"My Crazy Kids"

The Best Christmas Ever By Allan Olson “This is going to be the best Christmas ever,” Abigail exclaimed one day just over a week ago. Alivia echoed that sentiment, repeating the same exact words. No, they didn’t get to unwrap a present early or anything of the sort. I simply told them that they would get some ice cream that night. So with that opening statement, was it the best Christmas ever? I don’t know, but as far Christmases go, it was still a lot of fun – and definitely very filling. We started our Christmas on Thursday night when a last-minute gift idea for my wife (a pie plate) turned into a situation where Abigail and I were making a pie and we needed a pie plate, so mom got to unwrap the first present. Keeping in the spirit of things, Abigail quickly ran to the tree for another present for mom. Surprisingly, she didn’t go for one of her own. I made her take it back, and we continued making pies for my siblings. Now the majority of the presents had been wrapped and...

It’s Christmas Time By Allan Olson Okay, like it or not, we are stuck with a virtually brown Christmas. There is barely a glimmer of snow showers in the forecast. What little snow we did have was taken care of by Sunday’s heat wave. With temperatures inching into the mid-40s above the donut, my daughters proved exactly how warm it was. Upon request, Abigail agreed to empty our food scrap bucket for the birds and whatever other animals we have in our backyard at night, and Alivia quickly volunteered to tag along. “You don’t have a shirt on, and you’re wearing shorts,” I said. “You’re going to get cold.” Apparently that didn’t matter to her. She grabbed her jacket, slipped on a pair of shoes, and was ready to go. “You’re wearing my shoes,” her mom said. Now Alivia, just like the rest of the kids, is growing fast – but not that fast. She just grinned back at mom, and Abigail, dressed in her winter jacket and boots, said, “Let’s go” (in a kind of ‘let’s go before they stop you’ whisper), ...

 Doing Chores By Allan Olson. Why is that whenever there is work to be done that the kids suddenly come down with the urge of “I gotta go to the potty,” or “I’m tired,” or “do I have to it by myself.” Since we don’t have wood to cut, or animals to feed (except our fish) the chores around our house is really limited especially considering, the grass stopped growing and I stopped mowing in September. The chores around our house are really basic like - clean your room; pick up the mess you made, help with dishes etc., the normal stuff most families deal with. Over the weekend Marcus was asked to help with something and all of a sudden fatigue just overwhelmed him as we was too tired to possibly help with anything. The result was he ended up in bed since he was too tired to help he was obviously too tired to stay up, he really didn’t like that option either. Alivia is a mix, sometimes she offers so much help that she becomes a nuisance other times she couldn’t possibly be asked to lift...

Oh, Christmas Tree By Allan Olson It finally happened. After being married for over 10 years, we finally turned the corner and got a real Christmas tree for the first time. This came after years of having a variety of substitutes – mainly a small approximately three-foot artificial tree, to paper trees that the kids made and would hang on the wall for months, to a couple years with no tree of any sort. Let’s not forget that this decision also came after several years of me complaining about the fake tree. Of course, the real reason we finally ventured into new territory and went with a real tree is the fact that we actually have space where we can put one up. We moved from our bursting-at-the-seams mobile home and the fake and paper trees to our new “mansion” with a real tree. I cut the tree down during the last weekend of deer season and dragged it all the way home with me. I’m sure I got a few funny looks on my two-hour drive. The kids were all excited when I pulled in with the tree....