So I've been a bit of a blog slacker. Hell, I've been a bit of a phone slacker, bathroom-cleaning slacker, dishwasher-emptying slacker -

But the Christmas shopping is like 3 gifts away from being done! And the gifts to family far away have finally been shipped! There is a light at the end of the guest room, and I'm guessing it's because all the boxes are gone, gone, gone!

Amen for USPS pick-up at home! I was dreading lugging three large boxes AND Sammy to the post office. How would I have even done that? Oy.

Speaking of Sammy, holy whirling tornado, Taz! I know that skipping naps and insane wildman energy tend to come with his developmental spurts, but I haven't been allowed to think long enough to put a sentence together for days now. Oy. Sammy, on the other hand, has been putting together sentence after sentence after sentence, stunning us with the most random of statements, pulling out things he could only have absorbed months and months ago. What concerns me is this - if he's calling his recorder a clarinet, and he hasn't watched Little Einsteins in ages, what does he remember of me cursing out the driver last month (and last week, and yesterday, and...)? Will he suddenly kick his feet against the back of my car seat and scream out, "You f*ckin' idiot, I had the right of way, you self-centered bastard! I HAVE A KID IN THE CAR AND YOU HAD A F*CKING STOP SIGN, IT'S CALLED COMETOACOMPLETESTOP, YOU PIECE OF SH*T!"?

Ahem. I never swear like that, I'm just sayin'.

Anyway, a to-do checklist beckons - does it ever end? Hope you're surviving the last of the holiday rush - I'm looking forward to seeing Sammy's face when he sees the presents under the tree. He's a bit obsessed with presents and "new toy?" these days. What happened to our steadfast and stubborn "no-tv-no-commercialized-crap-nothing-but-wooden-toys-we-made-ourselves, the-holidays-are-about-family!" rule? Seriously, I'm the biggest offender of that rule. What Sammy? You want a new toy? Sure! Mama will buy you a new train! Trumpet? You want a trumpet! We'll order you a trumpet AND a saxophone AND a clarinet for Christmas and tell you that Santa brought it!

WTF?

Sigh.