Mall Adventures and National Believe Day

Today, Jack and I are heading to the Mall to have his picture taken with Santa. I think he'll be alright because he's too little to be afraid. I plan to use the mall's breastfeeding area to feed him right before getting in line. A fully fed Jack is a happy Jack.

I suppose we'll stroll around and look at the newly hung decorations and if our mall has a Macy's we'll stop by. I want to see if they actually have a big red mail box. December 10th is National Believe Day and Macy's is donating $1 for every letter to Santa they receive to the Make a Wish Foundation. If you need some help, they also have celebrity letters for you to check out.

The web site for National believe day is absolutely beautiful. Even if you don't believe, I suggest you stop by and take a look.

Also, for those of you who were wondering I'll be starting up my Santa Can Suck It site again for the holiday season. Just because you believe in Santa, it doesn't mean you have to like it.

Happy Holidays

I'm sitting here with Max and we are watching A Christmas Story. I've seen this movie about a hundred times. It's the one holiday movie I remember my family religious watching, though there's nothing religious about it. I remember becoming a teenager and finding certain parts of the movie annoying. For instance, when the little brother Randy is eating like "Mommy's little piggy" at the dinner table it was awful. It breaks one of my food rules and grosses me out. (The infraction is against the rule that says food does not touch the outside of the body which the exception of the lips and fingertips when necessary.) As an adult and a parent though, I really understand it more.

My daughter is Randy. She rarely voluntarily eats. It's like waging a war every time food is served. Breakfast is less of a challenge, but I think breakfast food is sweet and can be fun. Also, when Max and Annie are with me I simply ask them what they want for breakfast and them make it. It would be pretty silly of her to ask me for something and then refuse to eat it. (Don't get me wrong. She's done it, but generally she doesn't.)

Courtney Fun Fact: My favorite scene in the movie is when, after putting the soap in Ralphie's mouth, the mother tries the soap herself. Brilliant scene!

We spent Thanksgiving with my Grandmother and some of our family and then we went to my Aunt Rayna's for leftovers yesterday. My favorite thing at Grandma's is the collard greens. I ate a big spoonful. Then I ate a bunch of broccoli cassarole. Normally, this would not be a problem, but poor Jack was in misery yesterday. I'm breastfeeding and apparently one or both of those things that I love so very much gave Jack a terrible case of gas. Yesterday, I sampled a little tiny bit of my aunt's broccoli casserole. I hope it was the collard greens. I can give up one or the other, but to give up both is simply cruel and unusual.

Today, I am making my own turkey dinner. I just love turkey and I don't have a problem eating it repeatedly. I have to make a ham this week too. I love the leftovers.

Dancing With The Stars! AKA Maks and Brandy were robbed.

Since I'm not working right now and I have time that I absolutely must be sitting on my behind. I've spent much of this time rotting my brain with TV. I've become a fan of Dancing with the Stars. They had me from kicking off the Hoff. My early faves were:

• Kyle
• Kurt
• Margaret
• Rick

When Margaret, Rick, and finally Kurt were voted off, I wasn't surprised. I might have been a little surprised about the order in which they were voted off, but honestly I thought the only one who had a chance based on dancing ability was Rick.

I am pleased beyond belief that Kyle has made it to the finals. He's a good dancer. He's incredibly entertaining and gosh darn it, I just like him. He's worked very hard and he deserves to be there.

Jennifer looks wonderful and has mastered not only the technical details, but also exhibits both an artistic aspect and an epic amount of grace for someone who has struggled with injuries the entire series. I love that she's in the final and she absolutely deserves to be there, though my husband insists on calling her Grandma.

We watched the show tonight and when Brandy and Maks stood next to Bristol and Mark I felt so sure that America would have done the right thing.  My husband claimed that it would be impossible for Bristol to make it to the finals because her dancing ability was completely lacking in comparison to Brandy. (Granted, She's not Kate Gosselin bad. That woman has all of the grace of a refridgerator.)

I'll be honest. I was not rooting for Brandy at all. I find her appearance off putting and her reactions to the judges drive me crazy. She cries about the most ridiculous things. (Granted, I'm a weeper so I should really shut up.) However, I love Maksim Chmerkovskiy. He is very forceful when he dances. I like that. Also, he's hot. I'll admit it. He's painfully hot. It should be a crime for him to walk around looking like that. As a matter of fact, that's probably why he came to America. He was going to be prosecuted in his own country for extreme hotness. (Sorry. I shoud be ashamed of that last paragraph.)

Imagine my horror and the horror of Maks and Brandy when their names where called. Bristol had the good grace to look apologetic. Mark seemed genuinely overcome with emotion. He managed to look horrified and then remembered he was supposed to be celebrating. Maks looked like he was desperately struggling to not reach over and strangle Bristol and Brandy cried. This time, I could have wept with her. What an absolute freaking tragedy. It's just wrong.

I visited Bristol's DWTS "Meet the Stars" page. There is a comment section and tonight people are furiously lashing out and claiming that she's only in the finals because people voted for her based on their political feeling about her mother. I completely agree with that. However, her fans insist that anyone who thinks that is sad and small minded. WHY DON'T YOU JUST SAY IT? Am I not a real American because I didn't vote for Bristol?

I can only hope that Kyle or Jennifer win the competition. I feel so much sadness that someone, who admittedly tries so hard but dances so poorly, could win this competition.