It's beginning to look a lot like ...

What to our wondering eyes did appear this morning but Christmas Eve snow! The pretty kind, too: big, fat, wet flakes drifting down like feathers. Of course, considering that it was 70 yesterday, it's not going to stick long, but it was pretty while it lasted (and I'm not too sorry that it melted immediately on the roads, seeing as how I have some last-minute errands to run before Christmas).

Faith was very excited to get out and play in it, but Eric, while excited about seeing it through the windows, balked at actually going out in it. We just coaxed him out for a few moments to take this picture.

We hope everyone's Christmas is merry!

Speaking of bad Jane Austen sequels...

I saw 2 copies of Mr. Darcy, Vampyre at the used book store the other day. Apparently, the reason he was so cold to Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice wasn't his titular pride; it was because he borrowed a plot device from Twilight and was so attracted to her he was afraid he was going to tear her throat out in the throes of passion.

I suppose it's a rational progression from Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. Personally, I'm waiting for Sense & Sensibility & SAW, in which Fanny Dashwood persuades her husband John to torment his half-sisters by placing them in contrived situations where they are forced to choose between maiming each other and torturous death and Willoughby reveals his villainy when he chooses to disembowel Marianne rather than face severe facial disfigurement.

A very short, quick fairy tale

Faith told me this story in a great hurry:

Once upon a time, there was a prince and a princess, and they saw each other, and the princess said, "I want to marry you," and the prince said, "Okay," and they went to a wedding, and they kissed each other, and they lived happily ever after, The End.

Odd juxtapositions

Yesterday, I was stopped at a traffic light next to a pickup with one of those magnetic signs popular among small businesses on its door. It advertised "computers and landscaping," which seemed like an unusual mix of specialties to me.

It reminded me of a sign I saw in front of a seafood restaurant in a strip mall this fall which advertised a "steak and hot dog combo." Those are two foods I never thought of serving together at the same meal -- and from a seafood restaurant, as well. It was, at least, budget-friendly, as I recall the price being something like $2.99. Oh, and sno-cones were also available, if you wanted some dessert.

Eric playing Rock Band in his pajamas

(The drums weren't plugged in, but we didn't tell him that.)

Halloween (extended remix)

I was (mildly) berated last year for not making sure the first photos I posted after Halloween were actually of the kids on Halloween. Last year, I at least had the Ludditely excuse of still using a 35mm camera and thus having to wait for the roll of film to be finished and developed. This year, however, my birthday present was a digital camera, so I knew I was out of excuses.

Eric this year dressed as Thomas the Tank Engine, while Faith chose Wonder Woman. (I say she chose Wonder Woman; in actuality, she first grabbed at the Supergirl costume, but as Supergirl is a useless simpering superhero whereas Wonder Woman is obviously the pinnacle of superheroinity, I quickly grabbed the Wonder Woman package and said, "Look! Wonder Woman! Wouldn't you rather be Wonder Woman?") Of course, she had never actually heard of Wonder Woman so we went home and watched some old Lynda Carter episodes on DVD, which convinced her entirely that she had made the right choice.

In general, our church carnival is held on Halloween night, but as Halloween was on Saturday this year, they moved the carnival to Friday so as to have more time to clean up before Sunday morning. The result was a preternatually extended celebration that just about wore me out. It began with the Friday night carnival, of which the high point was the return of the 15-foot-tall inflatable slide that Faith had spent all night climbing two years prior. It was the favorite of both Faith and Eric, despite the fact that it was a chilly night that they spent most of standing in line on the pavement in their socks. (Eric at least had on long sleeves and pants under his Thomas outfit.)

The following day -- Halloween itself -- my parents' church had a carnival in the afternoon. It was a smaller affair but also had an inflatable slide. Then, finally, on Halloween night we took the kids trick-or-treating around the neighborhood for the first time. They ended up with over THREE POUNDS of candy -- each! Before we got back to our house, they had Tommy and I carrying their plastic pumpkins because they were "too heavy."

Tommy enjoyed the trick-or-treating the most of all our "Halloween weekend" activities, and I don't know what we'll do when the church carnival goes back to being on Halloween itself, as we won't be able to do both. But this picture of Eric after Halloween describes my mood when we finally wrapped up all the festivities: Halloweened out!

The Empire Strikes Back

Tuesday is history day around our house, and Faith and I were reading about the first European colonies in the Americas. I read to her, "Spain was building an empire in the New World," and paused to ask her if she knew what an empire was.

"Oh, yes," she replied excitedly. "It's a bad person with pointy teeth!" At which point, my face must have given something away, because she added, "...isn't it?"

But just think if Spain had been building a vampire in the New World. There's a historical-conspiracy action movie in there somewhere.