I was raised by elves

I don't know where or how they first came into contact with it, but my kids love the movie Elf. Though I generally am quite a scrooge when it comes to the genre of stupid humor, I have found the movie strangely endearing. This week, while slicing apples by the fire with four of the men as we giggled at the October snow falling on the green trees, I realized that the movie Elf falls into a whole different category of movie for me.

You see, I was raised by elves. Apple elves, wood cutting elves, tree elves, garden elves, sweeping elves. They are very specialized. Six of them. Six elves instead of the seven dwarves. They are big elves. Everything they do has an assembly line/work for the joy of it, feel to it. Also – they strictly adhere to the Elves four major food groups of candy canes, syrup, candy corn, and... I forget the last one. It's a tough diet for aging pre-diabetics but they are faithful. And grumpy elves are hilarious. I feel bad for them – even when they really want to be ticked off – when you stand back and look at the situation the irony of it all is too much to even repress the smile. I mean, they really have plenty of things they could be angry about – like the fact that most of the world completely under appreciates and mocks them even though their main goal in life is to make the world a better place. But no, they never get mad about that. They just have melt downs over a bug that won't stop bothering them or the fact that they can't get the pumpkins picked because they are “running out of a day light”.

And I wish I were more like Buddy – taking my strange elf childhood of giving, sharing, joyfulness, playfulness, and assembly line skill out into the broader world. But I knew by a young age that I wasn't like them. I wasn't an elf. I wasn't handicapped. I was more. I could do more.

But now I know I can't. I know I am just not hilarious when I am grumpy, I have no team mentality, and I am not all about the joy. I always tell Jarod, when I completely disregard all sanitary protocol or social norms, “Hey, I really am far more normal than I have any right to be.”

I am so grumpy about my normalcy.

I hope that makes you laugh.

P.S. The other movies that fall into my strange genre of, “Could be a warped memoir of my strange life,” are:

I am Sam

As Good as it Gets

Dream Team

Ringer

Forest Gump

1 Corinthians 1:27

But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

like like. mostly.

I used to hate fall. I consider that now I great sign of immaturity. It must have been solely based on associations with school. Because what is not to like about shorter and cooler days? Nothing. There is nothing not to like about these days (that is a double negative so I think grammatically that sentence means “like like”.) I do like like them. I like like roasting marshmallows on a 20 foot pole at the homecoming fire and eating Beirocks every day for 9 days straight. I like like having enough time to host potlucks with women and children from 9 different countries (I like like – that this is no longer hard to do in Hays, Ks). I like like waking up looking for an extra blanket instead of soaking my pillowcase in cold water and climbing inside for a cooling effect (yes... that is how I spend summer nights). 

Also... Exterior paint can only be applied between 90 -35 degrees and when it is not windy... which in Kansas that means there are exactly 10 days a year that you can spend more than 3 hours a day painting. Those days where the last ten days and due to some awesome help and some LONG days – I'm almost done with the garage and laundry room painting! 10 more hours and I'll be golden. 

Also, the weather held for two great events at Bethesda. Friday night over 250 community member and international students came out for hot dog roasting and pumpkin chucking on the trebuchet. We also had an impromptu scarecrow making contest and (if I may be so arrogant) my butternut squash soup to feed 300 was an autumn treasure. Then Saturday night we got all gussied up for a Hoe-Down with the developmentally disabled community of our area. They do know how to dance... well past dark and well past my kids' bed time... good thing they were going strong on a roasted marshmallow diet.

In other news Jarod and Lucy are working on her Columbus day floating boat and Jarod switched his Suri to the British version... and then realized that she understood him much better when he spoke in a British accent... so yes, they have enter a strange new stage in their relationship – and more than just I give him strange looks, “Allo, please text mum that there shan't be dinner this eve-en-ing”. Jude is officially an orange belt in Aikido and due to a horrible event involving funnel cake and bed time he has learned a deep lesson about betrayal – that I hope he will not soon be forgetting.

So the days roll on... shorter and shorter... crisper... and crisper. Tonight mom and I and some girls will head out on our yearly search of “big trash” before people's treasures all get hauled of tomorrow... and I think I am going to bake something(s) this week. Because I can. Because it is cool in Kansas. And though I like, like my life - I do like to keep it real and often the 1,000 words that photos speak are lies. We had our second birthday cake fiasco here at home (due to the asian custom of giving birthday ice cream cakes as gifts - and limited freezer space)... and in one of these photos one of my brothers had just gotten done screaming "I HATE YOU,  I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU."  mostly don't like some parts of even the best seasons.

We have begun preparations for Halloween. Hilarious but not a like like ... until the final product.