Baby! It's Cold Outside!

Our outside thermometer reads 13 degrees right now without the windchill. Brrrrr! We are at the beginning of a deep freeze according to the local weather forecasters. Nice. So, what to do with the bored-to-tears kiddos on their next-to-the-last day of Christmas break? We can't go outside to play in the meager quantity of snow on the ground, we can't bake cookies because, even I, have had enough cookies and we've taken all the Christmas decorations down. They went a bit stir-crazy yesterday having not left the house for a couple of days. What else can you do, but head to the dollar theater! Time to haul out the "big purse" and fill it up with Capri Sun and leftover Christmas candy. We finally got to see "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" this afternoon and it was really funny. The only voice I recognized was Mr. T whose voice was lent to the short-shorts wearing police officer, which I personally found very amusing. Watching the closing credits, I recognized a couple of other names, but I think the fact that the voice of Mr. T was the only one I could recall really amplifies the fact that I came of age in the 80's. Can you say "A Team"?

So the house is now stripped of all things red and green, no more sparkle or glitter, no more pine needles or candy canes. Strike that. I still have a huge jar full of candy canes sitting on my kitchen counter. I'm saving them for the next time I see my brother who has horses. The horses love to crunch up a candy cane once in awhile for a sweet treat. I wonder if it freshens their breath any. Getting back to the house and no decorations...I am glad to get the house back to normal and cleared of all the extras. The decorations are great for a month, but after awhile, I begin to feel a bit claustrophobic. Time to send the kids back to school and let the busy-ness of their lives take over once again. Homework, art class, basketball and choir practices and the volunteering for me. It was nice to take a break from all of those things to focus more on the holidays. Time to go brew a cup of tea and put on another sweater!