When Santa overrules the parents

Does anyone know who has jurisdiction in a situation like this?

It's probably a moot point now anyways. By this time, the kids would never allow us to get rid of Cringer, even if we had the authority to do it.

I don't know why Santa didn't just get the American Girl doll that Ella had asked for. Maybe Mrs. Claus had a hand in it; now that would be an ironic turn of events wouldn't it?

- C

Merry Christmas

CHEMTD wishes you all a happy Christmas and we hope to see you soon.

- C

Pierogi Sunday

Granted, it's not widely celebrated. Hallmark doesn't even make a greeting card for it. But in our house, it's a hit.

Some time ago I told you about how I had instituted the tradition of having pierogis for dinner on the first Sunday of every month (as if Fast Sunday could get any more awesome). Like most of my ideas, Heather is not only the one that actually made it happen, she improved on my plan.

My plan: Do pierogis the way I had them growing up ie, topped with cheese sauce, mushroom soup sauce, chopped bacon, and "wrigleys" (I never thought to ask dad why he called sauteed onions wrigleys, but I've decided it might be a reference to a menu item at Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs).

Heather's Improvement: Making the pierogis from scratch.



This has totally elevated one of my favorite meals to a whole new level. I don't even need to conduct a taste test comparison to know they are better, the whole matter can be settled by an appeal to logic.

The question: could a mass-produced, machine-produced food ever taste as good as the same food made by hand, by a beautiful woman, for someone that she loves?

According to logic and the natural laws governing food, that's impossible.

Now, sitting through three hours of Church on an empty stomach doesn't even faze me. Go ahead, tell some lame story instead of bearing your testimony. Let that fussy kid over there keep on fussin'. Nothing bothers me today. Not on Pierogi Sunday.



- C

Snowed In & Take Out

Despite the heavy snowfall we were still planning on driving down to see family yesterday, and to be there for baby Nathan's blessing today. In the morning I spent two hours shoveling snow, and then another hour putting winter tires on the van. However, during that time we were getting frequent updates from Jewel and Tanis about how bad their driving conditions were. In the end, just prior to our planned departure time, we scrubbed the mission. The kids were really depressed by the "no-launch" decision, especially since we had been talking about the trip all week. And I felt bad that I might miss standing in the circle at one of the cousins' blessings.



We decided that the best way to boost some sad little spirits would be... yup, you guessed it, a Chinese Food Party. The trip to the restaurant also gave me an opportunity to test the new tires; the verdict: awesome. I have noticed though that I don't drive as cautiously as I did before - I'm showing off a little so other motorists can see how good my traction is. So really there's no net increase in safety for me... but I think it will be a huge benefit for Heather when she's driving the kids. We ate our supper by candlelight as we do throughout the month of December, a Christmas tradition from my side of the family.



Later in the evening we got a phone call from Tanis, informing us that their church had been cancelled and the blessing would likely be rescheduled. The news made me relieved that we had made the right choice (and it made me jealous that we don't live in a town where church gets cancelled due to weather).

So right now we're watching the skies and hoping to try again next week. Hopefully we will see you then.



- C