From us

Have a rolling good time this season!

What I want for Christmas but should really not get

1. Blackberry: I’m a compulsive emailer. If I had it on the go, I’d be emailing all the time. In short, I’d be no better than my husband. As it stands, I’ve become a compulsive SMSer. And what would a housewife need 24-hour access for anyway?
2. Nintendo DS: I was watching a woman play her Nintendo on the train the other day. Man, it looks fun. Compared to the Game & Watch of our time. And the girlie games they have for it! Sigh. If I got one, I’d neglect the kids and all the other stuff I’m responsible for around here.
3. The Sims: The one and only computer game I ever got into and still could get into. I still walk past game shops and look longingly at the latest version of the game. But I shouldn’t get it. It’s the grandest waste of time I can think of. As my dad said, “You can’t even manage your life; you want to go manage someone else’s?”

Yeah, I am a bit compulsive when I get into something. Just a teeny bit compulsive. 

Upping the culture quotient

In an attempt to broaden Sara’s mind beyond Disney princesses, I bought tickets to the matinee performance of The Nutcracker by the Hong Kong Ballet. With her cousins accompanying her, I figured she’d be able to sit through the entire performance without too much trouble. What I hadn’t counted on was the rapid fire questions from the get go. It was good she was interested, but I don’t think those around us were impressed. She finally let up towards the end when she started drowsing in the midst of the never-ending pas de deux between the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Nutcracker Prince.

Question of the afternoon: (in reference to the male dancers, as seen from Row Two from the stage) Is that his panties?

Deck the halls

This year, Christmas is with a difference here in our household. After woefully failing to fulfill my child’s dreams of having a decorated house at Halloween,  I promised Sara we would go all out for Christmas. Mommy would do right by her. Mommy would Decorate, with a capital D.

I present to you, our tree.

For starters, we decided we would get a real tree this year and boy, was it the rightest thing to do. I love it. The smell of pine, the fullness of the tree, and yes, even the pine needles. It’s just gorgeous. It cost a fortune too, and I’m now worried all the needles will dry up and drop before Christmas Day, but hey, I take the good with the bad. I love the tree.

We had to get new decorations because this tree is a good two feet taller than our old fake tree. Also, our old fake tree had tacky lights and a feeble star permanently affixed to the tree, so we had to outfit everything for the new one. I struggled quite a bit with finding a star. There wasn’t any suitable that didn’t cost a fortune, so when I stumbled upon Ange’s idea, it was a pure eureka moment. Why buy a star when you can make a 3D snowflake?

Aside from the tree, I’ve also put up a small wooden toy nativity scene, tinsel for our front gate, a small happy wreath for the front door, and paper snowflakes pasted all over the windows around the house.

Ah yes, it is beginning to look like Christmas around here. Even in all this miserable pollution.

I should’ve known

I finally got it knocked into my stupid head that I really should have Nathan tested for allergies. A trip down to the allergist confirmed what I already guessed long ago, but refused to acknowledge. Our son is very allergic to eggs (yolk and white), milk AND peanuts.

SO.

Next steps? He’s to stay on an egg-free, milk-free, nut-free diet till he’s three. Then we’ll take him in for another assessment. What it practically means is that our son is to stay on an exceedingly stringent and UN-fun diet while his sister, cousins and friends indulge in chocolates, cookies, cakes and ice cream.

Poor boy. And poor mommy who has to deal with a grumpy, indignant toddler who wants his treat. The challenge? Finding recipes for fun egg-free, milk-free, nut-free snacks. And that, unfortunately, sounds most un-fun.

98

Wow. I haven’t had this much email since I stopped working. One week away and what a backlog! Of course, once I deleted all the spam and mass emails, I was left with 49 new emails, but still, that’s pretty impressive for someone with little contact with the outside world.