My friend Rhonda just sent this to me, and I just had to share!

1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table  knows nothing of the Holiday spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave  immediately. Go next door, where they’re serving rum balls.

2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. It’s rare. You cannot find  it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000  calories in every sip? It’s not as if you’re going to turn in to an  eggnogoholic or something It’s a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have two.   It’s later than you think. It’s almost Christmas!

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Second in the amusing retro Christmas images gallery, a “Tijuana Christmas.” Do you have any idea how much I’d love to hear this album?

I have amassed quite a collection of vintage holiday pictures, and I thought it would be fun to share one each day between now and Christmas. (HOW is it only two weeks away???) So, introducing the first installment, the photo I have on my desktop background at the moment: the cutest little retro elf I’ve ever seen!

My mom had little figurines like that, and a small white christmas tree almost exactly like the one in this photo. I used to steal it from the top of the TV and put it in my Barbie townhouse. Yes, I decorated my Barbie townhouse for the holidays. I was a Martha wannabe even back then.

Am I the only mom who gets tired of facing dinner every night? I have been in such a rut, food-wise. I used to be into cooking and trying new recipes. Now? Meh…it’s just no fun at all.

I tend to blame my kids and their picky eating habits for spoiling the joy of food. Zach seems to expand his tastebuds with every passing year, but Eli is still firmly entrenched in the picky zone. I always blamed myself for that, but a doctor friend once told me that some kids just express fear in the form of trying new foods, and forcing the issue only makes things worse. I think sometimes that might be the case with Eli.

Sometimes I just say, to heck with it, and I cook something crazy, like curried vegetables and chickpeas over basmati rice. (Zach might pick at the vegetables but even my “good” eater hates rice). If our budget were more flexible, it wouldn’t be such an issue to go to the trouble of cooking something that doesn’t get eaten. And I’ll be honest: I just plain get tired of cooking every night. We rarely eat out (again, it’s a financial issue) and Donnie’s kitchen abilities don’t extend much beyond breakfast. So it’s almost always up to me to decide what we’re going to eat, and to prepare it. I know I should just be thankful for food to eat and a place to cook it, and I am thankful for those things.

God, forgive my complaining over the manna you send in the form of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, chicken and all other boring foods. I guess compared to a steady diet of honey-flavored wafers and quail, it really isn’t THAT bad.

Mean old Santa Claus. He snuck up on me this year, and I’m not exactly sure how it happened. Perhaps it was being sick for two weeks surrounding Thanksgiving that threw me off track. All I know is that instead of feeling my usual early-December glee over the season, I am mumbling and grumbling like the Grinch.

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