Walking Backwards

So very tired. . . Nicholas was up all night long. His teeth are bothering him. I can't believe it, but he has eight teeth coming in at the same time. It isn't a pretty sight. After his first four teeth came in, I thought I knew what teething was all about. I was sadly mistaken. My grand total of sleep for the night was two hours. No amount of tylenol or oragel could placate him. He, of course, fell asleep on the way to and from Joe's dentist appointment. Now he doesn't need a nap. *Yawn* I do. I actually indulged in Starbucks coffee this afternoon. Four dollars for a cup of coffee seems excessive, but I dare anyone to question me about it.

Now, about those carolers. Night before last Travis, my brother, ran out to get dinner. Upon his return he came in declaring "look out, the carolers are approaching." I've never personally encountered carolers. I thought that caroling was just a made up tradition that was only reflected in truly idealized societies where goodwill to men is commonplace. What it was doing in my neighborhood, I had no idea. My brother suggested that we hide as neither of us had any idea of what to do in this situation. Then they rang the doorbell and started singing without us even opening the door. Jon, my brother-in-law, reasoned that our attempts at hiding were obsolete as they had seen Travis walk in the door and there were four cars in the driveway, sure indicators that someone was home. So Jon opened the door, Travis remained at the dinner table with the conclusion that we shouldn't all have to suffer. I just stood there with this frightened smile on my face as thirty people sang 'Gloria' to us. Then they asked for requests. Not bold enough to actually tell them that our request was for them to leave us to our dinner, they just assumed that no request meant dealer's choice. So we were regaled again. As then second song neared its long awaited conclusion, the ring-leader came up to inform us of their popular bible-study class that met every Tuesday down the street. Handing us some Christian propaganda, they went on there way to the tune of 'We wish you a Merry Christmas.' It was quite a surreal experience.

Joe missed the caroling, lucky him. He did have to experience the other, darker side of caroling (the one where you get dressed up to go sing songs to total strangers) when he was younger. He is therefore forgiven. Now he is home for nine whole days. We were told that his vacation was approved thirty-six hours before he got to come home. Because of this I may not get to post everyday, but I am going to try. For some reason, whenever Joe is home we seem to think that we can get a lot more done than is logical. Now we have this stress compounded by the fact that our house must be Christmas ready in five short days. Yay! The caffeine doesn't help that much. Until next time . . .