Santa pic at the end.

Yeah, so the blog has been sorely lacking lately, I realize. What with attempting the novel and gestating, I've been tired. Not that I haven't had time to post, mind you, I just have been too exhausted to even get the computer out of the desk. Pathetic.

We've been extremely busy here with holiday activities. Thanksgiving was spent here in Tallahassee with the Mauks. They drove down for the week from AR. It was great to have them here and Emma enjoyed it. Plus, there was no way I was making a turkey by myself. Janet was amazing in the kitchen. We did the whole shebang: turkey, stuffing...the works. I even attempted Grandma's cranberries. It was more of a sauce really, kind of like liquidy jam - it flowed off the serving spoon quite nicely. But that's OK. It still tasted fantastic. I even got out my (Nana's) china. It was the first time Andy had ever seen it since I've not ever used it since we got married. It was well worth it. Made me miss my Nana. She loved holidays. I've even named one of the characters in my novel after her.

By the way - the novel - it's not going to happen. This month anyway. There was no way I was hitting the 50,000 word goal by this Friday. But at least I've started the damn thing and now I can just continue working on it - slowly.

Went to the doctor today to check on baby boy Mauk. Doing fine, growing well, weighs about 3 pounds right now. Projected to way 7.5 or so upon arrival. Feeling good.

We are now in the home stretch heading up to Christmas. Andy put up the Christmas tree tonight. Emma told me 3 times, "Mama, I lub the Christmas tree!" Then, when Andy was doing bedtime stuff, Emma thanked him twice for putting it up. Andy now says that since the "hard part" is done, he'll leave the ornaments and other accoutrement to me and E. Too bad we have a pre-lighted tree that folds out of the box. Yeah, he'll still be helping.

We had E's picture taken with the big guy yesterday. She talked about it for 3 days including a MASSIVE meltdown in the dressing room at Burlington Coat Factory when we tried on the Christmas dress. The transcript follows:
E: I DON'T WANT TO TAKE IT OFF. IT'S MY CHRISTMAS DRESS!
Me: Emma, we have to pay for it first.
E: BUT I WANT TO TAKE MY PICTURE WITH SANTA NOWWWWWW!
Me: Santa will still be there tomorrow. We have to get some shoes, and tights, and a hair bow.
E: A pretty hair bow?
Me: Yes, a pretty hair bow.
E: With pink and purple on it?
Me: Yes, pink and purple.

I get the dress off E while detailing all the other items we'll buy to prepare for the Santa photo. Then we head out of the mall but have to pass the "Santa Station" to get to the car.

E: Where is Santa?
Me: He went to eat dinner.
E: CAN I EAT DINNER WITH HIM?
Me: No. He's eating with his parents. (Obviously I was grasping at straws here)
E: Are they eating here in the mall? CAN WE WATCH THEM EAT?
Me: No, they went to a restaurant. They're not here.
E: Is he coming back?
Me: Yes.
E: Can we wait for him?
Me: No.
E: BUT I WANT TO WAIT FOR SANTA TO FINISH DINNER AND PUT ON MY CHRISTMAS DRESS AND SIT IN HIS LAP AND HAVE MY PICTURE TAKEN WITH SANTA!!
Me: picked up screaming child and ran the rest of the way out of the mall

A pair of shoes, pink tights, and a PRETTY hair bow later, we made it to have our picture taken with Santa. She was psyched right up until he sat down. Then she used my legs as a protective shield against his obviously firey laser ridden eyeballs. She hid from him for 3 minutes. Then he started talking to her about Dora (these guys are trained professionals, you know). After they chatted about Dora for a minutes. Emma told Santa, "I want some presents for Christmas, OK?" Santa said sure and we were off to the races. Here's the result.