Eating, Drinking, and Netflixing

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  

It doesn't have the materialism and franticness of Christmas.  Or the food limitingness of Passover.  Or the freaky bunny mascotness of Easter.  Or the guilt illicitness of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.  Or the fire hazardness of Hanukkah.  Or the almost not holidayness of St. Patrick's Day, Valentines Day, and Flag Day.  

Not to knock the aforementioned holidays.  I celebrate them all.  But I have a soft spot for Thanksgiving.  

I love the eating.  It took me until my adulthood, but there is really nothing better than the perfect Thanksgiving bite.  A piece of turkey with gravy, with a bit of stuffing, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce - all in the right proportions of course.  

I love the drinking.  Who doesn't love a holiday where day drinking is acceptable?  Wine, beer, whatever, it's perfectly acceptable to have a constant flow.  After all, no one is driving.  Where would one go?  Everything is closed!

Which brings me to the only downside of Thanksgiving - everything is closed.  It's one of those holidays where one tends to go stir crazy by around 5.  

I think there are some football games on Thanksgiving Day or something.  But I loathe football, the sound of football, and basically any sport on TV.  And I hate the Macy's Day parade even more.  Ditto on the Hallmark Channel.  So generally, my family and I end up surfing On Demand for movies, trying to find something that is agreeable to everyone.  Which is hard, because our audience spans generations, from age 1- 77.   

This year, I am a blogger for the Netflix Stream Team.  So I am all over Netflix these days (especially since being a Stream Team Member means that I get a free Netflix subscription and iPad!).  I've done a bit of research, and I've come up with a list of ten family movies that are perfect for viewing on Thanksgiving Day.  

Here was my criteria:  1) No Disney movies.  I see enough of those every damn day.  So no Frozen, Lion King, Little Mermaid, and the like;  2) They must be appropriate for ALL ages.  This doesn't mean that there won't be subjects the little ones won't understand, but there won't be anything to give them nightmares either; 3) Nothing depressing, dark, or Blackfish-ish.  Only uplifting subjects are appropriate for Thanksgiving; and 4) They are available for live streaming on Netflix.  

Without further adieu, here is my list (in no particular order).  Please feel free to add or critique in the comments!  

1) Ghostbusters

2) The Nightmare Before Christmas

3) Jumanji

4) Honey, I Shrunk the Kids

5) Annie

6) Hook

7) Who Framed Roger Rabbit

8) School of Rock

9) Freaky Friday

10) Hugo (Note, I have not seen this one, but hear it is amazing).  

What will you all be watching on Thanksgiving?  Whatever it is, enjoy!  Eat, drink, Netflix, and be merry.  

Happy Thanksgiving!

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When the Baby Leaves Him

I've never completely understood the exact time frame of the baby terminology.  When does one go from newborn to infant to baby to toddler to child to kid?  At the beginning, people tend to use the labels interchangeably.  But as children grow older, the options for terminology dwindle.

My six year old and four year sons can hardly be considered babies or toddlers anymore - they are pretty set at the term child, or kid.  But when did that happen?  I assume there was a time that they were in "transition."  But right now when I look at them, I no longer see a baby.  In fact, when I see pictures of them as babies, it's hard for me to reconcile that they are the same person - that that baby I once held in my arms has morphed into something so different.

Colin turned 1 last week.

I still call him a baby.

He still has those adorable a baby thunder thighs, complete with symmetrical thigh wrinkles where the fat has buckled.  It is still hard to find his neck under his big baby head and pudgy cheeks.  He still smells like a baby and his hair is silky and smooth after a bath.  He babbles and coos and slobbers.  I still nurse him, and while doing so he likes to caress my cheek or poke my mouth.  He is still small enough that I can hold him comfortably on my hip for long periods of time, and he still falls asleep on my chest every other night or so.  And when I put him down to sleep and peer in his crib, he looks like the most peaceful sleeping baby.

But there are signs.  Signs that the baby is leaving him.

Never Any Time

I'm reminded of my favorite scene from Saved by the Bell.

Photo taken from https://us.beamly.com/exclusives/2014/07/28/saved-by-the-bell-caffeine-pill/

Oh Jessie Spano, I am channeling you.

I've got a lot going on.

We bought a house.  Yup, a house.  That's kind of a big deal.  It's only a half a mile from where we currently live, but it's bigger.  And nicer.  And I will have a bathroom I don't have to share with three mini-people.  Hooray!

Way back before I was an adult, I used to think that buying a house was simply that - one purchases a home.  That was before I understood inspections and mortgages and appraisals and oh, the fact that when you buy a house, you also have to sell your current house.  This is our first go round with that, and it sucks.  Lets just say last night I painted four doors.  It was hypnotizing.  I wanted to keep going.  More doors, more doors.  My husband had to stop me.  Shannon, put the paint brush down.  

Right now there are two different handymen working outside.  A storage unit will arrive this weekend.  And then the house goes on the market next Wednesday.  The same day we leave for Disney World.

This weekend, I will be hosting a baby shower for my sister on Saturday.  And then on Sunday a first birthday party for Colin (holy crap, how did that come so quickly).   I'd like to make a slideshow montage for him, as I did my two other children, in time for the party.  My friend from Australia will also be visiting, so I will take her out for a night on the town on Friday.

I have two different sets of papers to grade for the class that I teach.  And a blog that I like to write.

All of these are good things.  I mean ALL are good things.  So this is not a woah is me.  It's just a, I am in the middle of a whirlwind and just trying to get by.

Things that have gone to the wayside:  Showering.  Screen time limitations.  Returning phone calls and emails (sorry about that).  Playdate reciprocation.  Halloween candy regulation.  Blogging.  Thank you cards.  Getting gas.

I made it with 14 miles to spare!

Whilst writing this post, Colin just ate a piece of dog food.

Someday soon I will write eloquently and deeply and wittily.

Just not today.