peskypippi.comBecause I have a lot to say…

Happy Birthday to me

Happy Birthday to me

Happy Birthday, to Pippi

I have eaten too much cookie

Here’s my doozy of a birthday cake (before we massacred it)…a ginormous chocolate chip cookie that Uncle Buck and I like to make.

Thanks for all of the birthday wishes!

XO,

Pippi

This year, I spread the Christmas cheer…a guest blog sent all the way to Australia to one of my favorite (favourite) bloggers there. Check out my latest post on one of my favorite (favourite) guys: Clark W. Griswold:

http://theberniebrand.com/2011/12/clark-w-griswold-meet-me-under-the-mistletoe/#comment-628

We have family, local, global, and even extra-terrestrial holiday celebrations in our American home.

• Aliens and Legos visiting our Nativity scene? All are welcome.
• Hannukah Harry? We love him.
• Tree ornaments from Mexico and India? Passport not required.
• Mr. Hanky? He is a sure-fire hit in our home. We cackle with laughter over this Christmas poo.
• American classic movies: Christmas Vacation? Elf? A Christmas Story? Check. Check. Check.
• Mexican wedding cookies? Yep, I make ‘em.
• Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker? Going.
• Visiting Santa Claus at the mall? On our list.
• Mormon Tabernacle Choir TV special? Celtic Christmas TV special? Two of my favorites.
• Paper dreidels brought home from school? Game on.
• Gingerbread house toppling over with too many gumdrops? Every year.
• Winter solstice? We celebrate that too.
• Advent calendar counting down the days of Christmas? It’s 11 days until Christmas, y’all.

In a previous post I wrote about Why Can’t We All Get Along (for the Holidays). It’s your choice. Mix it up. Or not.

We choose to mix it up and the result is a fun-filled, chock-full celebratory December quilt.

Little things make big memories. Remember that.

I don’t think it’s always the mega family trip to Disneyland that makes the best memories for children. The term “making memories” is often too forced and there are sky-high expectations associated with “the annual family vacation.”

Y’all saw National Lampoon’s Vacation, right? Was it Walley World that Rusty and Audrey will always remember? Or was it the bits and pieces along the way–aka the journey–that will make a lasting impression?

I think it’s the little things that happen on the fly that might fuel the memories. Here are 17 little things that go on around here:, that just might make the cut:

1. laughing at farts
2. buying milkshakes on a freezing, rainy day
3. lying in bed, side by side, reading
4. having a proper burial service for our hamster, Popcorn, under the tree in our backyard
5. hollering at the Canadian Snow Geese flying overhead: “HAPPY MIGRATION!” in the middle of the grocery store parking lot…at the top of our lungs
6. listening to the coins and zippers clanking in the dryer (my daughter says she loves that sound as she drifts off to sleep. Maybe because she knows she is well taken care of with clean laundry?)
7. butterfly kisses
8. firecracker sundaes on the 4th of July. You put sparklers in a hot fudge sundae. Instant magic.
9. whooping it up when Kevin from Home Alone kicks butt against the two bad guys. Kid power at its finest.
10. doing the popcorn dance: punching the air as the kernels burst into popcorn into our popcorn popper (Oh and I highly recommend this brand available but I’ve seen it cheaper at other stores
11. pop + popcorn + movie on Friday nights
12. giving my daughter one of my favorite pair of earrings. Just because.
13. pomegranates and egg nog in November. Always.
14. singing “Do Your Boobs Hang Low” at the top of our lungs in the car
15. French toast for dinner
16. cutting out paper snowflakes and displaying them in the front window–each and every one of them–even if the holes are gaping and they really look like Charlie Brown’s ghost costume
17. just talking and listening

What good memories will stay with truly stay with children as they get older? I don’t know…my kids are still young.

But don’t ya want to enjoy the journey? And the molehills will turn into mountains–on their own–because little memories add up. Big time.