who knew?

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-cro1.htm

all this time i thought crocodile tears were the big, very sad kind. thanks lw for pointing out the semantical errorship of that last entry. and i'm pretty sure that semantical errorship is a phrase that i just made up, but i doubt there's a website to address it.

anyway, i found this information highly....informative. turns out, she didn't have "crocodile tears"at all; let me rephrase: ahem.

"Then I looked in the rearview mirror and saw ginormous tears cascading down her cheeks. These were the kind you might imagine streaming down the face of a bereaved animal that actually has the ability to produce tears. Her eyes were turning red and her bottom lip seemed as if it would surely reach the floor board."

hope everyone had a very merry Christmas today!

So Be Good for Goodness Sake

I've never used Santa Claus in parenting before, so I don't really know why I said it. I mean, we've just let the kids believe for as long as they want but have never, aside from the whole sitting in a lap and taking a picture thing, really encouraged or discouraged the whole idea. That is, until this week when evil took hold of me. Abby, our lone remaining believer in the jolly round guy, had been exhibiting quite a bit of what we affectionately call, "Abbitude". We were in the car, where all noises (especially whining) are magnified a hundred-fold. Anyway, I'd had enough. After all, we were already 5 whole days into Christmas break. Who can blame me? So I casually said something to the effect of, "Abby, Santa probably isn't even going to bring you anything because of all that complaining." Then I looked in the rearview mirror and saw crocodile tears beginning to stream down her cheeks, eyes turning red, and a bottom lip that was about to touch the floor board. Man. Well, I tried to patch that up but it only held for a little while because she broke down AGAIN at dinner. Clay said something about her needing to stop doing something, and there came the tears again. I asked her what was wrong and she barely choked out the words, "I don't want Santa Claus to bring me coral!"
"Coral?" I asked.
"Yes! (sobbing) That's what Santa brings to kids who are bad!"
It's so hard not to laugh in times like these. But it was no laughing matter to her. In fact, it took about 10 full minutes for C to console her and another five to explain that coral would actually be a nice gift. In the words of Junie B. Jones, wowie wow wow.

Book Review: Thanks to VB's recommendation, we've been reading the advent story, "Jotham's Journey" together since Thanksgiving. We've all loved it, so I'm suggesting it to everyone with elementary-aged or older kids to read in future years. Good stuff.

Amazing and Not So Much...

It turns out that Midland really is the hub of the universe. FBC has just hired a new worship leader. He's coming from Florida, but he and his wife grew up...that's right...in Midland. His dad was youth min. at Kelview back in the day. In fact, they're there right now, hopefully remembering to bring back a dozen sausage, egg, and cheese burritos from Jumburrito to earn my friendship. :-) Anyway, that makes 3 out of 6 FBC staff members whose testimony includes the phrase, "When I lived in Midland..." I, too, am flabbergasted.

Well, the Amazing Race has reached its conclusion this season. We were somewhat disappointed in it this time because all the people were so rude to one another. And it gives me no pleasure to see mean people winning 1 million dollars. They probably don't even tithe. But it was sort of predictable...all the meanness, I mean. Because it was the Family Edition, and how do you get teams of 4 family members to act nicely 24/7 in such conditions? I'm racking my brain and I can't think of any of you whose family wouldn't be painful to watch in a competitive, stressful environment like the Amazing Race. :-) NO offense; I'm sure you could say the same about us. But if we all ever do get together for an Amazing Race, I think it should definitely go through Midland....

Eight Thumbs Up

so everyone should go see The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I'm saying it's the best movie of the entire year, even better than my other faves - Because of Winn Dixie, Cinderella Man, and Pride and Prejudice. and take your kids b/c they'll love it, too.

Holiday Musings

It's been a year. Here's some stuff I've missed lately:

going into Miss Caycie's and saying, "oooo, I like that" and then getting it the next day (hey, AL!)
C'view staff Christmas party and the sumo wrestler
having a personal photographer who chronicles our lives at no charge (hey, JB!)
Parker playground moms
Thanksgiving Around the Tables, except that last one was sad and then i got hives the next day
Home for the Holidays table with TS, VB, LW, and other Parker folk
Mornings at Oscars or Jumburrito (hey, SM!)
the c'view gym b/c it's the time of year I used to get to show SJ a thing or two on the bball court
Upward Bball
serving as AL's little servant girl at various holiday functions :-)
a little farther back, Christmas Eve after church - the Ash-bash.

You can all start to anxiously await the arrival of the Hopkins' Christmas letter. It's written, but has had to wait for metal chip in eye to clear, B's black eye and NOW big nose scrape to clear before adding a nice family photo. c'mon and admit it - you know you're excited.