A Pirate Christmas for us

We've been doing our best to get into holiday spirit around here...hanging stockings, putting up twinkly fairy lights on the banister, getting a real tree we have to water every morning, you name it. Husband and I have recorded ridiculous quantities of Christmas movies--from the new(ish) Polar Express to that puppet-figure Rudolph we used to watch every year when we were kids. And we listen to the holiday music channel when we're just hanging out. The other day, in the process of getting bundled up to go choose a Christmas tree, we had to take a hiatus to play with fun hats.

And while the hat thing is pretty funny, nothing beats the Santa imitations they've been trotting out. Basic background: we have a dress-up box with lots of pirate gear. We have a daughter who pretty much copies everything Big Brother (pronounced "Bruh-errr") does. And we have a three-year-old who has got it firmly in his head that Santa says, "Yo, ho, ho!" With a round belly laugh, and an effort to make their little voices as deep as possible, my two kids run around the house playing Santa and shouting "Yo, ho, ho! Merry Christmas!" Since no matter how many times I offer them "Ho, ho, ho!", they persist with their own version of the Santa greeting, I've been fighting the urge to insist that Son don his pirate eye patch with his Santa hat.

So, in the spirit of getting into the spirit of the season, supporting the joyousness of children, and delighting in everything that bespeaks happiness, "Yo, ho, ho! Merry Christmas!" to you all...

P.S. I'm happy to keep focusing on food and exercise...except I'm not doing any of the latter, and I don't know if anyone else is either. So I'll use this space to post funny, weird, or maybe-worth-talking-about things till any/all of us get back on the bandwagon... Today's calories: 1511.