Sunday, December 18, 2011

A Look at Some Children's Christmas Classics

During the summer I discussed some children's television programs and wondered WTF was up with them.  You can check out those posts here if you want to refresh your memory:
http://somewhatsanemom.blogspot.com/2011/07/wtf-is-up-with-some-of-these-childrens.html
http://somewhatsanemom.blogspot.com/2011/07/more-childrens-tv-show-madness.html

As of late, I have found myself equally as dumbfounded when watching some children's Christmas classics. 

First, let me discuss Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer...
A true classic...I will give it that.  BUT Santa is just mean in this one.  He is so judgemental and prejudiced against poor little Rudolph about his nose.  But when he needs something...who comes crawling and begging? Yes, good old Santa. And Rudolph's dad is cruel too.  Why would a father think that using mud to cover something up on a child's face is a good idea.  But they are reindeer, so who knows.
The elves are mean as well.  Since when is becoming a dentist worse than working in a toy factory.  Uhhhh, never.  They are all just MEAN.  I love it though...but just have been noticing how vicious and ruthless the characters are in this one.

Next is Frosty the Snowman...
This is another cute one but if you watch and pay attention, you will notice that none of the kids have pants on.  They have coats, hats, mittens, etc...but no pants.  Why is that necessary?  Also, the little girl hops on the freight train with Frosty. That is just a bad message to send.  Sure, go with someone that you have just met and hop on a one way train heading to god knows where.  He seems sweet enough.  Jesus! Not acceptable.  And that magician.  His skin is so yellow.  He either has hepatitis or is in liver failure.  Terrible.

Then Frosty Returns...
I won't even give this the time of day.  It is like the creators/writers sat down and knocked this one out in about 30 minutes.  It is downright awful.  Couldn't they have thought of a better villain than an old man who found a way to melt massive amounts of snow using an aerosol can?  And I love John Goodman...but he is the voice of the snowman in this one and I feel like he is so irritating for some reason.

Even though some of these "classics" may be a little questionable, ridiculous, whatever you want to call them, I am sure my children will continue to watch and love them for years to come.  And I guess that means I will too...yay for me.

What about you? Are there any "classics" (I use this term loosely) that you love??? Please share.  And feel free to share your critiques as well:)

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Happy Freakin' Holidays

So there was this birthday card that I use to think was so funny.  It was this fat guy looking all miserable on the front and when you opened the card, it just said "Happy Freakin' Birthday".  I got the same card for several friends over the course of approximately 3 years.  Looking back, I don't know what was so funny  about it but that is besides the point.

I was thinking today as I was in line at Marshalls that that card would pretty much sum up how I was feeling, except the sentiment would be about Christmas.  Not that I don't like Christmas...on the contrary, it is one of my favorite holidays.  But I was looking at everyone in line and I was getting more and more annoyed.  I can honestly say that I had never seen so many carts filled with so much crap.  It just seems like people buy to buy these days. 

Then there was a lady in front of me with 2 snowmen decorations and she was waiting on a price check.  The manager came back and said they were $1.99.  She was standing there for a good 30 seconds trying to make a decision on the purchase.  Now I know 30 seconds is not that long...but it seemed like an eternity.  I wanted to scream at her.  Come on lady, they are 1 freakin 99!!! You are not deciding what to do to deal with our nation's unemployment problem or balancing our budget, you are buying two godawful, unnecessary snowmen decorations.  Take them or leave them.  (If you are wondering, she bought them.)

As I was driving home, I was so relieved that I don't have to go out to one more store to shop.  I am done.  All except for alcohol purchases, but my husband will take care of that.  My part is done...now all that is left is wrapping.  This will most likely be the time I discover that I, too, am guilty of buying to buy.  I am fully aware that many of my purchases for my kids were unnecessary.  But the ones that were necessary and are being passed off as a gift (like snow boots and underwear) are sure to disappoint. 

So I am ready for the holiday to just get here already.  My kids are so excited and it is going to be fun with them this year.   But this prep work is for the birds.  And that is why I got the image of that card in my head today...and I had to laugh.  Happy Freakin' Holidays.  (I am going to have to start looking for that card and see if they still make it.)

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Oh Christmas Tree...

Let me start by saying that I LOVE Christmas.  I really do.  I love spending time with family.  I love that my girls are so excited about Santa and I can't wait to see their faces on Christmas morning.  I love eating (who doesn't?) and drinking wine (again, who doesn't?).  You get my drift.

But I must say that I have been getting really, very, excessively annoyed when I log on to Facebook and I check out people's perfect little posts.  "Great night decorating with the kids" or "presents all bought and wrapped".  Seriously people.

On Friday evening, we will be getting our Christmas tree.  I must wait until as close to Christmas as possible to avoid destruction of the tree.  I have a home daycare and every year I need to strategically plan on how to keep the kids away from the tree through a series of obstacles, baby equipment placement, and traps (well not traps, but it may come to that).  I want to say that I will have a post that goes something like this, "Great night singing Christmas carols, sipping hot chocolate, and watching my children gingerly place decorations on our beautiful tree!"

In reality, this is how the whole scenario will play out...We will get the tree, it will take about 30 minutes to trim the bottom to fit it in our tree stand.  Meanwhile, the girls will whine about how long it is taking.  Then we will get it in and there will be needles all over the floor.  I will have to vacuum immediately so the baby doesn't eat them.  We will open our ornament container and begin to place the ornaments on the tree.  Some will break.  Again, I will have to vacuum so that the baby does not eat them.  I will be overly fixated on making sure no tree hooks fall on the floor.  (If you haven't gotten the idea here, the baby puts everything in her mouth.)  We will finally get the tree decorated after at least 3 altercations about who will place what ornament on the tree.  Then it will be time to put the Irish angel on the top of the tree.  This will most likely be the mother of all fights...who will get the honor?  I am sure that my husband will just do it to avoid a problem...or each girl will get a chance.  This will involve taking the angel off and putting it back on 2 times.   

Whew...I am exhausted just thinking about it.  But it will be another great memory and I am sure I will get a picture of my little cherubs in front of the tree smiling like it was a breeze to get to that point...and I will be sweating on the other side of the lens.

A picture of my 2 little angels last year with our tree. 
(before Bridget was born in January)



Tuesday, December 6, 2011

God of Sickness, Have Mercy On Us

As we get closer to Christmas, I am keeping my fingers crossed that our family remains HEALTHY.  We have had a couple of weeks of sickness and I am over it!

After thinking that my 3 year old basically ruined Thanksgiving with her crying and screaming, I found out 4 days later that she had an ear infection.  Yes...4 days later.  My mom guilt kicked right into high gear.  I am not going to lie, I was annoyed with her because of her Thanksgiving antics.  I thought she was tired and just being fussy and difficult.  The next day she seemed better.  It wasn't until the Sunday night after Thanksgiving that she decided to wake up screaming about her ear.  The next morning she went to the doctor and we were told that she had a "severe" ear infection.  Did the doctor have to add the word "severe"?  It just made my guilt-o-meter go through the roof.  Here I was thinking that she ruined the holiday and kept me from drinking my standard bottle of white wine...and the poor thing really was legitimately sick.  And to top it off, I waited 4 days to get her checked out. 

After a day on antibiotics, she was a new child.  It was right about then that my 6 year old came home from school with a stomachache.  This required 2 days of her being home from school (which is enough of an added stress with 2 younger children...and did I mention a home daycare?)  Our "stomachache" situation parlayed into 2 doctor's office visits and a visit to A.I. DuPont Children's Hospital.  Good times.

The baby could not be left out...so she decided to get a runny nose, a cough, and to go on a mini hunger strike.  We got her checked out as well and it was just a cold.  But I wasn't going to let that go and end up with even more mom guilt. 

I must also add that in the midst of all the fun, I got a nasty 24 hour stomach virus.  It was terrible.  However, the upside to that is that I just might make it to my 20 lb weight loss goal this week.

So everyone is on the mend and I am praying that it stays that way until at the very least December 26th.  I have too much to do before then...not to mention too much wine to drink to make up for the Thanksgiving debacle.

Has anyone else been dealing with nasty sicknesses?  If so, disinfect, air the house out, take your vitamins, wash your hands...and remember a little alcohol might help as well.