Quick Takes

1. Holiday-specific sweaters.  Do you wear them?  Am I a dork because I do?  I overheard a conversation in a store about how a woman wouldn't be caught dead in one -- and, thank heavens, I wasn't wearing one at the time. Because, well, I have to tell the truth.  As independent and stinkin' as I like to consider myself, I would have ducked out of sight before those women caught sight of me in my snowman sweater. But I like my snowman sweater, and my autumn leaf sweaters, and my Fourth-of-July jumper --  and I'm not going to give them all to Goodwill now because I've gotten wind of a classier dresser's opinion.  There was a time in my life when I would have heard a comment about looking-dorky-wear and avoided the said item like the plague ever afterward.  (Yeah, I was like that as a young adult. ) Now I cringe a little maybe, but, then I get my stubborn mama on.  Daggone it, I like my snowman sweater.  So I guess I like being dorky. (But, I still might hide behind a clothes rack if I know you think I'm dorky...)

2. I just found this wooden sign at a thrift store the other day.  I like Blatant Message Decor.  I have little reminders all over my house like this.  I can't help myself.  I see a funny little sign, I have to buy it and I have to hang it up somewhere.   But here's the thing.  The sad thing.  I had this idea when we moved back to our little eastern Colorado home that, after years of shabby-chic meets country-sloppy,  I was finally ready for a simple, elegant -- yay, even sparse decorating theme.  Less to clean, less to dust. Doesn't that seem like a good idea?  But, I just don't seem capable.  The weirdness will out.

3.  Does anyone out there really care about Tiger Woods? And, if so, why? I guess he's a public figure, a very public figure. And I suppose it's news that he's a "fair-haired boy" who's been found out not to be so fair haired. But, what's so new about that? It's horrible to learn that this man has led such an immoral life and I feel so sorry for his family. But, I wish the press would drop it already. The lip-smacking curiosity and smut-stirring gossip are just about as bad as the evil the man has done. I declare you can't tune in to listen to the weather without having to hear about the back of Tiger Woods' closet. Enough already.


4. The weather here the last few days has been glorious!  The sun is shining, the wind is still, and it's hovered around the forty-five degree mark since Monday.  Practically a heat wave! Isn't it amazing how things are so relative?  The girls wanted to know if they could wash the car.  You know: buckets, hoses, flipflops and sunglasses...   If it were July and forty-five degrees they'd be huddled in the house by the woodstove whining. It's the middle of December, though, so we're just glad it's above freezing here.  And I'm happy to see the children out playing outside in the fresh air, but I think maybe we'll drive through the automatic carwash down the road and leave the hoses stored where they are.

5.  Has anyone out there ever used the window stencils that come with the spray-on cans of snow?  We tried to decorate our windows with them yesterday and had a dickens of a time getting it to look half-way decent.  Is there a trick to this that we don't know about?

6.  We've got our Nativity Scene built, as I mentioned a couple days ago, but there are still no figures in it. We thought that, since we'd dinkered around on it this long, we might as well just wait until the boys are all home this weekend and can help us set out the animals and Holy Family. It's been a family custom for years to do it all together, anyway.

It's tradition. All the pieces, wrapped in newspaper and tucked into a big wooden box for eleven months of the year, are removed one by one and passed around to all the children until everyone has a little pile, still wrapped in paper. Then everyone gets to very carefully open their figures and see what they got. Kudos go to the child who gets any member of the Holy Family, especially Baby Jesus. But, other special figures get noted, too. It's a big deal to get the owls, for instance, and everyone laughs at the sibling who happens to get the skunk.

This year we replaced our lost mice and all the Littles are excited to get them scampering about the Nativity Scene. Every night, you see, the little mice move, and every morning, the children run to Bethlehem to see if they can find them. Sometimes they're in the trees, sometimes hiding in the crack of the rocks, sometimes they're tucked in a crevice of the bridge... But, on Christmas morning, everyone knows where they'll be: somewhere close to the manger, peeking around to get a look at the Infant Savior.

7.  I caught the end of Christmas in Connecticut last night.  (Boy Dennis Morgan was a handsome man!  He looked a lot like my Dad when he was young!)  I love that movie!  But, I haven't seen Miracle on 34th Street yet this season or It's a Wonderful Life -- two of my other favorites.  We'll watch the most recent Little Women this weekend for its Christmas theme, though, and are saving A Christmas Story for next week when the boys are home.  We'll be making an event of A Christmas Story, because it's everyone's favorite.  For dinner we're serving mashed potatoes, red cabbage, and meatloaf (beetloaf).  And we'll have a Ralphie Quiz before the movie with prizes.  I can't wait.  If you'd like to help me make up the quiz, please leave questions in my combox!  And I'm looking for appropriate prize ideas that are within my (small) budget.  Thanks for any ideas you can share!

Run over to Conversion Diary for a slew of Quick Takes this last Friday before Christmas!