Flying W Things

My Kids Are Broken

Claire and Cam are getting really cranked up about Christmas. All those presents under the tree have them worked up to a fever pitch.

The other day they were discussing which present they were going to open first, and second, and so forth. Katy got involved with the discussion and pointed out that when she was a girl she was allowed to open one present on Christmas Eve.

This clearly horrified them. "No, mommy - you have to wait until Christmas morning to open presents."

Such little rule-followers we have around here.

Truth in Eating

The other day at dinner, Claire was talking about pigs.

She was telling me that she didn't really want to have a pig living in our back yard, as it would make a mess and dig up all the pretty flowers. (Apparently this had been discussed earlier, and she had her position well thought out.) After this little speech she threw in an enthusiastic "but if we did have a pig we would get bacon!"

I was a little concerned that she thought pigs give bacon the way cows give milk and so I asked "Claire, do you know how you get bacon from pigs?"

Claire: "Yes, daddy. You have to slobber them."
Me: "Slaughter. That's right, you have to slaughter them."

I almost left it there but decided to clarify once again. "Claire, do you know what slaughter means?" She looked me in the eye and said "You kill it." Very matter-of-fact.

There you go. At least they don't have any illusions about where meat comes from.

2x LoTR

The Return of the King is a hell of a movie.

And I should know, I've seen it twice today. Yes, that's correct - once at 12:01 AM and then again at 3:00 PM. I wanted to see it at midnight and I wanted to go with some people from work. Plus I wanted to be able to like it right away.

See, when I saw The Two Towers for the first time I left the theater focused on the things they changed from the book and the stuff they didn't do right. (By which I mean, they didn't do it the way I wanted them to. Yes, I'm still troubled by the elves showing up at Helm's Deep.) But when I saw it the second time, I was able to just enjoy the film for what it was. I figured I might have a similar reaction to The Return of the King.

I was wrong.

What a great movie. I loved it the first time. I loved it the second time.

I have been waiting for three years to see the Rohirrim charge into battle on the fields of Pelennor. In particular, I have been waiting for three years to hear Theoden shout

Arise, arise, Riders of Théoden!
Fell deeds awake: fire and slaughter!
spear shall be shaken, shield be splintered,
a sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises!

Peter Jackson did not let me down. The scene gave me goosebumps, and - dare I admit it? - tears welled up in my eyes.

This movie kicks ass. Go see it. Now!

Christmas Letters

This time of year we get lots of newsy letters tucked in with cards from friends and family. I'm sure you do, too.

I would like to discuss one of my pet peeves about these letters.

Most of these letters are written in the third person. You know what I mean: "Mary was pregnant this year, and had a good visit with her cousin Elizabeth. Joseph's carpentry business was very busy, what with all the new developments going up in East Nazareth. Our newest family member, little Jesus, enjoyed a nice trip to Egypt after an inauspicious beginning in a stable."

My question is, who wrote the letter? It's as if a stalker followed your family around all year, noting their accomplishments and typing them up on festive paper.

I say, if you write your family's Holiday Letter, you should write in the first person. It will sound more natural, and be more of a real letter. Don't hide behind the third person - what, are you Rickey Henderson or something?

When You've Got It, You've Got It

Last night we had some people over for a Christmas party. Late in the evening, I overheard one of my female neighbors saying this to another guest:

"You know Brad is my fantasy guy."

How do you like that?

(Okay, okay - so she was referring to the fact that I am the guy she asks questions about Tolkien and other authors in the fantasy fiction genre. But still...)

Now That's Love

Here's a picture of the pancakes Katy made the kids for breakfast yesterday:

What a mom. Those two are pretty lucky.

Bugs

I am happy to say that Bugs Bunny cartoons are becoming a part of my kids' weekend experience.

I can also attest to the fact that Cam is thinking about them with even greater frequency. Earlier this week he was wide awake at about 4 in the morning. I climbed into bed with him to try to get him back to sleep, but he just wanted to talk:

Cam: Do you remember that one Bugs Bunny show, daddy?
Me: Mmm Hmm. Go to sleep.
Cam: The one with the "Rabbit Season" sign and the man who was hunting?
Me: Mmm Hmm. Try to use your quiet voice, Cameron.
Cam: And the duck?
Me: Yup. Let's go to sleep now, ok?
Cam: That one is so funny, daddy!

It's hard to argue with him on that point.

Heart-Warming Holiday Tale

This is somewhat of a repeat, as Mike linked it last year, but heck - Christmas is all about repeats. (Rudolph, anybody?)

The Christmas Monkey

Why didn't I think of this when my little sister Meg was 9? (If I had, would it be worth the permanent limp?)

Any other good Christmas stories out there?

Decorating

It's time to decorate the house for Christmas! (And to play around with the new digital camera.)

Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Some Things Don't Change

This weekend I was doing a brief bit of channel surfing when I noticed something peculiar and compelling on LA's second-tier PBS station:

2003 DCI Championships

Any real marching band geek can tell you that DCI is Drum Corps International. Division I of the DCI is the NFL of marching bands. I quickly thumbed the remote to record the program.

I watched it the other night while I was on the treadmill. (Another post about that sometime.) Holy Crap, the Division I corps are amazing. The complexity and crispness of the drills and music was just astounding. I can't describe it in a way that does it justice. I just soaked up five or six ten minute shows, including a nostalgia-inducing goosebump-giving version of Malaguena. Damn, but they were good.

And so I realized that I will always be a Band Geek. I don't suppose that really surprises me too much.

A Crisis of Conscience

Katy and I decided that we would get ourselves a digital camera for Christmas this year. I did some research and chose the Canon A80. Then the comparison shopping began.

Amazon had it on sale for $379, with free shipping and no sales tax.

Best Buy's price on the same camera was $359. 8.25% Los Angeles County sales tax would bring the total cost to $388.62.

If you know me, you know that I am value-minded. My first impulse was to order the camera from Amazon and save the $9.62. But then I started to think.

Much to my own amazement, I decided that it was worth the extra cash to buy the item at my local Best Buy - not so much because I was helping a local retailer, I have no illusions about that - but because the state and county needs the cash. It's not much, granted, but it can't hurt.

I'm not ready to abandon the tax-free joys of online shopping, but in this case I get to pretend I'm a Responsible Citizen, without really affecting my own bottom line. I'd call that a win-win.

(Yes, this means there will likely be more photos showing up in this space.)

The Roundup

Four day weekends are great. Plenty of time to visit family and still get things done around the house.

Thursday we had a fairly traditional dinner with Katy's folks. I lolled around and worked on our Christmas card, with some help from my father-in-law's digital camera.

Friday we took the kids to see Brother Bear. I enjoyed it, although it was quite unremarkable in many ways. We ended up sitting in the front row, as we arrived late and that was the only spot with six seats in a row. (I know that Mister P will weep when he reads that.) At one point something onscreen scared Claire and she announced quite loudly that "she was never ever going to a movie theater again." She rallied, however, and I suspect she will renege on that promise.

Sunday I got most of the outdoor Christmas lights up, hosed out the gutters, and removed many clumps of cat poop from assorted back yard flower beds. (Stupid cat.) Owning a home is crammed full of glamorous moments, no?