All I Want Are Some Turkey Dishtowels and a Few Other Thoughts

I set off to Target earlier this week on a mission. Turkey dish towels. Like these, only preferably not for $13. No such luck. It's all Christmas baby. There were no turkeys to be found. Apparently no one decorates for Thanksgiving anymore.

I guess I'm as guilty as the next guy (see above). We went to the mall today for the playground and the bookstore, passed Santa, who Ellie begged to see (what?). Nineteen dollars and ninety five cents and fifty percent of my children later (Leo was at school, Lucy was asleep), there we were.

To be honest, I love this time of year. I'm a Jew who loves Christmas. I love Christmas music (confession: I listened to it today on Pandora and love that thanks to Pandora I don't have to wait for the radio stations to play it). It's weird not being in the city and feel myself missing the hustle and bustle a little, or at the very least being able to complain about all those dang tourists crowding around the tree at Rockefeller Center.

In other news:

-Speaking of turkeys, I finally finally hung my little "art garland" (to hold seasonal kid art) that I've been meaning to put up for, oh, five months (hi babies!). It's nothing big, it's just twine and cutie mini clothes pins and with a couple of nails it took all of three minutes to hang. It will be a welcome spot for all the art we do around here or the stuff that comes home from school that I feel guilty instantly recycling (we are clutter central, suddenly). I really can't go on enough about how accomplished I felt having crossed that To Do off my list. It's astonishing how challenging it is to finish a goal or project around here lately and that's been hard for me not to get itchy about. I assure you I'm getting better though ("lightening up," as my mom would say.)

-Leo finally started private speech therapy. Let me just say that 5 p.m. is not an optimal time to be loading up four children and setting off in the night for said appointment. The babies want to be asleep at 5:30, or at least on their way, not sitting in an Italian restaurant waiting for take-out food for their older brother and sister. That's what Ellie and I did while Leo was at his appointment when I determined there would be no time for dinner prep when we walked in the door at 6 p.m. and the babies were cuh-razy and exhausted. This extra speech for Leo is such a worthy cause, but I'm pretty sure if they can't find a better time for his appointment (earlier, please), it's going to shave a couple of years off my life.

-This maternity leave has been sadly TV-less (what a surprise, right? It's not like I have anything to do). In an effort to amp up my television viewing, I'm trying to get "into" a show. That show is American Horror Story. Wow. Anyone else watching? What do you think? I can't look away. It's so bad it's good.

-These babies are getting chunky and sturdy and holdable by the big kids.

And I'm pretty sure these two are in love.