Frivolous Foliday

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas or Happy Holiday of your choosing.   For your amusement over the next couple of fun-filled days, here are 10 Things You Probably Didn't Know About 'A Charlie Brown Christmas'.

picture from thefw.com

Last Minute Gift Idea

Still searching for the perfect gift for the modern child?   You may be interested in this decorative item for his or her bedroom wall.   Frame and mounting are optional.  Who knows, they may even thank you when they're 40.

Found on our friend Kim's facebook page
seems to be from a real school in India  www.schoolofsuccess.in

Holiday Card Psychology

I met an armchair expert yesterday for a cup of hot chocolate and to discuss the psychology of holiday cards.  She lacks any relevant crediantials but is opinionated and has been around long enough to know how things work.  She was wearing dark jeans, ballet flats, a navy wax jacket and red tartan scarf.  I am only telling you this because this is how they do it in Vogue.  We shall call her Madame X.  Here's what I learned.

Madame X, thank you for sitting down with me. What can you tell our mannerly readers about holiday cards these days?
Well, Darling, like most aspects of life in these modern times, it's completely out of control.

How so?
Surely you have noticed how the fabulosity factor has overtaken the once genuine and sincere craft of connecting with people and wishing those far away from us a Merry Religious-Observance-Of-Their-Choice and a Happy New Year?  Now one starts by trying to come up with  a collection of words one hopes to be slightly festive yet completely inoffensive to the entire planet.  From there it is all about the glossy photos and beauty shots.  How many people even write notes on their cards any more? 

Not many I know.  Although some send a printed letter.
Yes!  I mean NO!  And what do those printed letter say?  Lalala... we spent the winter skiing, the summer beaching, our children are brilliant (!) fabulous (!), and as you can judge from the attached 32 picture photo collage, dramatically good-looking.  


So, you are an advocate for fewer pictures on a holiday card?
First of all, I know you talked about the rule of three in this blog at one point.  And really, never is this more true than with a holiday card. 

Meaning there should be no more than three photos on a holiday card?
Exactly.  And really just one.  If one is keeping score, and trust me, this has become something of a sport in many houses, maximum points are give for one good photo of everyone over many good shots of each family member. 

But what if there is one child, shall we say,  hamming it up?
That my dear, is what we call "representative of the moment" and something you might want to consider saving for his/her rehearsal dinner. 


Did you see the piece in the WSJ today about the holiday photo card industry?
Yes.  It was a good study of this phenomenon.  Ironically, it did not discuss the e-card option as found on Paperless Post.  This is the method to which I hope to be migrating in the near future.  Not only is it much less cher (my Dear) but green as well.  En fin, as for having oneself featured in that article, you know what I say, fools names and fools faces...

So I take it you are not a fan of Reality TV?
That, my friend, is another topic for another day.  


Thank you and Merry Christmas.
 Merry Christmas to you. 

Santa: Don't ask, don't tell?

For families who celebrate Christmas, Santa can be a pleasant diversion and a means for promoting good behavior, when children are young. But as they get older, the family might settle into an uneasy equilibrium. The children are old enough to know better: they couldn’t possibly believe that a man could deliver presents to millions of homes in a single night, powered by a few flying animals. Yet, perhaps, they are also wise enough to not question the clandestine delivery of presents which do not require a thank you note!  It might be hard for a modern mother to know: Do they know? Or not? Will they be humiliated in eighth grade when they are the last of their classmates to discover the truth?  Should we sit them down for a talk?

When there are multiple children of different ages, it becomes even more complicated.  If an older child asks directly, “Is Santa real?” in the presence of his younger siblings, the modern mother faces a conundrum: spill the beans to all of the the children, or lie to her 8/9/10 year old.  Alternatively,  she could take an existential approach: “If Santa doesn’t exist, then he can’t bring you presents, so if you would like to take that risk, you may.” And thus, the whole Santa thing evolves into a “don’t ask; don’t tell” situation.  Healthy? We’re not so sure. Effective? Yes. The older children become complicit in the Santa phenomenon, or maybe they just suspend disbelief for a few more years. Either way, the show can go on, even if it includes a knowing wink. 

* Santa image from allposters.com 

Please Excuse the Brattling

After stumbling across That Should Be a Word, in the most recent New York Times magazine, a modern mother might feel a mixture of amusement, curiosity and chagrin. The column offers three neologisms: (1) brattle (to discuss one’s children at length), (2) spamily (Facebook or Twitter updates about kids) and (3) spawntourage (a group of approaching strollers). All these terms are admittedly funny. Who hasn’t had to pinch herself to stay awake through a fellow parent's enumeration of nap schedules and dietary preferences? Who hasn’t scrolled right by the Facebook photos of a college acquaintance’s children? Who hasn't felt pushed aside by multiple strollers spanning a narrow sidewalk?

The modern mother snickers, but she might also frown at the tinge of hostility towards children and families. Are there really people out there who roll their eyes at the sight of several strollers passing? Who are these anti-children people? Do they sit around in cafes smoking, writing screenplays, and snarling at passing infants? Do they wear berets? Trucker hats? Do they have bushy hipster beards? Do they all live in Manhattan? (Because, last we heard Brooklyn had been taken over by young families, come to think of it, Manhattan too.)

Whatever the authors of these neologisms are like, wherever they live, anti-child sentiments are not frequently visible in the suburban enclaves inhabited by this modern mother. Perhaps that's a good thing. Or possibly not.

Being cocooned in a child-centric culture just might leave many parents vulnerable to the impression that their darlings are universally adored and admired. Could it give modern parents the idea that it’s appropriate to bring children to any and all events? Does it leave some parents unaware of the possibility that the view of a toddler smearing his dinner across table linens might detract from another diner’s fine dining experience? Or worse.

Perhaps it is just such cluelessness that has incited any child-hostile sentiments lurking in the child-free majority. So, thank you, New York Times, for that little bit of humor and that small reality check to parents out there. Or at least the ones who have the time to read the Sunday magazine.

Happy Turkeys

Dear readers, please excuse our brief hiatus.  We have been up to our elbows in paper mache.  Being neither crafty like Machiavelli nor crafty like Martha Stewart, one wonders what we could possibly have been thinking when we concocted the half-baked, life-size,  paper mache turkey centerpiece scheme in the first place.

Though in truth, this modern mother knows what she was thinking.  She was thinking "Do I really need to spend more than I am paying for my actual turkey at that fancy pants florists for some minimalist centerpiece involving about 9 stems when the children could make something wonderful for next to nothing?"  

So here we are three days and unimaginable effort, home made paste crises, cajoling, tempera paint showers and of course fun (?) later.  

After this "teachable experience," today's real turkey and 26 accompanying guests should be a cake walk. 

Hope we didn't just jinx ourselves with that last thought.

Happy Thanksgiving to all,

Elizabeth & Elizabeth 

A Good Walk

There are few things these modern mothers enjoy more than a good walk.  The  benefits are well established.  Nothing clears your head, stretches your legs and gets your blood pumping like a good walk.  Plus, and we must be honest, it is much easier than running.  So when we came across these two sites devoted to walking we just had to share.

 The first site, called Walking To Listen, is the ongoing story of a young man's journey across the United States.  He walked out his back door in Pennsylvania on October 14, 2011 and is, as of this writing, somewhere in Virginia.  He is headed to the west coast.  He is a wonderful racanteur and there is something very special about knowing this is happening in real time.

The second site is called abbyroad.com and it is (of all things!) a live webcam pointed towards the very crosswalk in London where the Beetles album cover was photographed.  So there you have it.   Happy walking.  Or watching.

Photos from Walking to Listen and Google