Until Today

Until today, I thought that Rudolph was a white boy with a stuffy nose.

Until Today, I didn't have a cold.

Until Today, Soren was 12 and I was going to make him a carrot cake.
Until Today, there was no snow on the fake cranes.

Until Today, I had never seen a note to Santa that had the audacity to ask if HE had been good this year (there's a space for him to answer) or cookies laid out for him that already had bites taken.
Until Today, I haven't said Merry Christmas to all of you!

Straight No Chaser

I don't know about you, but I'll take my Christmas straight, no chaser.

Gye Nyame

Some of the people Cyler does business with are from Ghana, and are specifically Akan. I am preparing to have them for dinner and so I am doing research--food, customs, collective unconscious stuff. (Am I weird in that I want to know what someone thinks about God so I can cook them a good meal?)

Meaning: “Except God”
The above Symbol stands for the omnipotence and the omnipresence of God. “I fear no one, except God.”
From the Akan aphorism “Abode santann yi firi tete; obi nte ase a onim ne ahyease, na obi ntena ase nkosi ne awie, gye Nyame.”
Literal translation: “This great panorama of creation dates back to time immemorial; no one lives who saw its beginning and no one will live to see its end, except God.” (I love this--this is now scripture for me.)
The symbol reflects the Akan belief of a supreme being, the creator who they refer to by various names, e.g., Oboadee, Nyame, Onyankopon Twer.

OK, now I am ready to start building a menu.

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All I want for Christmas. . .

Tallulah

Ms. Bankhead, the last of the Southern Belles, said that "only good girls keep diaries-bad girls never have the time." I don't know about being bad but I certainly have been busy. Friday I was busy being sick and missing Ellery's Christmas Tea. Saturday I was busy getting ready for a house showing and birthday shopping for Soren. Sunday I was busy at my first pro football game, eating LARGE shrimp and talking about Abu Dhabi and horses with the owner of Derr Steel. And now Monday finds me here at work with no pics to show for any of it. Tonight we are exchanging Secret Santa gifts for FHE (family home evening), and then I get to see my Trophy club girlfriends for a bit. Are we all done with Christmas shopping? hah.

Save 76%

On Vogue Patterns! Till tomorrow! I like the dress above. A good harp playing dress.

To my Favorite Cowboy

Happy Birthday Dad!

The Best Bad Idea

Yesterday we got a bad idea for cash poor fun today. Wake up at 6am (on a Saturday. What??) and kidnap our own kids.Miss the train and have to drive to downtown Dallas.

Eat too much food at Cindi's deli. I could retire here.

Stand outside on a corner in 30degree weather and get mobbed by teenage musicians that are as crazy as we to be out in such cold weather.

Nearly avoid being trampled by huge, otherworldly draft horses.

Survive a wrinkle in time back to 1884. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

Brave the Cadence for Clowns.

We were then heavily recruited to be part of a patriarchal militant fascist expansionist hierarchy. We politely declined, commenting that we were already LDS. (Oh please, laugh. It's a joke)

Instead we're looking to join this communal jumprope team.

Here's the gear I wore for the bad idea. A scarf I knitted.

Ellery, after seeing the Downtown Dallas Children's Christmas Parade said, "You didn't kidnap us, Mom. You 'fun-napped' us."

We also saw:

Miss America

Batman

Strawberry Shortcake

Madeline

Pancake Pig

Iron Man

Incredible Hulk

A trumpet band member in a wheel chair

Drill team members in desparate need of cold weather uniforms (I declare their short skirts and flimsy tops a matter of national feminist concern. The poor girls were Fah-reezing!)

Nevertheless, this was the best bad idea we have had since Global Homeschool. And we have had several of them between then and now.

Serious Research

I have been doing "research." Cyler calls it HBS-ing (Hair Brained Scheme-ing). But just look at these two.

Tennesse walkers are naturally gaited so they make great trail horses. They are in Texas. They are half brothers. I want them.

Snow on Rosemary

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