However, her pants ARE bursting with Christmas glee...

I see London. I see France. I see JCK's underpants. Indeed? No, JCK has not reverted to her Kindergarten days...yet. However, her pants ARE bursting with Christmas glee... Yes, JCK is sporting the latest in post-Christmas HOT Frontal Fashion....Le laissez-faire du top Bouton. For those of you not in the know of slaughtered Francais, JCK has loosened her top buttons. Of her pants. Out of necessity. The Motherscribe household has gone from gettin' jingly with it...to...let's get jiggly with it. Alas, the cookies and fudge were too damn good.

When not surviving on SUGAR, JCK has been a virtual whirlwind. Spinning like a top through BOY & GIRL's room, sorting, discarding, giving away, organizing... JCK is not sure where the motivation is coming from, but she is going with it.

JCK also did some good old fashioned crying. Because how could BOY & GIRL have once been as tiny as these little clothes at the back of the closet reveal. Oh....where has the time gone? Sometimes JCK is overwhelmed by the sadness of what is no...more.

Yet, the fun of a 5 and a 6 year old is delicious, too. BOY showing GIRL how to make snowflakes with paper and scissors. GIRL showing BOY how to fold napkins. BOY pulling a book out of the bookshelf and realizing that he can read it. And reading it to GIRL... GIRL spending over 2 hours on Christmas day making her own storybook. The beauty of seeing them covered in dirt and grass stains, so young and free and happy.

It's been a good Christmas season, and JCK is looking forward to the New Year. 2010 feels like a great number. She wants to spend more time writing here. And elsewhere.


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Photo of "Zip Holder" courtesy of Coolthings.com

I have now realized that baking is a full contact sport

I am slowly coming out of what can only be called a baking psychosis. This, not to be confused with a baking frenzy. Although there are similarities. A baking frenzy is simply...that. A wild hootenanny of baking that is over within a period of hours. A baking psychosis? Well, clearly a state that is much, much more disturbed. Yes, for those of us afflicted, it can last ...GASP...days.

I come from a long line of bakers. My mother. Yes, a long line. My mother would bake way into the wee hours while we children were snug in our beds. She was smart, my mother. I choose to bake during daylight hours. During those periods of time when children are afoot. And underfoot. I have now realized that baking is a full contact sport. Truly, you haven't really broken in as a baker until you take a good head butt to your ...BUTT. All while balancing cookie sheets and stirring hot fudge upon the stove. Memories....Can we all break into song now? Memories...da da da da da daaaa.... Memories....

Those little munchkins, bless them. All fired up with sugar and SANTA IS COMING!! Is there anything like the exquisite SHOUTING in one's ear to get you in the Christmas spirit!!?? No. But, it is all good. Really. It is! I'll just have to apply for my hearing aide a bit sooner. It will go well with my ....Oh, I thought they were your grandchildren chic. I shouldn't complain. It's been days since I was called my children's grandmother. Days. I'm not bitter. Dammit! I know, Santa, I know. Damn, your good ears...

Santa is coming within the next few hours. The stockings are hung by the chimney with care. BOY & GIRL are nestled in their beds. E, better not be in a kerchief, or I'll kick him to the lawn. I'm sure ready for my mid-winter's nap...

May the wonder of Christmas find you this year!

Merry Christmas to BOY & GIRL, and to all a good night!

All, memories to treasure...

The Christmas spirit is pretty high here at Casa de Motherscribe. We are all gettin' jingly with it. JCK has decorated the mantle with fresh cut trimmings off the tree, along with bunches of pyracantha berries, candles, and an angel or two. Large pine cones, bows, and twinkly lights deck the halls. The tree has the traditional court jester atop it, and colored lights. There is no subtlety here...

BOY & GIRL are fully in the Christmas spirit. Today JCK and the little rascals put together a gingerbread house and tree. It would do well in Vegas, this gingerbread house. BOY & GIRL believe MORE is MORE in decorating. And JCK lets them. After all, someday...they will be older and more tasteful.

JCK is drinking up all of these moments. It is as if she can feel time flowing through her fingers. But, she is able to hold on to some precious, sparkly grains of sand. Some soft. Some gritty. All, memories to treasure...

Why is he wearing a plastic bag?

I saw a man at church today wearing a plastic bag for a coat. And I haven't been able to get him out of my mind. He comes regularly on Sundays, and sits in the church courtyard. Sometimes chatting with another homeless man, sometimes sitting quietly by himself. Today he was a few feet away from the goodie table, where volunteers bring in baked goods to sell. It pained me to stand there, with my warm coat on, watching him...without a coat.

I asked one of the women handling the food if anyone had offered him anything to eat. No one had. We go to an amazing church. I love it. It is known far and wide for the wonderful peace and justice work that parishioners and staff engage in - personally. Yet...when a lone man stands off to the side, with a garbage bag on as a coat, it scares us. It makes us uncomfortable.

But, for me, today, coming out of church and not saying or doing something felt very wrong. Especially since our rector had just mentioned in his sermon that we're collecting coats this week. So many people on the streets without. Hungry. Cold.

Why is he wearing a plastic bag? GIRL asked.

Because, he doesn't have a coat, sweetie.

GIRL and BOY watched him. There were no more questions. They recognized by my response that he was homeless.

I approached the man. Offered him food from our table. He declined. Politely. Said he was full up. Smiled at me. I'm not sure I believed him, but I took him at his word. Maybe he wasn't hungry. I won't know. But, my own piece of angel food cake felt stuck somewhere between my throat and my heart. And I want to find that man a coat. This week. Then it will feel like Christmas.

GIRL's take on Christmas

I've been in a black fog for the last week. Some of it self-inflicted, a lot of it...not. One of the many blessings of having little children is that they will frequently utter something that brings you to your knees, or at the very least... to tears. A few days ago I was tossing another load into the washer and GIRL called out to me urgently.

GIRL: Mama!....MAMA!???

JCK: Yes, GIRL!

GIRL: Mama, come here. I need you.

JCK: Just a second, GIRL. Let me just finish putting this load of laundry in the washer.

GIRL: O.K., Mama.

GIRL is patiently sitting at her art table, waiting for JCK.

JCK: O.K., sweetie. What did you need?

GIRL: Mama?

JCK: Yes....

GIRL: Mama, I think Christmas is more about love and delight than getting things.

And, in the midst of my black mood, and feeling like I never get anything done, I got off the mommy madness merry-go-round, and realized that something very right is going on here. And I get to be a part of it....

...into the wilds of Georgia

JCK and crew have returned from the WILDS of GEORGIA. Perhaps most don't think of Georgia as the wild lands. JCK is here to tell you different.

The flight to Atlanta was uneventful. Yes, JCK just used those words...uneventful. In fact, mid-4 1/2 hour flight, JCK and E looked at each other in wonder. BOY & GIRL were sitting together. Alone. As in...all by themselves. Well... across the row from JCK & E.

FREEDOM!! FREEDOM!!! Belt it, honey! FREEDOM! Hallelujah! Amen. Absorbed in small TV screens in front of them, and with headphones on, they were.... fairly QUIET. In fact, JCK and E could have brought a book along to read. Yes, JCK did just say those very words...a book to read.

The car trip from the Atlanta airport to Lake Lanier, where E's parents live, was LOUD. But, come on people, JCK's children aren't perfect.

On the first day in the wilds of Georgia, BOY had his first "adventure." As the family took a walk around the lakefront, BOY noticed a pile of "mud" that looked intriguing. After all, Georgia mud is different from ...California dirt. He scooped a handful up and, without pause, started screaming. Indeed. He had lifted the roof off of a fire ant nest. Luck was with him, as he only received one fiery bite before JCK managed to knock the dirt and other ants off of his hand.

Oh, yes....while at the lake, GIRL & BOY experienced many new things. BOY, not to be subdued by mere fire ants decided to truly test the waters. On Thanksgiving, after spending the morning daring the fates....by balancing on the edge of the dock and "pretending" to fall off...really FELL OFF. In over his head.

BOY HOWDY was it COLD. If BOY was a cork, he could not have popped up quicker. As he surfaced, his mouth formed a perfect OOOOOOOOOO of distress, as he wailed..."I've ruined my BIRTHDAY clothes!!" (He had turned 6 a few days before, but the horror of falling in the cold lake was enough to scramble what words he could generate.) Operation Rescue, JCK and her brother-n-law were right there when it happened. Since BOY bobbed up right next to the dock, JCK managed to reach in and lift that little rascal out. JCK must note that she would have been royally PISSED if she had had to jump in. Her good suede pants and coat would not have survived the plunge.

Moments later, after getting dried off by a towel, he ran up to his 2 year old male cousin, and uttered: LITTLE BOY? THAT LAKE IS COLD!

GIRL had wonderful adventures that did not include pain. She learned how to make biscuits from scratch with her Granny- the two of them a great team, naming themselves...The Biscuit Buddies. And...she had a big time fishing with Daddy off the dock. She almost caught her first fish, but pulled the line in just before the fish was hooked. E caught 4 small Brim, and let them go. JCK is envisioning a future Father/Daughter fishing trip.

BOY fished for a whole 5 minutes before he created his own CRITTER RESCUE SERVICE. He started scooping out the minnows from the bait bucket, tossing them into the lake and watching them swim free. He only stopped when E promised that he could set them free at the end of the visit. On the last day, minnows and night crawlers were returned to nature, in spite of a different habitat from whence they came. And all was well with the world...