Allan Scissorhands


Allan Scissorhands
By Allan Olson
This weekend was mostly quieter than ones past or coming up, but we still found time to have some fun and spread a little Christmas cheer.
On Saturday morning we woke up to the thrill of everyone’s favorite winter weather: rain – oh, joy! That didn’t wreck our plans for the weekend, since we didn’t have any. I left the yard just once to empty the garbage, venturing out onto the icy, snow-covered back roads and returning home without a problem. The roads seemed fine, as long as I wasn’t stopping or taking off.
That afternoon cabin fever started to set in, and I felt the need to go outside. Since Marcus had just got up from an afternoon rest, I asked if he wanted to go with me on a photo shoot. The two of us enjoyed a walk around the backyard and out to the lake, taking random photos all around of the ice- and snow-laden trees.
We also managed to shovel off our decks and had a brief snowball fight. The snowball fight idea caught on, and he was able to convince two of his siblings to join him as well. Soon Alivia was outside, and then Nikolai, and they threw a few snowballs at each other, tried sledding and even started building a wall for a snow fort. That effort fell short, however, as darkness fell quickly and they soon were back in the house.
On Saturday evening there was more baking (at least for Mom). The kids and I helped by rolling out and cutting shapes out of the cream cheese sugar cookies; we tried to stay out of the way for the other stuff.
Later that evening. I was given one more job. Mom was busy working on her Christmas sewing project, and she needed a little help (her first mistake was asking me). I was asked to cut out a shape, following a pattern she gave me. I slowly cut around the piece of fabric, but when I was finished it turned out about like I expected – terrible! I showed it to her, and she just shook her head at me and told me how bad it was. I laughed. I took my cut-out fabric and brought it to the boys to show them, along with the pattern I had to use. They were harsh critics, too. Of course, since their room is next to the sewing area, they may have heard their mother’s critique. Nonetheless, they weren’t impressed.
Next I brought my work over to show Abby – perhaps a more objective critic. “It’s great,” she said with sincerity, while carefully examining my work. “It’s a little chippy, here and here,” she said, pointing at my flaws. I had to leave the room; I couldn’t contain my laughter. She was going to be my champion and my cheerleader, supporting my miserable attempt at cutting – it was awesome.
On Sunday we decided that we were going to spread some Christmas cheer and so delivered a bunch of goodies to some friends around Bemidji, and while there we picked up a few last minute gifts. That evening each of the kids took turns carrying a bag of goodies in at each destination. We weren’t able to stay long at any one place because we had a tight schedule, with school in the morning and many stops to make.
Monday morning we woke up and found we had no water. It was later diagnosed that my well pump motor had burned out. As of Tuesday we are still waiting to see how this latest saga in the adventure of homeownership turns out.
Plans for this weekend are to celebrate Christmas with family – it should be fun, as long as the weather holds.
Remember to watch out for school buses on the roads; they are carrying a precious cargo – our children. Also please exercise caution when venturing out on the lakes. Thanks for reading, and have a great and safe weekend. For more of my columns visit: http://allan-crazykids.blogspot.com/.

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