Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Snowmen & Santa

No one under 12 should read this entry

Today had a slow start. We were lucky to find a Guitar hero World tour game in the city last night while we were shopping for some supplies to build the much needed wall and door for our bedroom in our new to us- 108 year old house. We're converting the original living room into our bedroom so Dh can do all his living on the main floor of the house. Anyway...we had been putting aside funds for when rock band came out for the Wii as our family holiday gift, having had the kids put in some allowance over the last few months into the sock for it, as well as monies we've been gifted for the kids for the holidays, and we were waiting for the release. World tour pretty much does everything Rock band 2 does, and the drums have the cymbals already, and we found out that RB2 will be compatible with GH:WT so we decided to make the purchase and save the line ups and crazy headaches on December 22ns when RB2 comes put. we DESPISE holiday shopping crowds, and we opt every eyar to make gifts, or buy early and get it out of the way. this year we've had our buying done early before we even moved to this house.

So anyway... due to the time of day we left last night to go to the city because DH was tired and resting while I shoveled snow, the foggy weather driving home... we got to bed late due to playing GH until almost 2 am. The kids played until midnight with us totally throwing out the brand new bedtime routine on the second night LOL... oh well the joy of being homeschoolers is we can make these provisions and then get back to the routine straight away... Special occasions can be the exception.

Dh and I woke early to the dog barking like he has never barked before when in his kennel, and he sounded like he was outside. DH got worried that I'd forgotten him outside all night, since I have ADHD and have a tendency of meaning to do something and then getting side tracked and forgetting to do it and thinking somewhere along the way that i DID in fact do it.

He wasn't outside, but he was driving me nuts with the barking so I ended up putting him out for a pee and crawling back in bed. When I put him out it was then that I noticed how icy it was outside. Overnight, contrary to the "forcast" the temperature dropped significantly and froze up all the rain we had driven home in only 8 hours earlier. I was thankful that the ice held off until early this morning. But was disappointed that our trip to town was going to be put off due to the condition of the roads.We are still without nuts for the kitchen table and eating off of tv table trays is getting tiresome.

We are fast finding that living in a rural back water AKA a Hamlet that is 11 KLM from the small town of 4000 we used to live in, that they don't salt or sand our roads very promptly. Not that I'm complaining, I grew up in a backwater, and half the fun of doing so was the icy winter days where no plow trucks have been through for days and you can literally skate up the road for miles. Due to being stuck home I crawled back into bed and snuggled with DH for a bit, and enjoyed the peace and quiet. The kids being on the second floor means they sleep less disturbed from Dh's ear;y AM bathroom trips, and they got caught up on their sleep today.

I stumbled about trying to wake up most of the day today, finding myself saying to DH that I wished I could learn to like Coffee. I mean REALLY wished I could learn to like coffee since I have 3 containers of unopened perk coffee in my cupboards that I don't use.

I've been without Ritalin for my ADHD now for about a week, and between that and the craziness of the move , and trying to live a normal day to day AND unpack the house and get it organized, my brain is just having a day where it was saying take a vacation!

My intentions were to get the washer and dryer set up,and keep on top pf the laundry, and not get behind on that as I usually am, but Guitar Hero called to me instead. I played a few songs with DH and DD8, and mostly just puttered about the house trying to get things done.

I made Chicken Curry and Roti bread for supper which took most of my concentration and brain power for the day. The enjoyable part of that is that DS3 helped me roll the roti bread out and did a really GOOD job at it! he was very impressed with himself and proud of his efforts. while he was doing that with me DH and DD8 were playing GH... Which as a matter of fact they are still doing now as I write this.

I managed to make a loaf of bread today in the bread machine,but in doing so, while grabbing the sugar from the roll out drawer in the pantry the whole drawer fell out and landed on top of the one below it with the cans on it, and knocked it out too and that one took the track off the wall of the cabinet with it! :(

Feels like two steps forward and three steps back somedays LOL

We've started a new bedtime routine fo the kids with separate bedtimes, and Bupba got tucked in at 8:30 with an ice pack and a t towel for his cheek, he's left a pretty good mark on his lower cheek jaw area, from slipping about in slippery soles on his PJ's and wearing his rocket boosters. I changed his sheets and I spent an hour with him, reading, doing his journal printing, and talking to him... which brings me to the title of this blog entry...

I thought given his age, I should ask Bupba what he knew about Santa being the season and all...he said he didn't really know who he was or where he came from or what he did...he said that in the Caillou Christmas special Santa came and gave him and Rosie and his mommy and daddy presents.

Since we are Buddhist and only "play Santa" with the kids fully aware of where stuff comes from, I told him about Santa being an elf and a story like Winnie the pooh, or Caillou and that they are fun stories to share and read, and that we "play Santa" and we keep that as a family secret because other families play Santa different with their kids and he should not tell other kids his age how his family plays Santa...at the risk of trying to to make it sound like a dirty little secret. I need to make sure he doesn't end up being the kid who destroys he belief in Santa for some other child/family.

Long ago when DD8 was an infant We decided to go this route because we were both raised on the whole Santa thing, but both feel that lying to our kids was not right speech or right action when it comes to the eightfold path.

Given that both DH and I felt greatly betrayed with the truth about Santa when we got older we came up with playing Santa for the kids to keep it fun and so they had a similar thing to share with other kids.

SO on Christmas eve the kids play "waiting for santa" like all other kids, and have a hard time with excitement getting to sleep but trying to stay awake once they are beyond tired, trying to catch Santa/Daddy putting a stocking on their bed knobs. Naturally, the never manage to stay awake for it, and they awake in the AM with a stocking of treats from "Santa" this is a small part of our 12 days of winter holidays and is a nice way to keep the idea of Santa going without lying and disappointing our kids at 8 or 10 or whenever, when they finally realize that he is not real and they lose all enjoyment of the holiday that was solely based on a lie for them.

Anyway....Bupba told me tonight that Santa travels on a trailer hauled by Snowmen in a truck, and that is how he gets around everywhere to say hello to kids, and give presents. I thought it was so cute but could not figure out why he thought this...so I asked him...and he looked at me and said in that "geesh mom don't you know ANYTHING?" voice..." Mommmmmmeeeeee I knowed dis is how Santa comes to town cause dat is how he did it on daddy's big tv when we wived in the owd house!"

it was then that it dawned on me that just a few weeks ago the Toronto Santa Parade was on tv and the Santa float was hauled by two men dressed up as snowmen in a big pick up truck with duel wheels LOL...

Duh mom!!!

Ok.....now that's I've taken this long to write and spell check and post this, the kids are in bed and I'm gonna go play GH:WT with Hubby and then do the dishes.

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