why is it that every year i get these sugary visions of the family all singing christmas carols and decking the halls while we smile laugh?

and yet, every year it goes something like this:

this afternoon was no exception. we went and got a tree--an adventure that was less painful then usual and resulted in a beautiful frazier fir.

once the decorations were down the kids headed to the playroom for gamecube and bickering and sparky dozed off on the couch only to wake up once in a while and mutter something about "too much stuff."

i was not going to let them suck the holiday spirit out of this task so i finished up, lit the candles (including my little brass candle spinner that is now ting tingling on the table) and put on the xmas tunes.

as if by magic, the sound of xmas carols brings them into the living room to flick off the stereo and turn on the tv.

so, i suggest a holiday movie.

j: "how about jurassic park 3?"
sparky: "no...mom says we have to watch something with a guy in a santa hat, an elf, a reindeer or a snowman."
j: "so. slap a bow on the dinosaurs butt and call it a xmas movie!"

sparky (starting to feel bad because i am getting sad): "ok, ok, how about xmas vacation?"
kids in unison: "oooh! how about vegas vacation??"
all three boys: "yay! vegas vacation! woohoo! it's like xmas vacation!! "

so, i am sitting in my pretty house with the candles lit and the tree still on top of the car watching vegas vacation and drinking eggnog.

yup, it's the holidays!

on edit: the tree is now in and defrosting. it will be decorated tomorrow. don't know what did it. could have been my little speech:
"Where do you think you're going? Nobody's leaving. Nobody's walking out on this fun, old-fashioned family Christmas. No, no. We're all in this together. This is a full-blown, four-alarm holiday emergency here. We're gonna press on, and we're gonna have the hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny fucking Kaye. And when Santa squeezes his fat white ass down that chimney tonight, he's gonna find the jolliest bunch of assholes this side of the nuthouse." (i may have borrowed this from clark himself, but it worked!!)