On saying stuff

I was Christmas shopping at the mall today when my other half looked as his news feed and commented that there'd been a shooting in CT.

Then he started to give me the details and I just felt sick. 

I teach kids that are only a year younger than these victims. I teach kids that believe the gingerbread men missing from the oven must've run into our classroom of their own accord. I teach kids who think my daughter is either going to phase through my belly or just be picked up at the hospital when she's ready to be born, because, hey, how else would it work? I teach kids who talk about the day they'll be "all grown-up" in reference to the day they enter third grade. And I think about what happened yesterday and I just start crying. 

People are angry, shocked, and devastated right now. People say a lot of stupid stuff when they are like that. If we don't do anything else in these coming days, let's at least be patient with each other and remember that. My heart breaks and my prayers are with the families and communities that are suffering right now.

P.S. Someone shared this link with me and I think it needs to be passed around some more:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/moments-that-restored-our-faith-in-humanity-this-y

First Post of the New Year

Hope everyone had a great holiday, I know we did. (Yes, holidays take extra long with us. What this blog post didn't mention is that we have one more birthday in the family shortly after New Years, and everyone got together to celebrate that too.)

Now, I feel weird typing this post because so many people have asked how holidays went with the baby. While he was technically born this time last year, he wasn't interacting much, and the holidays were still squarely in that, "Just try to get as much sleep as possible" part of his life.

So, while I've told the story several times already, here it is again: The holidays were fun. The baby did open presents. I didn't think he knew how to open presents, because he kinda floundered with it on his birthday, but as he crawled about the house and came to the tree, he decided to play with the brightly-colored boxes and learned that wrapping paper rips. He tore one-inch segments off, got tape stuff on his fingers, and made hilarious expressions because of it.

Oh, and he walks. Not well, but he does. I didn't even get to announcing that he could crawl, and now he walks.

Now, the other one of us really needs to get things in gear, because so help me if I'm still on the agent hunt when my kid goes to kindergarten.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! :)

Happy Holidays. Literally.

The holiday season (and by this I mean, all days between Thanksgiving and January 2nd) is an exciting time for JT. Between all our extended family, he's going to celebrate (and receive gifts on) Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year's, and his birthday (which probably will be a major holiday in his mind for at least the next decade.) So for JT, "happy holidays" is less a matter of being politically correct, and more a shortened form of "Happy Birthday-Christmas-New-Year-Hanukkah!"

This got me to thinking about how we wish each other greetings this season. Most people know I'm Christian. (If you didn't, there's your new fact for the day.) I celebrate Christmas because I remember my Savior was born as a baby person, and after this year, I'm even more amazed at how big a sacrifice that was. It brings me happiness and I wish that happiness on other people. I like to be holiday-specific when I can, but sometimes I goof up.

All that to say, I want to get to know people better this season. If you celebrate Christmas, I'd like to wish you a Merry Christmas. If you celebrate Hanukkah, I'd like to wish you Happy Hanukkah during the actual holiday, and not two weeks after it ended. (Though Hanukkah falls almost right over Christmas and Kwanzaa this year, so that's probably not as big a concern as it was last year.) If you literally celebrate "happy holidays," I want to wish you that too.

And if I goof and thought you celebrated a holiday that you didn't, please just correct me and don't be mad at me for too long. I'd much rather get to know you better than wish you a generic greeting.