Today's agenda, until Matilda and I go to pick up Hec this afternoon and drive out to the East Bay, is:
•Wrap all Matilda, Emmett, and (once he's left for work) Hec presents
•Hem the pants of Emmett's new/used eBay tux
•run to the bookstore on Haight, find a book for Emmett's mom
•make zucchini bread and lemon cream cheese spread
•run up to work to distribute same to coworkers
•pack up overnight clothes, diapers, meds, etc.
The wishlist of stuff I'd like to do but probably won't have the time for:
•Fabric store on Haight, pick up thread
•take in waist of big rustly ballgown skirt so it's a wearable option on Christmas
•run to Ross to get a pretty top to wear with the skirt
•scan Craigslist and Vehix.com and contact all the decent new listings
I'm actually kind of excited about the holiday. Brother and BIL are coming in from NYC tonight, other brother is coming in from Portland, OR if the weather permits (please, please), Matilda's all excited, my church is having a fun casual kid-friendly bilingual mass with singing led by our kickass choir and possibly our part-time mariachi band tomorrow morning, and my dad is hosting Christmas dinner and I don't have to do a damn thing but show up.
If I weren't still in a pissy mood from the way yesterday ended, I'd be just about happy (I'm posting a big angry rant in LJ about it because it's just too long and bitter for Natter, but, suffice it to say that I would really, really like a new job in a drama-free office, please?).
Huh. I never got the Grinch = bitter old Jewish man connection before. Pro'lly because as a kid I had almost no exposure to Jewish culture.
I grew up chock-full-o-Jews and I've never thought or heard anything of the sort.
The idea of baked latkes is ridiculous. The entire point of latkes is that they're fried in oil!
Oh, she argues that point, the baked ones have SOME oil in them!
Seriously. She's going to blog on it! It'll all be ok.
TOP TEN SPACE PHOTOS: Most Viewed
Damn, Phobos is one freaky-ass moon....
eta: This supernova is very pretty: [link]
I've heard the Grinch as grouchy old Jewish man thing before, but mostly as a sort of jokey thing.
(Actually, my theory about what makes Charlie Brown Christmas and the Grinch "approved" shows for Jewish kids is that, ultimately, the message is the same -- Christmas isn't about Santa and presents and lights and all that. Which fits in perfectly with the "it's someone else's holiday" message that most Jewish parents seem to want to give their kids. If Christmas is about Jesus, and Santa and lights are just the trappings of Christmas, then it's easy to explain to little Jewish kids why they can't have Santa and lights. If Christmas is about Santa and lights, then it's a lot more difficult to explain to kids why they can't have them.)
I am at work and, sadly, working. Go home and spend time with your families, people! I have Dirty Jobs DVDs to watch!
I've kept one ep of Dirty Jobs on my DVR, the one with the snake researcher catching Lake Erie watersnakes, which includes Mike lobstering in Maine with the two young men and also raking seaweed out of Lake Erie. That one just might be my favorite ep of the show as a whole, but my favorite job remains the ostrich farm.
Hem the pants of Emmett's new/used eBay tux
Why does Emmett need a tux?
Willow's line about having to go to Xander's house to watch Charlie Brown Christmas never made sense to me -- most of the Jewish kids I knew were allowed to watch that one. The ones that got more scrutiny were the ones about Santa and presents and reindeer and stuff like that.
I heard the author on (I think) Talk of the Nation yesterday, and I found it really interesting that A Charlie Brown Christmas was almost universally approved for Jewish kids, given that it's the most undistilled, straight-from-the-New-Testament Jesus-y theme of all the kids' Christmas shows.
Is it just me or should Malla be wearing a full body hair net to be cooking?
