Tag Archives: family celebrations

The Aliens Have Landed

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Aliens landed at my house this weekend. No my family and I did not let out any blood curdling shrieks of terror, no one ran for cover, and no one saw their life flash before their eyes. These aliens were invited to our home.  In fact, guests were welcomed to celebrate the landing of these aliens.  
 
My 8 year-old son, to put it mildly, is a Lego Freak. I love him dearly but he is off his rocker for Lego and if asked, I am nearly certain he would say he loves Lego more than my wife or me. How to compare to this durable piece of plastic that can allow him to build anything his brain can imagine? I can’t, and I am okay with that.
 
Last year, my son had a Lego party. At the party, his classmates and friends built something out of Lego, partook in some Lego games, and got Lego candy as part of their goody bag.  The other kids seemed to have a good time at our version of Lego Land.  When my wife asked our son about a birthday party this year, he answered clearly and without a hesitation that he wanted a Lego party. “But,” she tried to reason “you had a Lego Party last year.  Don’t you want something different?” When he did not change his mind, she tried another track – “but your friends are going to be bored. You can’t have the same exact thing as last year.”  This caused him nearly two seconds of consternation and with that time passed, he blurted out, “This year we can make it a Lego Alien Conquest Party.” He was clear and did not want to consider any of our ideas. So, my wife accepted his decision and determined that if this is the party he wanted, this is what she would give him.
 
Now, this turns into a men are from Mars and women are from Venus sort of story (kind of fits well with the alien theme too – how convenient).  My wife is a closet party planner. She immersed herself into all that is Lego Alien Conquest and ultimately did the same for our house.  She decorate our house from the front door to the playroom with pictures of Lego aliens.  She made a cake with a Lego alien on it, wrapped Hershey bars (for the goody bag) with a Lego alien minifigure, set the table with Lego Alien Conquest colors, and bought Lego (set 7049) for each attendee.  I assisted in cleaning and shopping and occasionally told her she was nuts and to relax. I can be helpful like that.
 
So aliens really did land at our house this weekend.  My son and his friends enjoyed the landing.  He should thank the Alien from Venus who doubles as his mom.

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Many look forward to this time of the year and enjoy the family celebrations and traditions. However, many people are especially depressed this time of year – maybe they are alone or have suffered a painful loss.

For the most part, I enjoy this time of year. People are more pleasant, the lights are nice, and there is time off from work. Trifecta! However, there is something about the holidays that troubles me. Let me backtrack, if I may. My wife takes present buying very seriously.  She will search and search until she finds the ‘right’ present at the right price. Gift buying is truly a skill that my wife has mastered. In fact, it could be the subject of a blog entry in and of itself, but I will restrain myself for now.  Anyway, my wife buys the gifts and strategically plans out which night is the right one for each gift.  

Gift receiving is also serious business in my house. You can’t count to three seconds after the candles are lit till the children are saying, ‘Go get the gifts mommy (they don’t even acknowledge that I may be part of the process).’  It is this moment where the tension is palpable. Will they like the gift – squeal in delight even, offer a thank you without being prompted because they are so excited or will the gift be wrong? Will it be a gift that they did not expect or want and induce disappointment and complaining or at worst loud sobbing, kicking, and screaming?

Well, Channukah 2011 or 5772 got off to an interesting start. My wife called it ‘O’ night – Lego for my older son and Play-doh for my younger son (I thought it was clever).  My older son said thank you repeatedly and was thrilled – couldn’t have been happier. He got started on the Lego Fire Boat right away and passed the evening working on it. My younger son, on the other hand, screamed as if he were being beaten mercilessly.  I am not sure just what the issue was as I could not make out his words through the tears.  He actually had to be put on a time out in order to calm down.

So, this time of year has its ups and downs. It can be a joyous and special family time. However, it can also be a tense time. Either way, I am not sure if I can take 7 more days of this.