christmas

You've probably seen the OfficeMax commercials for Elf Yourself. It's a web application that lets you upload your own photo, crop it to fit an elf hat, and then watch yourself do an elf dance with up to three of your friends. Silly, but so fun! I did one with my own face first, and then I made one with my kids (above). Aren't they cute?! I've heard that people without high speed connections aren't able to enjoy the show, so keep that in mind. You can see my elf dance here, or make your own. [Edit: Sorry, but the ElfYourself service must have been just for the holidays. It doesn't work anymore, but it was fun while it lasted!]

We went to my husband's annual company Christmas party on Friday. This was the second one I've been to, having attend last year's party for the first time. And since I have a hard time even remembering the names of my own children at times, I am pretty hopeless when it comes to putting names to the faces of people I only see once a year. One thing I do to make it easier to remember names is to make them into funny nicknames or phrases. For example, here are some of the lovely people I met this year (real names have been changed): "Fudgey" Carrie: The lady whose husband offered to marry me after sampling the fudge I sent into the office with Hubby Matthew "Hannah Montana": The SuperDad who took his daughter to the Hannah Montana concert, and is apparently scarred for life Lizzie "Spanx": The coworker who decided she loved the homemade treats I sent in so much, that she bought Spanx for the party so she could continue to indulge during the week Don "The Arguer": The one who drives his secretary crazy by trying to reinvent the wheel, even though she's been doing this for 30 years already The party was a blast, by the way, and the people were just as fun as their names imply. Happy Holidays to all!

My husband surprised me with the news a few months ago. "Honey, I got a Wii! I wasn't looking for one, but I just happened to wander into the game store, and the guy said they had just got the shipment, and they hadn't even unpacked them yet. They're really hard to find, so I was lucky to find one, and I had to get it, and we can give it to the kids for Christmas..." That was back in September. We love video games, and it's not that I didn't want a Wii. It's just that I don't need another device that encourages me to waste more time playing games. I know that once the Wii is unwrapped and installed, there will be almost no chance of turning it off. The kids will want to play it all the time. And worse yet, I will want to play it all the time! And I'll have to take turns! So Hubby brought it home, and we tried it out (after the kids were asleep). We played tennis, golf, bowling, baseball, even boxing! It was awesome! I lost every challenge except for boxing. I don't know what got into me, but I turned into a crazy manic Wii punching machine, and somehow I knocked him out. I was sweating and out of breath, but I won! I think I'm developing "Wii elbow." We put it back in the box, and we're hiding it under the bed until Christmas. Don't tell the kids!