Meredith Carson... Across the Pond and Back Again...

Now that I have learned about the origins of Boxing Day in the UK, I was all geared up to have a proper one, complete with a brisk winter walk in the countryside. Unfortunately, none of that happened. Early on this morning, I was complaining about my own itchy head, and Emma commented that her head was itchy too. I had a look and discovered, to my complete and utter horror, that we had ourselves Boxing Day Headlice infestation! My dear husband and Sophie spent the morning tracking down the appropriate antidote, which required a bit of driving and trips to more than one pharmacy. The rest of the day was spent nit pickin' and sanitizing everything I could possibly think of. Beds have been vacuumed, beaten and chastised. Linens, towels and hairbrushes have been scalded... and I still have a pretty good case of the heebie jeebies and phantom itches. D*mn you, lice! You prevented me from going out for a crisp walk on St. Stephen's Day just like good old King Wenceslas, but at least,...

We're simply having a wonderful Christmas time. Although we are, of course, a bit blue to be so far away from family and friends, we are really enjoying the ease and comfort of hanging out with "just us," especially since we've all been a bit under the weather. Today, thankfully, everyone seems to be feeling a little better. The children have been so excited about the simplest things, which is such fun for us to see. Yesterday afternoon we went to a children's carol service at St. David's Church of Wales, then we came home and cooked a lovely meal just for us. We shared some of the things our family across the sea had written for us and enjoyed a peaceful, candlelit moment...until Sophie finally shouted, "Can we open some presents now!!??" Funny enough, the kids, especially Emma, were most excited for us to open the presents they had bought or made for us. Emma has been in agony all week waiting for me to open her gifts. We finally agreed we'd op...

...as Bernie the Bear would say. (Actually I am hoping to avoid hibernation this winter with the help of my "litepod.") Unfortunately, the Carsons, excepting Emma who is completely bored with all of the rest of us, have been under the weather for the past couple of days. I have some sort of a mild, yet still unpleasant, stomach bug, and George and Sophie are all cold-y and scratchy throated. Of course, this is not nice, but it has saved us all from the last-minute Christmas mania that everyone else seems to be wrapped up in. Most of the friends I chat to over here, are rushing around and too busy to even take a deep breath. We, on the other hand, have been feeling poorly, but cwtched up on the sofa watching some of the most wonderfully horrible Christmas movies you can imagine. Today's top choices were Unlikely Angel starring everyone's favorite disproportionate and adorable country singer, Dolly Parton...as well as Single Santa Seeks Mrs. Claus with the ever-...

Today I grit my teeth and did it; I went to the most treacherous Tesco at Talbot Green less than a week before Christmas. I decided to go "with a Christmas heart," which worked out well except in the car park. Finding a parking bay involved lurking and avoiding the poisonous glares of other drivers. Something happens to us humans when we get in our cars and have to contend with traffic and crowds. We seem to forget that all of the other cars carry other humans just like us. We snarl and shout horrible things we'd never say to a person in passing on the street... but, you all know how that goes. Luckily after a bit of deep breathing and a prayer to sweet baby Jesus, I managed to find a legal place to park and headed into the store full of hundreds of other people who also wanted to be elsewhere. I had planned to order my shopping online and have it delivered, but apparently, if you want your shopping delivered the week of Christmas, you are required to book months in adv...

Who knew paper and scissors could be so much fun?! There are days when my experience as a teacher comes in quite handy. Today was one. Having provided ample insruction in the making of paper snowflakes, I was happy to be the expert on hand today. I was pleasantly surprised that even Sophie's little fingers could fashion a brilliant design. Emma, who already appears to have that engineer's brain, enjoyed the symmetry and geometry of it all. And, oh what fun, when we unfolded each snowflake after making all of the carefully planned snips and cuts. Sophie was practically giddy with excitment when she declared, "Every snowflake is such a surprise!" I'm not sure what inspired me to have a go with paper snowflakes today. Perhaps it was one of those really bad Hallmark Christmas movies, but whatever the reason, our office is now decked out for Christmas. It was one of the few rooms that hadn't been made festive.

On Saturday evening Emma declared that she and I hadn't been having enough quality "alone time" together and that we needed to have a "girls' day out." This sounded like an excellent idea until I remembered that I hate going out at this time of year when everyone on this crowded island comes out in droves to shop for things that no one really wants anyway. I also forgot that it takes Emma four times as long as a normal human being to do ordinary tasks (like brushing teeth and getting dressed). I think she takes so long because the inside of her brain must be such an interesting and distracting place to live. Sometimes when she is in the middle of putting on socks, she only gets halfway there before she has to stop and observe the scenario of a love story between a pengiun and a reindeer being played out in her head. Completely understandable. So...instead of taking the train into the city and fighting the crowds, when Emma was FINALLY dressed and ready,...

I am usually on Gingerbread duty, but this year, since we had set our sights on building a gingerbread Christmas train, the engineer in the family had to get in on the action. It turned out well and actually looked much easier when someone else was building it. I always have such a time getting the walls of my gingerbread houses to stay perpendicular. Sophie is not speaking to me at the moment since I told her she couldn't eat the train. (I actually do usually let them eat the gingerbread houses we make, but they both went to a birthday party this afternoon and took in enough sugar to last the entire weekend.) She will undoubtedly get over it. Happy weekend, everyone!

Someone needs to warn good ole Postman Pat that the Carsons have real live mistletoe hung by the front door. Emma and Sophie enjoy catching each other beneath it. The girls have taken over the Christmas Advent tree this year. They take turns adding an ornament each morning. Whoever doesn't get to add an ornament gets to change the number on Rudolph's Christmas Countdown. Only 14 days now, y'all!

Today was school Christmas concert day... Everyone knows that I love Christmas. I also love teachers and appreciate all that they do for the children of our world, so I will try to carefully word what I am about to write. I will try to avoid sounding like a Humbug. Here goes... I am really fed up with all of the busy-ness that has accompanied this year's Christmas. I am sick of fighting crowds. I am sick of the obligations that my children now have since they are both in school...and am dreading what everyone has warned me about....that it will only get worse as they get older. I long for the days when I had pre-schoolers and the only thing I was obligated to do with my children was feed and love them. There was so much more time to play and make a fuss over little things. There was time to leisurely bake cookies and sit and draw pictures. Now I feel like we are constantly rushing off to something, and I do not like it one bit. So...my conscious and determined goal for the rest of ...

Now that things have calmed down, we are enjoying the simple pleasures of the season at home. We even had time to decorate the "children's Christmas tree" upstairs. Sophie is pictured above next to its sparkling wonderfulness. We also bundled up and took a winter walk around the neighborhood to look at all of the Christmas lights. People seem to be getting into the holiday spirit earlier than usual here in Wales this year. Emma thought Sophie's shadow with her bobble hat was really cute and wanted me to take a picture of it. Maybe you think it's cute too?

The urge to do spring cleaning hit me today. Since I am suddenly no longer overwhelmed with being theatrical or planning tremendous PTA events, there was nothing to distract me from the complete and utter mess my house has become. And since the today was a particularly sunny winter's day, all of the dust and dirt was shockingly visible. So...moments after I got out of bed this morning, I found myself scrubbing the bathroom sink and tub, and boy, did it ever feel good. I got my room in tip top shape only to come downstairs and find a disastrous mess waiting to greet me there. So that is what I've been up to today. A dent has been made and I feel confident that we will have a house we won't be ashamed of before long. I did manage to take a few breaks from cleaning today. At one point I took a shower myself and then got right back to scrubbing. It probably isn't the most sensible idea to vacuum one's house while dressed only in one's underwear in a house as full of...

Strawberry Sophie and Emma the pink cat... Caroline and Lili's mum obviously rocked the face painting at the Christmas fayre. The queue went on forever! The Christmas Fayre is successfully OVER, and like many things at Christmas time, a lot of work went into the planning and preparation of something that was over very quickly. I'm not sure how much profit the PTA made, but the school was packed...heaving, you might say, and nearly everyone was cheerful! I cannot take all of the credit, of course. I did do a lot of the planning, but for much of the fayre, I stood staring and feeling baffled about how we had managed to get all of it to happen. I had LOTS of efficient helpers. And now, it's over!! This fayre was the most stressful thing I had looming in December, and now it's done and dusted. Time to put my feet up! George and Michael were Karaoke Extraordinaires today. Can anyone explain to me why nearly every child who visited the Karaoke stall wanted to sing ...

I just had the loveliest time cwtched up in bed with my daughter Emma. She read to me; we chatted and looked at photo albums for nearly an hour. After asking her to describe a normal day in her life at school, I found myself thinking, "This is not the same daughter I had a few months ago!" She is growing and changing so much, and her long legs and missing teeth are not the only evidence. I was shocked by the sophisticated way in which she described her perceptions of a day in the life of Emma. Wow! Near the end of our time together, the conversation somehow shifted to an unusual topic with Emma asking, "Is it possible for a thirteen year old to get pregnant?" (Yes, leave it to Emma.) I answered yes, but that I wasn't going to discuss the details of it right then. Emma replied (as serious as a heart attack), "But, Mom, I AM a young lady!" "Emma," I said, "You're only six." "Yes," she replied, "But I will be seven ...

During a quiet hour today while my children were at school, I finished the Christmas tree. The last couple of weeks have been way too full and busy, and we are all tired. This morning none of us were in the best mood. Sophie was actually so angry about having to get out of bed that she spat on the floor! Emma had to be dragged out of bed after sleeping fitfully all night and dreaming about frightful creatures who were out to get her. We all needed a time out and a little more sleep. If I hadn't committed to shopping for all of the food items for this weekend's big PTA Christmas fayre, we'd have all had a lie in, but anyway... Today after school was a completely different story. The girls and I had such a wonderful afternoon. We put on the Christmas music, pulled out glitter and glue and other crafty stuff and just had a ball. We found a CD called "Papa Ain't Santa Claus and Mama Ain't No Christmas Tree," and Sophie discovered that boogie woogie t...

Just in time for the holidays, this little guy has turned up at our house straight from the North Pole. He hangs around at our house and goes back to report to Santa every night while we are sleeping. Emma and Sophie are amazed to find him in a different spot every morning. The other night I caught Emma having a very intense, whispered conversation with him. The only words I could catch were, "I know you are real." The children have been on their best behavior since he has been out and about in our house, so he is a very welcome guest. I have told Emma and Sophie that if he catches them being extra nice to each other, he may bring back some little treats from Santa on the occasional morning. Treats from Santa's elf...just one more reason to love Christmas time!

Oh! The little darlings!! Here is what happens when Emma and Sophie get fed up with my picture taking. "Go on," I said, "Just be yourselves..." and Ta-da! I absolutely love this picture, and think it sums up my children quite nicely. Sophie looks like she has jumped out of the audience of a Metallica concert, but she's still my little angel. That's more like it. They are dressed, by the way, in their costumes for the school Christmas concert, which will be happening next week. Sophie was given very strict guidelines for dressing. She needed a silver and white angel costume without wings and absolutely nothing gold. Thank you, eBay! Emma, however, was just told she needed to dress as a Christmas "party girl". No problem. She even got to slide her long legs into that lovely red satin dress from Jenny's wedding one more time. I've heard her practicing a song called "I'm a Christmas Cracker." Hopefully she will perfo...