Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Say Cheese!

We took, seriously, about 50 photos of ourselves trying to get a good shot for our Christmas card (a fact that will only become more shocking when you get the card). I thought some of duds were pretty funny:


In other news, Barbara Ehrenreich skewers the Disney Princess phenom in The Nation - you know that gets me all excited.

I read this old post and laughed and laughed until I cried... but, fo realz, yo, I'm totally going to get my job on in 2008.

And here's a little holiday meme from Sew, Mama, Sew:

1. What is your favorite family holiday tradition?
I like the long celebration that is Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Years, and my favorite part is getting together frequently with friends, having M. home more often, making good food and drinking a lot of wine.

2. Have you started any new traditions with your family that you didn’t practice growing up?
Yeah, making really good food. And getting drunk. ha!

3. What do you love most about the holiday season?
I like giving presents to people, and I like singing carols.

4. What do you like least about the holiday season?
I feel a lot of pressure for everything to be perfect and jolly, and, you know, nothing's ever perfect, so, sometimes I get disappointed when invariably there's some hurt feeling or whatever. Truthfully, Christmas is not my favorite holiday by a long shot - sometimes I get pretty sad at this time of year. Also, eggnog is totally disgusting.

5. Anyone close to your heart that you’ll be missing this year?
My grandpa.

6. What is your favorite holiday food?
Glogg. No, make that my mother-in-law's sugar cookies.

7. Do you have a great recipe to share?
French lentils with sausage! Sugar cookie recipe stays in the family! (:

9 comments:

Indiana Fan said...

I *hate* that Ehrenreich article. She wants invoke a progrom against Disney princess stuff, but feels powerless to do anything about it with her own kid? C'mon. This why conservatives make fun of liberals: it's a lazy article that shirks all personal responsibility, and it lacks any discussion or thoughtfulness on how to combat the princess phenomenon outside of "burn 'em!"

Anonymous said...

Kaya was so angry! Grrrrrrrrr!

KHM said...

Looks like you and Mike had fun under the tree and Kaya...not so much, eh? Cute jammies---the scarf adds just the right panache, eh?

Today is not a good day for me to venture into reasoned discussions of the relative merits of liberal vs. conservative perspectives on anything---because I mostly just want to "burn 'em" all! And then withhold access to the burn unit until they substantiate their ability to pay the tab...grrrr!

Carrie said...

Ehrenreich is a victum whiner. The idea that DCFS would come get you for denying your kid a princess is stupid and insulting for parents with imagination.

kbmulder said...

Do I see some pretty red nails on Kaya? I like the Christmas picture bloopers!

Special K said...

Yeah, those are called Soft Paws - they're little plastic nubs that are glued on over her claws. Had to put them on her after The Incident.

Wow, a lot of Ehrenreich haters in the house. I just thought the article was funny.

KHM said...

Since KBMulder has the eagle eyes that caught Kaya's red claws-- is that Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close I see behind your head on the shelf?

Indiana Fan said...

I don't hate Ehrenreich. I like some of things I've heard her say on NPR interviews.
I hate that article. It takes an interesting issue which really hasn't been addressed -is the Princess fad dangerous to girls' development and why?- and simply goes off on rant that suggests bonfires of the offending books, garments, and accessories, and even more incredibly she manages to blame girls for drinking rape-drug-laced margaritas because they're being pre-conditioned to do so from playing "poisoned apple." Ick.

I understand that it's maybe supposed to be humor or hyperbole, but it's so shoddy in its argument, that it comes off like a Fox News-cartoon version of liberal whining.

So at the heart of the article is a message saying "it's an issue and we have to rise up against it" or "it's not an issue, it's something my kid engages in that I find annoying and I'm going to joke about it."

I think it's important to talk about the messages our culture sends, and I think this article marginalizes an interesting discussion before it's even happened.

Special K said...

Damn. I meant to write "hatas". That's how not "with it" I am. Anyway, I see your point, Indiana Fan - after reading her article a second time, it's like Ehrenreich has just discovered this issue (unlike us!) and is making some jokes about it without thoughtful consideration, although I do think outright banning of the objects isn't a bad idea. To me there isn't enough conversation about the issue so I get rather excited when I see anyone addressing it.