to the dealership, my ILs call to tell us that they've decided what to give us for Christmas....

They TOTALLY helped us out in the down payment arena in a very generous (and-completely-unnecessary-but-we'll-TAKE-IT kind of ) way.

I was bawling and GRATEFUL and sorta unsure if we were being "Punk'd" or not....but we weren't, so we signed the papers and drove home in our Shiny NEEEEEW CAAAAAAAAR!

We love it. I LOVE it.

I hated my husband's old car. It had a lot of bad Juju for me.  As my dear Father-in-law put it so perfectly:

"I can't say I'm sad to see that see that Blue Bitch go..."
 (I truly heart my FIL)




Indeed.

So sure it's another bill, but it's WELL worth it.

Goodbye, Mika...
Helllllllllooooo Julius!

Happy Hanukkah AND Merry Christmas, my friends!


Ps. I need someone to come over and watch Christmas movies with me whilst eating sugary holiday treats.

My hubs is a little scroogey and won't participate.  He teases me about being a bad Jew. He's right, but whatever...I ADORE Christmas.

And I light a Menorah.  I might even make Latkes. While eating Peppermint Bark....





Who's with me?

Dear Santy...

Hey Mister C!

I know it's been awhile since we've had any correspondence, but it's never to late to reconnect, right?

I need a favor. I need you to bring me some big-ticket items this Holiday Season. Yes, I know I'm almost 30. I know you've got that happiness of children across the world to worry about...nonetheless. 

(Let's be honest, you can squeeze me in.)

I have been a very good girl and this has been a very hard year. 

Here is what I'd like for Christmas:

1. I want to be debt-free. No more credit card, student loan, or medical debt. It's gonna run you about a $100,000.00 but trust me, it'll be worth it.

2. A new car. Our Jetta is dying, and really? SO NOT a family car. We'd really like the Chevy HHR. We found a lovely pre-owned one a CarMax-making your job THAT much easier.

That's it! That's all I want...well, I'd love health insurance, but I'm trying to be realistic here.

As the Jolliest of all Elves, I know you can make this happen. Pull some strings, call your friends (Oprah has GOT to be on your speed dial, and she could do this in her SLEEP.), work your Kringly magic.

I could really use a Christmas miracle this year, sir. 

(And not to drag up the past, but this would TOTALLY make up for all the years you accidentally "missed" my house.)

Love,

CJ

PS. Fulfilling my Christmas Wish does not negate your duties to my son. He's not old enough to write letters or know who you are, but someday, he will. I would expect that his letters will be assessed fairly.

[In the event that this doesn't pan out, I've also written to Ellen.]