Change of plans

Y'all know how I hate talking on the phone, right? I'm so phonophobic that I have long planned on being the last person in North America to own a cell phone. I hardly ever answer the phone at home, so why on earth would I ever carry one of those damned contraptions around with me?

Anyway, I asked for an iPod for Christmas, and Santa brought me this:



Aw, jeez. Don't tell anybody, okay? Because they might call me. Or, even worse, text me.

I'm telling you all now: I will not text. I refuse. Don't even try it. I will not text you back.

There is one thing I like about my iPhone: I downloaded all my music on it so now it's like an iPod. I tucked it securely into my undies and happily danced to everything from the Jackson 5 to Stevie Ray Vaughan while baking cookies at 3:00 yesterday morning.

What? Well, what was I supposed to do? I didn't have any pockets!

But now I know you'll keep your hands off my iPhone.

Visitors

The Christmas party at Britt's school was last Friday. She posed for me with her friend Tynli:



And then... who's that at the door?



Could it be...?



It was!

Britt waited patiently for her turn to sit on Santa's lap:



She was so nervous she forgot to tell him she wants a swimming puppy:



But I think he'll bring her one anyway.

Britt's other grandpa came to see her this weekend, bringing Christmas gifts:



And then we finally put the tree up, and let Britt decorate it:



She did such a good job. Except for the cluster of red balls at the front. We call them "holly berries."



Sarah came by yesterday with her new boyfriend, but without the baby. He was... somewhere. She brought lots of gifts, including the one Mikey told her not to get because he already bought it, so he's off returning it right now. I "forgot" to take any pictures, but I did remember to hide the toothbrushes so she couldn't swish them through the toilet water.

And now we're ready for Santa! Woo-hoo!

Britt's Christmas Gift Guide

Britt was "helping" Mikey put up Christmas lights this weekend; she came running in from the garage to tell me, "Our Christmas decorations are in the attic! It's like a basement!"

She's very excited about Christmas this year. Actually, she's decided she wants a Halloween Christmas. And a Halloween birthday. Every day should be Halloween, as far as she concerned.

So, what does Britt want for Christmas? Aside from every toy advertised on TV, here are a few items she's let slip lately:

"I want wots and wots of books for Christmas! Santa's making them! He's painting and painting and painting!"

"I want some skating shoes. You get 'em at the skating shoe store."

"I want a gardening set for Christmas."
"A gardening set?"
"Uh-huh, for outside."
"What are you gonna plant?"
"Some cheese!"

Anyway, books are always a great gift. We get books from the library every week and it breaks her heart when we have to take them back. Her favorite stories feature animals, like this or this or this. Dr. Seuss is always good; she doesn't have this one or this one or this one yet.

I'm getting her the Tag Reading System, so any of the books that go along with that would be great. She got a Leapster 2 for her birthday and she already has several of the Pre-K games (Pet Pals, Creature Creator, Backyardigans and Diego). Any other Pre-K or Kindergarten-level games would be cool.

She loves stuffed animals, and comes up with the most creative names for them: Teddy the bear (her dearest friend), Parry the parrot, Rabby the rabbit, Pengwy the penguin, Giraffy the giraffe. Go for less common animals, like a llama or a rhino and you'll probably find something she doesn't have already.

She's been asking for Barbies lately. Mikey went shopping the other night and accidentally pulled one of her Christmas gifts out of the bag right in front of her. Britt was delighted with her new Ballerina Barbie and promptly named her Ballareeny. She's also asking for Peekaboo Barbies; she doesn't have any of those yet.

She could use some new bath toys. Something like this, maybe, or this. And I could use one of these.

She needs more long-sleeved tops and pants for school, but she already has more dressy outfits than she can use. She wears a size 5T and shoe size 10. She has a Hello Kitty umbrella but no raincoat or galoshes. If you go that route, go a size bigger so she can wear them next year, too.

And that's all I can think of right now.

Oh, wait -- I just remembered one more thing Britt told me she wants for Christmas.

An x-ray machine.

Wow, that was quick!

Britt just had her school pictures taken on Tuesday, and we already got the proofs back.

Only tonight did I realize the full suckitude of my scanner. The proof quality isn't that bad, but these scanned images are pretty horrible. I fiddled with different settings but nothing helped, so I'm just telling you that the final pictures will look much better than these do.

So much clutter in this picture. Where's Brittany? Oh, there she is!



This one's cute except her bangs are messed up:



Someone finally stepped in and fixed her bangs and I'm wondering why that didn't happen before the other two shots were taken. Anyway, this is my favorite:



I don't like this one. Cute idea, but not a flattering picture. Her hair looks weird and her face is all scrunched on one side. And what is that in the background? Fungus?



Anyway, let me know how many of which ones you want, because I have to get the order figured out and turned in by Tuesday.