I remember once when there were only three kids in my family, my Dad, my Mom, Julia, Richard, and myself all slept in our unfurnished living room by the Christmas tree. It was so much fun. I've always wanted to do that since we got married but we never have. This year we're spending Christmas in our home, with Bobby's brother Wes and his family. I'm thirty years old and this is the first time I won't be spending Christmas at the home of my parents. It's like a major milestone in my life. I've actually been a little anxious about this stage of my development as an adult. My parents, my family, my cousins, aunts, and uncles; the parties, the decorations, the traditions... it was always really hard to imagine pulling away from that and doing our own thing. But I am really excited. I think the timing is right and our little family is ready to start our own Christmas traditions. I know I'll miss my Dad and siblings, though. There is something so magical about Christmas at the Warner house that totally makes it worth the nightmare it is to travel over the holiday.So, we're kind of starting from scratch when it comes to our own family traditions. So I guess you could say we're having a few "try-outs." I've been waiting for the perfect night for us to all sleep in the living room together. I thought it would be better to have it on a weekend night so we could let the kids stay up as late as they want. Last night seemed to be the night. All day I was in the mood to watch Home Alone, and I couldn't find it anywhere. I finally found it, right where it was supposed to be, in the same spot I had looked 3 or 4 times already. What?! I have no idea. Whatever. Anyway, I was thrilled. Home Alone may not have actually been the best choice, though. I haven't written about this yet, but Franny has been exercising an unprecedented amount of sass lately. I mean, she just exploded one day and started telling me to "shut up" and when I asked her to do something, I'd get, "No, you do it." So with the help of Melinda, one of my favorite people, and some helpers at school, the sass has definitely made a huge improvement. Now when she feels like saying "shut up," instead I'll hear her say, "what does shut up start with?" or "we not say shut up." But sometimes I'm not very smart. Sometimes I choose a movie for the family to watch with TEN instances of "shut up." I mean, little Kevin MacAllister has mastered the art of talking back. I tried to cough really loud whenever I knew something I wouldn't want her to repeat came up and when Kevin calls his mom a "dummy," I cringed. What was I thinking?! Franny LOVES to quote movies. This morning the first thing that came out of her mouth was, "We not say shut up." Then about a half an hour later, she said, "I need to find Kevin." I smell trouble.
I think this tradition is a keeper.
