Have I been slacking? Prove it!

Well yes, if you see my post rate for this week. Kind of sporadic. Kind of every other day. The holidays have kind of taken over this year with so many work and family-related parties, etc!! Man! Are you guys feeling the same? Like “not enough hours in the day for anything” kind of thing?

Perhaps today I’ll make up for some lost time and posts.

Jack and I went out and got our tree the other day, and it’s funny, he kind of felt bad about cutting down a tree, so we opted for a pre-cut. His reasoning was if it was already cut down, it wasn’t as big a deal. The deed was done. I guess that makes him feel less guilt? He feels the same about meat. If he thinks about animals being killed for our food, he cries. But if it’s already dead and wrapped in plastic, he sometimes says “Eh”. But then again, he still chooses fish over meat and even then will choose pasta over anything. 🙂

This was our first year getting a tree without Jack’s dad, so it’s a first step in things. We both felt it when we drove into the tree farm. Jack ran over to the animals as usual…they have a couple of frisky goats penned up that will eat pellets (or anything for that matter) out of your hand, a small cow named Elvis, and some bunnies and chickens that scurried about just out of reach. Jack sighed a bit, but tried to get into the spirit of things. The day was not as cold as it usually is in December, and there was no snow of course. (Got all that out in October I’d say!) It was a new and different sort of Christmas feeling for both of us.

Jack: (worrying) Can I still buy an ornament like I always do?

me: Of course… Why would you think no?

Jack: I don’t know. (still pronounced as “Ow no” in the timeless 6-year-old fashion)

me: Are you okay?

Jack: Yeah. (he sighs) Who’s gonna help us get the tree in the house? (his way of talking about it without really talking about it)

me: Well, let’s pick a tree that both of us can handle and then we won’t need any help. How’s that?

Jack: (perked up) Yeah okay. But I don’t want to cut one.

me: Okay, let’s go and pick…

We selected the most perfect tree of all, a kind of sad one leaning against a fence…but when it opened up it was the most perfectly symmetrical tree I’ve seen in a long time.

Jack: Will they help us get it onto the car? (frown lines appear again)

me: Jack, someone will always be around to help us. With anything.

Jack: Yeah, so we don’t have to worry about anything. Right?

me: Right.

His smile returned and he skipped over to the car.