New make your own monster puppet. Thanks V!

You're a Mean One...

We have a new game at our house, it's called "Sing Your Heart Out," and it's based on the story "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." The object of the game is to sing songs with your family so that the Grinch's (sound activated) sled slides down Mt. Crumpet and brings the Whos back their presents.

There's one slight flaw with the game. A's hero is the Grinch (yes, this is the child who would really like to stuff all the Christmas trappings up our chimney), so he goes out of his way to make sure that the Grinch "wins" the game by playing it so that not all of the presents can be returned (this game's rules makes Monopoly look like Tic-Tac-Toe). When the Grinch wins, A does a little victory dance.


PS: A is still wildly excited about Christmas receiving gifts gifts gifts. Last year, it was all about playing with new toys; this year it was all about ripping open gifts as quickly as possible. I am sure that this is normal, happy behavior for a four-year-old.

Advent

In case anyone had any doubt, A is wildly excited about Christmas.

¡Hola, Yo Soy un Fugative!

Scene: The kitchen lunchtime table. J is explaining the U.S. legal system.

J: "... so that's the difference between an infraction, a misdemeanor, and a felony."

A: "How long would they put you in jail?"

J: "Well, okay... let's say that you were playing with caltrops on the sidewalk, and you left them there to go in, and K (our neighbor) walked on them. We'd go to court before the judge, and the judge would give us a sentence -- "

A: "But what if we really really had to go to the bathroom bady, and that's why we left them there."

J: "The judge might take that into account and only fine us $20 to pay for K's tetanus shot. We might get a more lenient sentence if we put up a sign on the sidewalk that said, "Danger Caltrops" and K didn't read the sign.

A: "So what if we do it again?"

J: "Oh! Well, if we're repeat offenders, then the judge would give us a more stringent sentence."

A: "I don't want the judge to be stern with us."

J: "Well, the best way is to not do anything wrong."

A: "I don't want the judge to give us a sentence; so I'd build a trap door and send the judge down it."

J: "Oh! Buddy, I'm pretty sure tampering with judges is a federal felony. They'd just send another judge."

A: "I'd send that one down the trapdoor, too; I just want you, me and M in the courtroom."

J: "A, we'd have to run to the Mexican border ...."

Son of Master Thespian

Scene: The Living Room. A & J are "rehearsing" a Pirate Play. A is a pirate. J is a pirate ghost. Opinions have been aired that J is an un-scarey, silly ghost...

J (with a white bedspread half over his head):

"Ooh! Hear my sad story, you aspiring pirates, and repent! I have been sent by the Spirit of the Sea to warn you: Turn Back from your Pirating Ways! Oh yea who have yet to take the first steps in that dreadful life called piracy, take heed!

In life I was once a fierce pirate who enjoyed the fruits of piracy. I was mean and pillaged and robbed from those poor sailors I found upon the ocean Oooh!! That I had not reveled in my wickedness! I grew in such infamy that Admiral Maynard and his crew set sail to find and pull me and my pirates down. There, on the high seas, we fought fiercely and long. But Maynard had slew Blackbeard, a greater pirate that I, and we were taken. For my wicked crimes was I taken to the courts for trial? No, not I; my crimes were too horrible. I was thrown overboard into the ocean, and I sank down. Oooh!

And as I sank, for every one of my hideous deeds, a shark came and took a bite of my body! Biting off parts for each one of my sins, until I reached the bottom, and appeared before the Spirit of the Sea with no body left at all. And the Spirit of the Sea said I could only be whole if I repented my evil ways. (Holds up arm with the hand hidden under the bedspread.) So I am DOOMED to roam the sea, warning would-be pirates to turn away from their bloody ways, until I am a man again. Ooooooh!"


(By this time, A -- whom J has failed to notice has been backing away since the sharks appeared -- runs away to his room. Several reiterations of "I'm sorry; I got carried away; that didn't really happen; I was acting; I made it all up" follow over the next hour.)

Gift List Shortened...

We shortened the wish list (on the right) to remove things we might already have or things that might (inconceivably) be used to construct weapons of mass destruction (yes, the Tinker Toys are having a Very Long Rest).

Yes... we're aware that siege engines survived the wish list cut -- they're for the toy castles, not for any real buildings in our locale.