December, days 1-23, you would not be picked first in dodge ball

Sorry 12th month, but it is true. As a whole, the time between Thanksgiving and right before Christmas is not my favorite now that I have children. There is no downtime, not an ounce of time to just "be". I am happy that it is over, and that I have gained the 100 square feet that the tree and gifts take up. I have sorted out most of the overflowing gifts that we all received. The highlight for Joel was an iPod and iTunes giftcards, for me a nice sum to spend at the Juut Salonspa, Origins basket, and a beautiful cotton jersey scarf. Joel's gift signals a return to his love of music, something which has gone by the way of sleep-filled nights in the last four years. Mine, a love of beauty treatments, soft feet, and a warm neck. The last is something that I have tried to achieve since I cut my hair above my neckline for the first time since middle school. My (sic) brother in law Eric drew my name this year (we do this with the O'Reillys). He is such a thoughtful and lovely human being and not just since he gave me such a nice gift. I really have grown to love him.

It was a wonderful Christmas and New Year to wrap up 2007, which was a hard year. I ended the year by going on a date with my darling (and daring) husband. We went to see I Am Legend at the St. Anthony Main theater (the site of many of our pre-child dates). We had both recently finished the short story. The movie is short, about an hour and 40 minutes. Will Smith was a superb hero and much more watchable I thought as the sole actor in a movie than Tom Hanks in Castaway. I believed what was happening to him the entire time. His grief was palpable, his fear, moving. Excellent and recommended, not perhaps for the faint of heart however. It is scary as hell.

I had a weekend of movies, maybe trying to make up for the last couple of months. I went to see Juno at The Heights theater with a friend. A lovely teenage coming of age written by local girl-made-good Diablo Cody (not her real name). Full of sweetness, cynicism, and lots of teenage slang, it was a story of two first-timer friends who wind up pregnant (is that a consequence of sex?). Juno is the main character, named after the wife of Zeus. Michael Cera plays Bleeker, the male main character, and I would see anything starting this talented and unbelievably funny young actor. He has also recently starred in Arrested Development and Superbad.

Then, Joel went out with his friends Sunday night and I topped off this weekend of great movies with a lovely little tale called Once (from Netflix). Just see it, it is so good.

We are glad that it is a new year with a name that rhymes with great.