Santa Academy

I've learned something today. I, as a parent, am very ill equipped and poorly trained to handle the job of wrapping children's Christmas presents. Seriously...why is it that toy manufacturers no longer package things in anything square? Or even in anything with four distinct corners? I've spent a bit of time this morning working on assisting Santa with a few packages, and have yet to come across one that isn't crumpled on at least one side.

Those of you who know me well can sense the struggle I'm having. I'm normally one of these people whose presents must be perfect. I've always wondered why I feel so strongly about it considering the fact that my hours of wrapping end up in a garbage bag within about 30 minutes of the beginning of Christmas exchaging. But it is what it is. I'm a little over the top about wrapping...and I'm usually OK with it. I feel like this is a confession, but I'm actually someone who gets really happy when the pattern on the wrapping paper matches up perfectly when I cut it to go around something. Add this to my list of things I have issues about.

But, I've decided there should be some sort of training for this overabundance of non-square toys. Since this is really the first Christmas that we've truly had gifts for Joshua, I feel like I've been bamboozled a bit. So, if any of you experienced moms and dads have tips for a newbie, I'll gladly take them.

In other news, Joshua and Jason had a very special Daddy night last night while I was at Bucknell. I came home to find them snuggled up on Daddy's chair watching the Polar Express. At that point, Jason reported that it had been an hour and 14 minutes of him sitting still, enthralled by the movie. Now THAT'S impressive. We haven't found anything else that makes him sit still that long. I'm glad they had fun, but I was super happy to get home in time for Joshua's bath and stories. We had a chance to catch up on his day and talk a bit before he drifted off to sleep. What a sweet ending to the day for both of us.

In case anyone's concerned about our gingerbread adventures, there are 20 (still standing, solid as a rock) gingerbread houses in my office. 20 more to be completed today by some high school volunteers. I'm a bit concerned about tomorrow's weather, so we have to make a judgment call on this soon...but we're making progress. Much less painful than I would have anticipated. I actually had a BLAST working on them yesterday...I felt like I was a kid again!

So, in the happy column....GINGERBREAD HOUSES. In the not so happy column....unsquare toys. We'll call it better than even. Christmas is still the best.