Today I got up early and went to the Family Support Center on base because they were having a toy give-away. Not that my children need extra toys, but everyone said I just had to go, and yes, it was fun! I waited in line with few friends and then got to pick out a few toys for each kid. They had some pretty good stuff. I got a Mr. and Mrs. PotatoHead, a Cabbage Patch Baby, Candyland, and a Cinderella Barbie-like doll. The next thing I knew I was being directed to a hallway filled with stocking stuffers and told “here, take these!” So I wound up with several matchbox cars, Kelly dolls, bubbles, puzzles, books, and “don’t forget some stuffed animals!” Crazy, no? So the kids will be making a haul this Christmas, considering that I had already bought them each a few things. I saw a few of my friends there ho have seven and eight children, respectively. I can imagine that this kind of thing really helps them out at Christmas! I know Jonas will be very stoked about the Potato Head couple.

I think we chose the most dangerous two hours to be traveling today. When we started out there was a bit of a drizzle, by the time we hit the freeway it was a massive downpour that didn’t let up all the way to San Bruno, on the other side of the Bay. Being a North Dakota girl, I’ve seen my share of weather. I’m even fairly comfortable driving through a snowstorm, but put me in a heavy rainstorm and I get nervous as a cat, and for good reason! We hydroplaned several times, just drifting lazily from one lane to another, wondering if we would end up in the ditch, or worse, on the grill of the semi next to us. I really got a thrill when the blue truck next to me sped by, splashed through a huge puddle, and covered my entire windshield with water, leaving me to just coast along with my foot off of the brake, hoping that when I regained sight of the road there would still be a road there. Then there was the sheer bliss of driving with idiots. I feel so blessed to be able to share the road with selfish jerks who feel that their pathetic lives are so important that they need to weave in and out of the rest of the traffic that has sensibly slowed down from eighty mph to a safer fifty. I really cherished associating with the moron who cut me off and nearly caused a pile up, and then, deciding that my lane wasn’t inching along any faster than the one he came from, weaved out infront of the guy next to me, forcing him to slam on his brakes and dart in back of me to avoid crashing. You people are just stellar. When you get to where you are going, would you stay the heck there?

Upon arriving at my in-laws, Jonas expressed his delight at the beautiful decorations. He adores the tree and the Santas, and his sheer joy at the signs of the season really melt my Grinchy, cynical heart. The icing on the cake had to be when Jonas discovered the angel on the tree.
“Wook! Wook!”
“Yes, that’s an angel! Isn’t it beautiful?”
“Yes, that’s Mommy!”

And that is why he gets so many presents!