Christmas Came Early This Year

Vincent had "Santa's Secret Shop" at school this past week. You know, where you get to shop at school with "your own money" and they help you pick and wrap the presents. Vincent loved this. So much so that he didn't want to wait until December 25th to give us all our gifts. Christmas came on December 15th this year.

He was intensely proud of this activity, which was so cool to see. He had never had the experience of independent shopping before. And he was practical to boot. Check out what I got - it's an ice scraper inside a warm and fuzzy mitt! And it's personalized!! How appropriate for this past weekend, too.

Our child has done his part to help the GDP. And he's proud of it.

Christmas Spirit?

You may remember this. Or even this. Well I apologize but this year's version isn't nearly as exciting. I still kind of love it for different reasons, though. It's like they're thinking, "C'mon. That all you got, dude? Entertain me. Some ear flapping and tail wagging and I'm supposed to be impressed?"

It's also a very honest representation of the past few months. The stir-craziness caused by too much time at home recovering from the latest minor illness has us all in a bit of a trance. We need some serious time away from...stuff.

Now if it started speaking to each of them specifically and reciting their Christmas lists, then we'd be onto something.

Don't let me downplay their excitement for the holidays, though. They're at great ages for this time of year and we're trying to involve ourselves in as much as possible. You gotta get it in while you can, right? Soon enough they'll be waiting for a real dog to be shaking it's ears and tail on the floor, singing holiday songs.

No. We're not getting a dog.

Yet.

The Island of Misfit Toys

The handiwork of a three year old with a multitude of Christmas knick knacks at his level. Headless Nutcrackers. Maimed Santas. Busted ornaments. All collected on the kitchen counter for eventual gluing. You think they come alive at night to sing and dance?

Masked Medicine Man

This is what happens when you don't take your medicine. This masked figure will approach you and force you to take it. DON'T YOU FORGET IT.

I Am Your Father.

This is the greatest. Some of Vincent's friends have been talking to him about Star Wars. He hadn't gotten into it previously so now he's curious. A few weeks back, we rented the first one (Episode IV, the real first one), sat down and watched the whole thing. The film is pretty heavy on politics and setup but he enjoyed several moments and wanted to know more about the characters.

I told him I had a whole case full of guys in Mom-Mom's basement and that blew his mind. We picked them up and he hasn't been the same since. Constantly taking them out, setting them up, putting them back, asking names, affiliations, what the other movies are like. I'm completely geeked out and heartwarmed at the same time. We've got Empire and Jedi set to record later this week (is Jedi too much for a 5 year old? Jabba, the Rancor...) and we're both equally pumped.

I'm sure this is a common thing among 30 something Dads - reliving the Star Wars glory days. My question is, how come it still resonates with kids? What is it about Star Wars? Is The Force real?