Toddler logic.

Mommy: It's doggies who hold things in their mouths. Are you a doggie?

Elizabeth, around a mouthful of shirt: Um-hm. Ruff ruff!

I think that backfired. :)

Side note: Elizabeth used to have one doggie living in a finger. Now she has another in the other hand: doggie, and sister doggie. They have grand adventures, on which Mommy doggie and Daddy doggie are often invited.

Starting a trend

(This post is the direct result of conversations in athelind's and ursulav's journals. I've been putting off making my Christmas list for at least a month now, and decided there was no time like the present to get away from some of the materialism inherent in Christmas. It is intended for family members, but I thought I'd post it here in case I got any addresses wrong, and because starting a trend shouldn't end with my own family.)

Okay, everyone, here’s the problem.

The reason I’m late every year with my Christmas list is that I hate making them.

I know. I’m either a paragon of virtue or an insult to the human race.

The reason I hate making them is that I don’t really need all that much stuff. A few odds and ends of maternity wear would be appreciated. An MP3 player would be nice. Other than that, there’s nothing I really need that someone else can buy for me.

So, I’ve found a solution to the annual dilemma.

I have a favourite charity. I’ve been supporting Foster Parents’ Plan for some time now, fairly extensively, but I don’t have the money to support their extra fundraising drives at the moment. I’ve recently become aware of a charity called Heifer International, that provides farm animals to subsistence farmers, making them more self-sufficient. The website is http://www.heifer.org/. I also intermittently support the Toronto Children’s Hospital, McMaster Sick Kids, Habitat for Humanity, and the Salvation Army.

If you wish to get me something physical, I understand. That’s part of Christmas. Slippers, or the aforementioned maternity wear, are still appreciated. But if you like this option, or feel that I haven’t given you enough scope to spend what you had budgeted, please consider these charitable options as well. A small donation in my name would please me more than many small items of the same price.

And if I start a trend in the family, I’ll be thrilled. (Piet disagrees with this sentence – quite vociferously, actually. He still wants presents, and he likes giving them.)

Merry Christmas!