My daughter Buck Wheat doesn’t sleep. Well, not at night anyway!
She generally stays up until 4 AM or so and then sleeps until the late afternoon. She graduates and moves into the big-girl world in May.....she’s in for a rude awakening (you catch that quality pun-work there)?
Normally my daughter’s sleeping habits are not my concern. But last week on her way home from Columbus she met me in DC for a few days for some time with family and friends.
And it was that first night in the hotel in DC that HER inability to sleep became MY problem!
Keeping the Buck up this night were her immediate post-graduation plans. She saved five-years of babysitting money with the intention of traveling the world after graduation.
And I was going to hear about all her plans: TONIGHT!
She tells me she’s going to start her post-graduation travels in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Fiji and the Philippines!
The Philippines?
(I had to ask!)
“Do you know ANYTHING about the Philippines?
“Yeah, I looked at the globe and it's in the middle of the Pacific so it must be beautiful"
"I'm certain that it is!"
But....
Turns out that the state department has a web site for tourists where they share their view of travel safety in all the countries of the world.
The Philippines: “Exercise increased caution in the Philippines due to crime, terrorism, civil unrest, a measles outbreak, and kidnapping. Some areas have increased risk. Read the entire Travel Advisory.”
They even warn you to read the ENTIRE advisory; because it gets worse!
The Holidays:
My sister was the first Lipton to adopt Christmas. As an early adopter, she’s got the nicest collection of Christmas gear. Nutcrackers everywhere!
Buck Wheat and I adopted Christmas as our own after we moved out of what the lawyers used to call “the marital residence.” Our first "tree" was a dead indoor plant that we decorated with pasta and whatever ever else we had around the house. We called it “The Christmas Stick”. Bring fairly irreverent and mostly Jewish, a traditional Christmas tree was not in the cards.
After Guy joined the pack seven years ago, Buck and I were forced to switch to a real tree. So we switched to the ornaments to showcase our personalities! Our bacon, Yankee and Buckeye ornaments sit side-by-side with Guy's more traditional lights and garnish. I'm only allowed to decorate a small part of the tree. Take a look at the picture below and see if you can see which part I did!
Being Jewish (emphasis on the “ish”) we don’t feel restrained by the typical Christmas tree dogma.
This year for Christmas, our family is undertaking an interesting science experiment.
The house that I share with Guy is very nice and more than big enough with plenty of rooms and bathrooms to go around: when it’s just me and Guy and the occasional offspring.
But I don’t think we considered this years holiday season when we signed the lease!!
My parents show up Christmas Eve, with Guy’s sons soon thereafter! Seven people, two showers, three days.
We are definitely going to have to move some of the nutcrackers!
They say pressure turns coal into diamonds. I wonder what it does to Liptons?
I started the holiday fun this year by breaking several of the ornaments: AGAIN!! The second time in three years! This year, I put the Christmas music on too loud and knocked them off the mantle. I blamed Guy. SHE put them next to the sound-bar!
Nice try Lippy.
Thankfully, I had broken all the really nice ones two-years ago so there wasn’t nearly as much crying!
Sorry, no paint stories today! There’s far too much going on in my house to bore you all with paint stories! But after the new year, I'm going to start showing you some cool stuff I'm working on for you.
As we head into the Christmas holiday, I hope your house is filled with a family whacky enough to blog about, wishes fulfilled, peace and love.