Kelli, no matter what else you do or don’t do, please be sure to decorate your house for Christmas. There’s nothing like Christmas decorations to brighten the house and make everything seem cheerier. It might even help you get into the Christmas mood a bit.
Don’t think I’m comparing your situations, but my mother’s best friend unexpectedly lost her little dog week before last, and is devestated. She’s talking about not doing up her house for Christmas because she can’t face Christmas without her dearly loved little doggie, but Mum is bound and determined to make sure she puts every last decoration up. She is sure that it will help lift her friend’s spirits even just a little bit to have the house looking beautiful. I think she’s right. I know the effect Christmas decorations have on me.
Glad you guys like this thread! I’m diggin’ on it, too.
I would sincerely love to take my kids to the movies, but right now they’re too young. Well, my stepson’s old enough. He hasn’t been to the movies too much though, mostly because we’re broke, and so’s his mom. I myself love going to the movies. Just wish I could afford more.
I think we’ll be seeing the Harry Potter movie, though. [sub]but don’t tell the Timinator. I want to surprise him.[/sub]
Taco Bell. When Rykid has done something especially well, he gets Taco Bell. (I despise those indisdinguishable plops on plate, but he loves them.)
For extra, extra credit, he gets to go to the Science Museum…a place of unbounded joy…and I get to play, too.
Sometimes, it’s just a Reeses on the car seat when I pick him up. Always brightens his day.
I also bought him Tolkein’s Trilogy, and he’s really enjoying it and can’t until the movie come out in December.
The only downside to him is that I require a big ol’ hug (Aw, dad, that’s embarrassing!) Tough bounce, kiddo. You’ll be getting those hugs even after you’ve been named MVP of the Superbowl.
I feel a hug deficiency coming on now. Where is that kid?
I’d draw tattoos on them with my eyeliner. I have a dolphin tattoo on my shoulder that they were fascinated with and since they were too little to get their own, I improvised.
I would bake two small cakes, one for each of them and let them frost and decorate them. I’d buy every color of gel icing, sprinkles, even those little silver balls. OF course the cakes would be uneatable due to the foot thick layer of frosting, but it was fun.
I’d let them play with my keyboard. My oldest nephew learned to play it fairly quickly and started to compose on it. I gave him it when they moved out of state.
I taught them how to draw cartoon characters using sidewalk chalk and the driveway. I would then call my sister and her husband to warn them not to park on Winnie the Pooh.
I taught my oldest nephew to rollerblade by promising him I’d go on the half pipe with him.
When my nieces and nephew were young I’d let them help me bake homemade chocolate chip cookies, then we’d take them to the local firestation. The firefighters loved the kids and the cookies and the kids loved to climb on the engine. We’d go through underpasses and I’d have them reach up to hold up the trains going overhead. ANd when we were in the car together I’d tell them “Where the Wild Things Are”. They loved that story, and they loved me telling it to them. All stuff that didn’t cost anything, but they loved it, and love me. Now I tell them that since i don’t have kids of my own, it’ll be their responsibility to take care of me when I’m old.
My kids,when younger, liked stupid stuff I’d come up with like:
We would often have filled our Otto (large green lidded) bin on garbage night. We would have to deposit that day’s garbage in the neighbours bin. I got the kids to do it with me. We put on face camouflage, dressed in black and sneaked around using whistles and hand signals to communicate. We won if we got rid of the garbage without being spotted by passing motorists. Much diving into bushes was necessary.
I’m diggin’ on it, too.
