Home Again

I made it back to Abq just before the storm (woke up to snow & ice on my car this morning). There is a mountain pass just across the NM-CO border that I must cross in order to make it home from the Springs, and I am always worrying about the weather. There was a huge snowstorm last night, so my reserve command was kind enough to release me a little early in the day so I could speed my ass off to beat the storm home. And it's only December!

In other news, things are quite stressful at home. I have been worrying a lot about my school aged kiddos since I think they are both getting screwed by the public school system and there doesn't seem to be much I can do about it.* I don't want to go into too much detail here, but C & T are both getting teased in school for various reasons. And, as a mother and as a kid who was once picked on myself, my heart just breaks for them both. You just want your kids to have a wonderful childhood and to avoid all the horrible things you went thgrough as a kid. I want to give them the best possible future, and I feel so helpless. It just makes me feel so sad...

Anyway, now that it is truly the holiday season, I have started the kids on my usual X-mas excitement kick. Every night we watch a different Christmas movie (Rudolph, The Grinch, Charlie Brown or Garfield Christmas, etc.) and open the advent calendar (hey, any tradition that encourages the eating of chocolate is one we all should adopt ;) Then we sit around the tree and either read the various holiday story books (there's a whole bunch of Hanukkah ones, too...I'm an equal opportunity holidayist :) or count up all the presents under the tree. And we still have three more weeks to go! As a child, I just loved the feeling of anticipation that came with Christmas, and I love seeing how excited my own children get.

Example of Pu Family Christmas Joy:

We are watching Rudolph...enter Abominable Snowman...I grab Jocelyn and squeeze her pretending to be afraid...
Me: *gasp* Oh no, it is the Abominable Snowman. He is so scary!
J: Eeeee! Scary Nomabable Snowman!
Me: Is he going to eat Rudolph??!! I think he likes to eat reindeer.
J: *firmly* No! We will eat him first. He will be yummy like snow. Snow is yummy.
C: Um, what about his teeth? He has really big teeth.
J: *pauses thoughtfully* Then we will give him Alex.


So I leave you with some happy holiday pics:

*Thanks to all who commented on my previous post about the NCLB Act, especially those who aren't my normal audience. It is comforting and yet incredibly frustrating to know there are others facing these challenges. One can only hope that the Obama administration will turn their attention to our abysmal Education Dept; however, I think they'll probably be quite busy with just keeping the country afloat. I have just about given up on public schools altogether. I am seriously considering homeschooling, if only we can figure out a way we could afford it.