Jingle Bells and Whoopie Pies

Let other families go over the river and through the woods...the Temple Family heads to The City for our Christmas fun.
Even the car ride was harmonious as the kids compared iphone apps and took silly pictures of themselves.

No, there's nothing wrong with your eyes...Hill took these pics with some kind of app on her phone, making them look...retro?
Anyway, after enjoying some marvelous Mongolian food we hit the stores, collecting Christmas in the form of clothing, cologne, and cds.

And of course, in the car between stores, we did a few quick-changes.  Because who can resist wearing their new stuff right away?  I introduced Hillary to this fabulousness...

where she was pampered and prettied and persuaded to buy a few face necessities.
But the highlight of the day happened at Starbucks.
Hubby eased up to the drive-thru speaker where he placed our orders, one at a time...a mocha for me...a peppermint latte for himself...and then my Big Burly Guy looked at that speaker and with a straight face said, "...and one Whoopie Pie."  At this point I was the one doing the whooping.  With laughter that is.  I'm sure the poor clerk inside was rolling his eyes.  Hubby accused Hillary of ordering this just so he would have to say the word "whoopie".  She couldn't defend herself because she was laughing so hard.

We ended our evening with Sherlock Holmes...

..and popcorn and sodas and contraband candy smuggled in by purse and by pocket.
And I wanted to exclaim
as they turned down the lights...
"Merry Christmas to all!
It has been a GREAT night!"

Orna-MENTAL

Recently, a helpful friend of mine pointed out to me just how many weeks, days, and hours it had been since my last blog post.  She was wondering when I might feel inspired again.  I explained to her that I try to keep this blog about happy, positive things.  And since our lives have resembled a chapter straight out of A Series of Unfortunate Events since Thanksgiving, I haven't had much good to write about.
It's enough to drive a girl mental.
You know...call the crazy house and reserve a bed kind of "mental".
But then I looked at my bare-except-for-lights Christmas tree and decided to go ORNA-mental instead.  I will put it all on the tree.
Here is a little car that I smashed up with a hammer on the front end to represent the real car Parker wrecked.  (He wasn't hurt at all...Christmas miracle!)
And hanging from a pretty red ribbon is the burned out furnace plates we had to replace last week.
A tiny gas can to remind me that I ran out of gas IN OUR DRIVEWAY the other morning before school.
And that Dust Bunny on a hook?  That tells the story of my broken vacuum cleaner.  Thank goodness I have a generous sister who lives a few miles away and is willing to share her Hoover.
But wait...here's another box of ornaments!
These will remind me of what DIDN'T happen to me this Christmas season.
I place an ugly little elf on the tree.  And although I occasionally still have nightmares in which a purple dinosaur sings through his large nose about his love for me, I thank my lucky stars that my kids aged out before Elf on a Shelf made his appearance!  At least Barney was in charge of his own magic and didn't expect me to move him around in the middle of the night.
And this subpoena over here by the bottom branch?  That reminds me that I DIDN'T have to go to court this week.  (Dear Crazy Lady, I'm your kids TEACHER not your custody mediator!)
And here's one more - a dollar bill - to show how I DIDN'T lose the kids' Christmas.  Like that layer of fat around your heart that your body won't let you use, even if you starve to death, I craftily held on to the Christmas money by hiding it in the deep freeze in a bowl labeled "leftover pea soup".  Neither Hubby nor Insurance Agent managed to find it.  So our annual Family Christmas Shopping Day is safe!
There...finished!
Now I have a full tree... and a full heart!
Merry Christmas :)