My ten-year-old daughter thinks Christmas is even more magical than birthdays. I am blessed to have them both in the same week so that makes my birthday seem pretty magical.
Since it’s my special day I’m going to take the liberty of sharing random, aimless thoughts with you, and hope that you contribute any lack of cohesiveness to my age.
Last Saturday hubby and I took the kids to see, “The Chipmunks.” I felt just like I did when I first saw, “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.” It was like sitting with dear, old friends while savoring a root beer float and a trip down memory lane.
As the movie came to an end, I found myself clapping along with all the other grown-ups who brought their kids to the show. It was one of those moments when you need to express the emotion coursing through your veins, but if you jump up and holler, “Hallelujah,” people will look at you weird. So you politely clap. At least that’s what we Baptists do. I guess there were a lot of Baptists watching the Chipmunks movie.
When I got home I felt compelled to do a little Chipmunk research. I didn’t realize that they had been around for fifty years. Nor did I know that the song, “Witch Doctor,” was originally released as a Chipmunks’ song.
What I do remember is sitting next to my grandma’s Christmas tree, playing Don’t Break the Ice, Don’t Spill the Beans, and Ants in the Pants with my uncle while we listened to the Chipmunks Christmas album over and over.
Life was simple then. I had all I needed. Red, plaid bell bottoms, a family that loved me, a few good games, homemade Christmas cookies, and The Chipmunks. Now that I think about it, I still have all those things (minus the bell bottoms but with the addition of a bell-shaped bottom), and my life is pretty sweet.
That Christmas album has been released again so I bought it. I had to laugh at the fact that even though the kids were not with me I knew the first thing I would do when I got into the van was tear open the CD.
I am having a baby next week. We are still working on names. Our criteria for boys’ names is that the first name must be that of a king or conqueror and the middle name comes from a hero of the faith. We set the precedent with our thirteen-year-old son Alexander Wesley. I need to do some research and see if I can find a king or conqueror named Alvin, Simon, or Theodore.
If it’s a girl I suppose Theodora would work. Or since we already have a Phoebe Allene, Alvina would fit right in.
Daughters are wonderful, and I wouldn’t mind having another. That would make four girls and one boy. Girls tend to cause a fair amount of mental angst but they are generally sweet. Boys, well, boys just leave you completely confounded. They have a different way of thinking. After a while you realize that they are a boatload of fun if you have a little patience and a huge sense of humor.
Our son enjoys building fires. It’s an inherited tendency. I also suffer from a touch of pyromania and have inadvertently set a few untimely fires; like the time I couldn’t stop playing with the candles at my friend’s wedding and set a tablecloth on fire. And there was the first time I went to a fancy restaurant and torched the menu. So, I try to be understanding when son asks if he can go outside and “burn stuff.”
A few weeks ago I caught him headed outdoors with a handful of brand new printer paper. I admonished him to only burn things that are not useful, and if he needed paper he should retrieve it from the waste basket. He nodded in agreement and dutifully found used paper to burn.
The very next day he came into the house, flushed with excitement. He was telling me the results of throwing a roll of duct tape onto the fire. How it melted and stretched, etc, etc. Finally, I said to him, “Son, just yesterday I told you not to burn things that are useful. I bought a brand new roll of duct tape last week and it cost nearly five dollars!”
Son looked at me in a rather confused manner and replied in his most serious voice, “But mom, you couldn’t have used it anyway. It was full of BB holes!”
Well, of course duct tape is completely useless once it has been shot full of BB’s! I don’t know what I was thinking. Senility must be setting in.
Next week we will be blessed with the child of my old age, so I’m going to take a little hiatus from The Honeycomb. I’ll try not to be gone too long. In the meantime, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a delightful new year. And if you happen to celebrate a Christmas time birthday, happy birthday to us!
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