Living, Loving, Learning

Griffin at the Henry Ford Museum last week. The presents are wrapped, the clothes are washed and packed, the cookies are baked, the Christmas parties are attended, the Christmas tree is starting to drop its needles... we are finally ready for Christmas!!!! The last few weeks since Thanksgiving have been NUTS - to those of you who have e-mails in my inbox, I promise before 07 I will reply!!! This Christmas more than those in the past, I have felt the push that I am sure most Mamas are familiar with. I feel the need and strain to be "Super Mama" all year long but especially during this time of year. I want Griffin to have so many warm memories of holiday traditions but maybe I have picked too many traditions to commit to. I was discussing this feeling with the grocery clerk at the mega-market at 12 am after I got out of work last week and was just getting the time to buy some groceries. She made a worthy point-- she bets that Super Woman wouldn't feel so super if she had a

The Dawgies are coming, the Dawgies are coming!

Yea, time to bring a huge, fragrant, messy, beautiful tree in the house. Having a live tree is my FAVORITE thing about the Christmas season. If I could, I would have a St. Pats tree decorated with Guiness cans and pint glasses and boughs of shamrocks, a 4th of July tree covered in many colored ribbons and and bursting with those funky fiber optic lights , or a fall tree wired with gords and Indian corn and raffia. Alas, once a year is all I get and so I make the most of it. For the second year in a row we went to a local outreach center for the homeless that sells trees as a fundraiser. They have a decent selection and you walk away feeling good about your purchasing habits...and the price, unbeatable! This year Griffin was all about helping pick out a "big one" and enjoyed watching it ride home from under the moon roof. He just cannot understand why we don't always have a tree strapped to the top of the car. I pulled out all the decorations and Christmas music and it onl