The color of Christmas

When you live with a five year old, you are never quite sure of what he is going to say next...and sometimes, you wish he would keep certain information to himself!

A begged me to buy Pillsbury ready-to-bake cookies that are green and shaped like Christmas trees. You simply pull them out of the sheet of pre-cut cookies, put on a pan and bake. Convenient? Yes. Festive? Yes. Tasty? No. Although I have never tried to eat baked Play Dough, I am guessing that it probably tastes like these cookies.

I bought a package and we baked them earlier this week. I have allowed A to eat them for dessert and sent them in his lunch one day; after the first taste, neither J nor I has eaten any additional cookies. Tonight after we finished eating dinner, I asked A if he wanted any dessert. Of course he did, but he informed that he did not want to eat any more of the Christmas tree cookies because "they make my poop green." Too much information, for sure. I managed to not laugh, and assured him that he did not have to eat any more of the cookies. And then also mentioned that there are certain subjects that are not discussed at the dinner table!

The raccoons will be the recipients of the rest of the cookies (two or three per night - don't want any rodent tummy aches). I don't care if the cookies turn the raccoon's poop green, and I feel quite sure that the raccoons don't care, either.

Where's the chill?

It is warm here in Georgia, has been for several days. Out west there is ice coating everything, the Midwest has snow, and we have record high temperatures. I know that I shouldn't complain, but I am...we have so little cold weather here that I want what we are entitled to at this time of the year! And I am always concerned that when the weather is out of whack, that we will be in for it when it finally corrects itself.

We took full advantage of the lovely weather on Sunday by going to one of our favorite places, the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Since our first visit there some eighteen months ago, we have all been entranced by this jewel in the heart of Midtown and immediately became members. We try to visit every couple of months to see the new exhibitions and to just experience the beauty. A especially enjoys the Children's Garden.

Our friend Dave went with us, and it was his first visit. In addition to introducing him to the Garden, we went to see the holiday decorations, and for A to ride the holiday train and visit with Santa. A was excited to be old enough to ride the train by himself and he made it very clear that he did not want any of us to join him.

For some reason, however, A suddenly got very shy and did not want to visit with Santa. Although we were disappointed, we were not going to force him...but the Garden has a beautiful outdoor display in which Santa holds court, and their Santa is fabulous.

We were having such a good time and the weather was so nice that we picked up some sandwiches and headed next door to Piedmont Park. We ate our picnic lunch, let A burn off even more energy playing in one of the playgrounds, and then strolled around the lake.

What a gorgeous day!