When you have a five year-old, Christmas is more about damage control and survival than pondering on the birth of our Savior. Max had a complete meltdown Christmas Eve that involved a lot of crying, declarations of love and then some sleeping. He was fine on Christmas morning, but he’s been a bit of a loose cannon the past week or so. Christmas is too much, too built up, too all-encompassing and for too long. It’s also probably impossible to change it, what with the stores putting up Christmas decorations before our Thanksgiving turkey is even purchased, and Santa showing up all over the place before all the leaves are off the trees.\
Not that I don’t like Christmas. I really, really do. I love finding the right present for the people I love, and I get all excited to see their faces when they open presents. But, it’s one day. There shouldn’t be two months of build-up, three weeks of insane specials and commercials on TV that get our kids all wound up to the point that they break before the day even gets here.\
I’m not sure what to do. Maybe we’ll go on TV-sabbatical the week before Christmas, just to avoid all the hype. But, we still have to go to the grocery store, to church, etc…\
All in all, we had a really good Christmas. Max got to open two kids’ worth of presents (Brian hasn’t quite got it yet, and was more interested in eating the boxes than playing with new toys), we had ham, and got to hang out with the family. Max and I got new video games, which we’re having lots of fun with (Ratchet & Clank 3 and Paper Mario), and I have this week off.\
OK, maybe Christmas isn’t so bad after all. Still, I could do without the crying.
Category: family
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Christmas Thoughts
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Minimize Me
I can write about this now because it’s working. Have you seen Super Size Me Well, I rented it shortly after it came out on DVD, and it’s changed how I eat. After watching it, Jen and I both decided to completely cut out fast food. So, for the past three months or so, no McD’s, Chik-fil-a, Wendy’s, BK, KFC or Taco Bell. We initially thought it would be difficult because there are those nights where making dinner just seems impossible. But, it’s worked. I haven’t even really been tempted, and I used to eat McD’s, at least for breakfast, at least twice a week.\
It’s worked so well, that I’m back dieting again, and have lost twenty pounds in the last two months. I’m down to my lowest weight since I started trying to diet (I think it was two years ago, but it could have been just one). I now weigh less than most NFL linemen, and I’m inching closer to middle linebacker.\
If you haven’t seen it yet, go rent it. Or, better yet, buy it and loan it to all your friends. It’s amazing the things we’re convinced to put in our bodies, and how our food gets to us. If you get the DVD, you should really watch the Smoking Fry bit, and Morgan’s interview with Eric Schlosser (who wrote Fast Food Nation).\
We also signed up for CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) from Great Country Farms. Max and I went there in August and had a great time. Their produce is excellent, and I can’t wait to get it every week next year.\
Dieting is a lot easier when it’s for something. When it’s not self-deprivation, but for a reason, it’s a whole lot easier. I think I’ll be able to keep the weight off this time (because now, even when I’m not paying attention to what I eat, I’m not gaining anything back, and am still losing weight). It’s not a diet, it’s just how I eat now, which feels great. That isn’t to say we don’t go out anymore. We do, and I still splurge on the occasional country-fried steak. But, we do it at restaurants, not fast food places. On top of that, we try to eat at locally owned places when possible. We eat at Linda’s or Amphora instead of IHOP. We go to Emilio’s when we want good pizza (and boy, it’s good). I’ve got more to say about the local business thing… a whole new project I’m working on (very slowly… keep getting interrupted).\
So… go watch it. It’ll change you. -
My Boys
I’ve been slowly transferring our old MiniDV tapes into iMovie and then burning them on DVD. I’m currently importing the video from our trip to Virginia Beach when Max was about eighteen months old. It’s almost jarring how much Max and Brian look alike. I never figured that my kids would have a “look”. My siblings and I look nothing alike (lucky them, I know). If you hold up pictures of Max and Brian from the same age, they could be twins (or, in some cases, the same kid).\
There were these families when I was a kid where the kids all looked alike. When you saw one, you knew exactly what family they were from. It’s still really foreign to me to think that I’m going to have one of those families. There will be a “Lawver Look™”.\
At least it’s a good one… if we all looked like Quasimodo, I’d be worried. But, man, they’re cute. They’re really, really cute. -
Nana and The Kids
I can’t help it… Since Heather’s not posting it, I’m gonna do it. Here’s my grandmother trying to keep a grip on her great-grandchildren. Have they no respect for their elders? (There are a couple more, but this is my favorite… it’s a kid-splosion!) I love how Brian looks like he’s about to take flight.
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Brian Sits!
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My Oldest Son
We finally got all the pieces of the video camera out and I’m now going through and importing all of our tapes of Max into iMovie so we can burn them on DVD. I’m sitting here watching the video of us “doing the reveal” of Max’s room on his second birthday, and I can’t stop smiling. Max is so much fun. Watching him explore his new room, with its racecar bed, the mural, and everyone there is so great. He was so excited, happy and adorable.
He’s still adorable, still funny, still excited, but it’s different. Not as many things are new, and he can talk in complete sentances, read, and knows everything (or thinks he does, which is as annoying as it is funny). He’s no longer a toddler, no longer walks with the diaper-induced waddle he once did, and won’t sleep on my lap in a little ball anymore.
Max can carry on conversations now. When he was two, there were no conversations. There was a lot of talking to, but the only responses were giggles or an occasional, “Oh Wow!”. Now, there are long conversations about everything. Max asks really good questions, and I occasionally have a good answer for him.
Max, I love watching you grow up. It’s all moving so quickly. You’re your own person now, not just this little ball of cute waiting to know stuff. You’re so smart and funny now, so much smarter and funnier than I ever hoped. Your a good boy, better than I ever thought I’d have. I can’t wait to see how you grow up tomorrow, and for the rest of my life.
The Best Weekend Ever
I took yesterday off (mental health day). I was originally going to take Max to see the new Thunderbirds movie, but he balked at the last minute, so I went looking for something else fun to do. I posted the picture already, but now I have time to tell the whole story. I spied the Loudoun County Farm Products Guide (I don’t remember where I picked it up), and started looking. Originally, I wanted to go visit the Chile Man because he’s only open on weekdays, but Max didn’t seem too excited about sampling 3,000 varieties of peppers and herbs. Then, I spied it, Great Country Farms. They have a website and everything. The list of things you could pick was amazing, and it looked like they had some other stuff to do as well. Boy, did they. Here’s how it went:
- Park, go into country store, pay the \$2.50 admission, get map.
- Try to guess the number of pounds the “average” American eats every year so we can get a prize. I guess thirty-five pounds. Max guesses twenty-five. We’re both way off. Americans eat an average of 125 pounds of potatoes every year. So, for being such miserable guessers, we get a yellow squash.
- Go through the very cool Willow Maze, make Max be the leader so I can blame him when we get stuck (we ended up taking turns because whenever we had to turn around, whoever was in the back was in the front, and therefore the leader).
- Find the “giant slide”, which was really a big plastic tube mounted on a little hill. It was probably fifteen feet long, and Max loved it. Watch as the boy gets extremely dusty as he figures out at least a dozen different ways to go down the slide to achieve maximum dustiness.
- After a thorough dusting, we decide to go pick blackberries. We get two little containers and a plastic bag and head over to the berry patch. We have a great time sitting on the ground looking for the biggest, ripest, blackest berries. Max decides he’s much better at finding the berries than picking them, “because I squish them”, he says (with a really cute little hand gesture to go along with it).
- After filling up both containers, we decide to go pick potatoes, since I’ve never picked a potato before, and we both like digging. We hop in the truck, drive down a dirt road, stop, get out, grab a big man-sized shovel and get to work. Let me tell you, digging for potatoes is a blast. It’s like looking for treasure. We pick up what we thought was a potato only to have it crumble in our hands… a sneaky dirt ‘tater (Max loves that phrase now, and has been calling me a dirt ‘tater for the past thirty-six hours). After finding the best possible three pounds of potatoes and putting them in our plastic bag, we start heading back in the truck.
- Before we’ve got a hundred yards though, we spy the most gorgeous tomatoes I’ve ever seen. I have to stop. I get out, grab another plastic bag, and set out to teach Max how to pick a tomato. Here’s how we explained it to my mom last night: “You gotta get down there, grab the tomato and twist it. Then it comes off!” Yup, that’s pretty much it. These tomatoes are heavenly. They’re big, meaty and delicious. Best tomatoes ever.
- Then we drove back down the dusty dirt road, and Max got to do the “coolest thing ever in my life”… he got to sit in the front seat. Now, before you call a social worker… we were on a dirt road, going five miles an hour, he was in a seatbelt and there’s no airbag up there. Plus, he was so excited, I couldn’t take it back after I offered it.
- We got back to the “country store”, picked out some corn, paid for our twelve pounds of produce and started driving home. Max promptly fell asleep, and I couldn’t stop smiling.
We had such a good time. The place has a lot of other cool things we didn’t do. We’re definitely going back!!
In other local news, we’ve found the best apple pie ever. There’s a little place called Mom’s Apple Pie Company on Sterling Blvd. (they have two or three other places in the area too). They use local ingredients in their pies, which is really cool. Now, if that were it, oh well, it’s local. But, this apple pie is the best. The crust is light a flakey, with a great buttery taste. The apples taste like apples and not just cinnamon and syrupy goo. It’s just heavenly.
Some day, I’m going to share my thoughts on supporting “local” businesses, but not right now. I’m too tired after this weekend. Satisfied, but tired (I stained our new fence today, and it actually looks good). I’m going to go to bed and dream of big tomatoes and dirty potatoes.
My Niece
Tim better be careful. Samantha’s going to be a handful. That’s a “take no crap from nobody” face. Hide the guns and your little boys!!