Kids, what to do with them for the holidays

So Christmas vacation is here. People are taking their much anticipated vactions from work to spend time with their families. Children are out of school for a few weeks only to drive us all up the walls after the second day off. As parents we have to figure out how to entertain our little darlings or go mad. For those of us who have planned for the event there are options.

We could send them to the grandparents. Seems like a viable solution as long as our parents don't get wise to the ploy.

If it weren't for the winter-time freeze we could shoo them outside to play. But as we've all seen lately, snow and extremely cold winds are just about everywhere these days.

Shopping is always a great idea - if you want to be driven crazy by their shrill voices crying out for everything coating the shelves. No, that doesn't sound like a great idea to me either.

Instead, we were forced to do the one thing that we always try to avoid. The thing that is so short lasting that the expense isn't justifiable. The thing that leaves your mind dancing with visions and your children chattering like crazy in the car.

We took them to the movies.

If you can stand - or have been conditioned by your children to enjoy - animated films, then pile up in the car and head on over to your local theater for two hours of colorful delight and loads of laughs while watching Tangled.

This is the classic tale of Rapunzel updated into a fantastic comedy for the whole family.

We laughed all the way through the movie and even clapped when it was over (no, not because it was so horrid we were happy to have survived the experience). It was genuinely good. We chatted and laughed about it all the way home and even now, a week later are still revisiting the film in our minds to share what we thought about it with one another.

This is the movie to see.

So, I'm glad we didn't pawn our children off on their grandparents or that their grandparents were too smart to fall for the trick.

I'm glad the weather hasn't been fine enough to turn our darlings out to play.

I'm glad Santa came and provided all those little things my children thought they'd die without.

And, I'm glad they go back to school in a few days.

Dinner and the Fountain

Last night we ended up at a local restaurant right in the center of downtown. Because the weather had cooled, we decided to sit outside on the patio for dinner. We watched as a wedding party stood in front of a large fountain (or park as the signs indicated) taking pictures. Each person was beautifully dressed but the smiles seemed to be strained. Before too long a stretch limo came and carried them away.

Within minutes another party showed up to play and take pictures. We watched as a father and son played in what apeared to be refreshingly cool water. Before too long my children were begging to go across and dip their feet in. After much begging we decided that would be ok. Seconds later my children were across the street wading in the water.

My youngest decided that a swim would be oh-so fantastic and while fully dressed, took a dip. "Oops," she yells to me. "I got wet." We just waved at them and remined each other that they wouldn't be getting in the car dripping as they were. After a while we told them to come back. Of course they were totally bummed. But they would have to do some dripping.

The longer we sat at the table the more obvious it became that my daughter's pants would not be drying anytime soon. The next thing we know, my husband has his pocket knife out cutting the legs and turning her soaked pants into shorts. Our neighboring diners watched in shock and giggled.

Naturally, they don't have children yet. If fact, I can say with certainty that they probably weren't even married or at the very least - newlywed, because they were taking loads of pictures of themselves. I wanted to tell them not to worry, that they'd have children soon enough and have to resort to doing silly things too.

The final topping - once the dripping stopped we all went over to the fountain and got wet. But it did feel good.