sleep~ma Kristin. I'm sending you my doziness.

is impressed by the various Bitches' vibrator-mending-fu

But then again, I am a bit of a grinch when it comes to Xmas. JUST CELEBRATE THE SOLSTICE PEOPLE!! Stop calling half that crap "Christian"

See, I'm with you on this one. Trudy, I do see your argument for going with Christian because of common usage, but I disagree. I really don't like muddy thinking about what is meant by Christian (or Muslim, or Jewish or whatever). It's precisely that kind of mixed up notion of what a religion is that does my head in, albeit this is the harmless thin end of the wedge, with things like this poor woman being over at the thicker edge. I think it's healthy to recognise how few of the trappings of the holiday season actually have anything to do with Christianity.

(!!!and, apropos of nothing, I find myself suddenly suspecting that I owe you an email from weeks ago! Do I? I do, don't I? God, I freaking suck!)

This morning our Infants performed The Bossy King (the twee musical tale of the little known Fourth King who left before the other three became famous. Except, you know, that one-line summary makes it sound like it might be good. It isn't. It's better than it started out, because I rewrote it to give it a little more humour and oomph, and even, ironically cranked up the Jesus a bit, because it needed doing for narrative purposes) before the rest of the school. This evening they're performing it before mums and dads. So once they'd all scooted off home at 1pm (an hour and a half earlier than usual, so they can have a nap if need be) we got the chairs and decor set up.

We are performing outside, in the courtyard. Two Christmas trees appeared from somewhere, and as I was helpfully trimming one with tinsel and kiddies' DIY paper holly wreathes and camels and snowmen, whilst sweating cobs in the freaking tropical heat, the sheer weirdness of it all overwhelmed me. I mean, it's such a chaotic palimpset of a thing, you know? The tree's a pagan relic from chilly Europe, the snowmen are secular reminders of European winter, the freaking camels and sheep are the only things remotely related to Christianity, inasmuchas they're middle eastern...and here we are, in the tropics, getting mostly Buddhist kids performing a cheesy sort-of-nativity tale to a mostly Buddhist audience.

Bonkers.

Fay, you are living proof of how multi-cultured our world really is. Too funny.

ETA -ION - I gotta say, I really love it when the commercial breaks happen as you get to the end of a row in knitting, so your hand is easily freed to hit the SKIP button and breeze past those pesky ads. another 4" or so done! Not so consistent in the tightness, but looks fine, especially for a beginner. Glad I went with dark colors, I think they hide the mistakes more.

Suzi, in case K-Bug didn't find her phone yet, here's some extra strength Finding Phone~ma for her.

I say you don't have enough lights until you have your own pad-mounted transformer and your house can be seen from space.

Ginger, you need to make a roadtrip to Hampden in Baltimore. You would be so happy. There's an entire block like this on 24th street. I may not like the superlighted houses in the 'burbs, but oh lordy does that one block make me smile. And, supposedly, you can see it from pretty high up.

You people funny.

Also, K-bug-find-phone~ma!

No phone as yet. She had it on silent since she was at work, so calling it doesn't do much good. I did sent it a text with my phone number in case someone picks it up and doesn't think to turn it in at TJ's.

She is SO upset about this. My punkin.

Debet, congratulations on your mad skillz! you know, you might be able to turn that into a profitable venture - repairing small electronic appliances ... you know how some people get, um, ATTACHED to their gadgets.

Love the stories about seasonal decorations. Personally, I like when there are tiny white lights wrapped around trees and bushes - some of the buildings here have them up all winter. It's pretty ... and not obtrusive. I do hate that the stores start with the "Christmas" stuff so early - by the time Christmas actually arrives, I'm usually burned out on it.

My favorite non-Christian Christmas story - when I was a kid there was one Jewish family in town; almost everyone else was Catholic. One of the boys in the family had a teacher who wasn't in the least bit sensitive to non-Christians and she kept pushing him to take part in the festivities. One day he came home and said that she'd made him cut out stars for the class Christmas tree, but he did it his own way - he cut out six-pointed stars.

Oh, poor kid!

Debet, I am so impressed with your skillz.

In me news, I have a 2.5 lb creature inside me doing summersaults and it feels weird.