2013-12-08

TToT: Jellyfoot and Coat Ham

AAAHHH December stressember! That's what I used to think. So much to do, stress, eleventy billion gifts for my big family, why does EVERYONE have to have an effing holiday party in the same month? Time for stress release: The Ten Things of Thankful.

Click that link to join in the fabulous, festive fun!

1. I'm most thankful that my family has it's annual "Polish Christmas Party" in April. Last year it was May. Yes sir, and madames, my DNA fam and I gather at a restaurant every year, last year it was an Italian restaurant, in Spring to sing English and Polish Christmas carols. The waitstaff is usually highly entertained (and a little corn-fused) by this. It's one less party in December, and we get to enjoy each other under less stressful conditions.

2. Thankful that my family has CTFD'd a little on the crazy gift-giving. I just pulled back myself out of necessity, and most have seemed to follow. I have a lot of siblings, they all have a lot of kids, so I would have to start earlier and earlier to get everyone a gift. SO MUCH STRESS and money. No one would never agree to a grab bag, white elephant, or Imagination Christmas, which I fully support!
If you aren't familiar with Rod & Tod Flanders, this is 10 magic seconds you should see:
From harrison does tech YouTube channel

3. I'm thankful for everyday laughter, and that my family embraces it wholeheartedly. My 3 year old has long talked about her "Ketchup Toes" (back story in the link,) and when my sister gave her purple nail polish she started playing jelly toes, now her favorite game is "Jellyfoot!" in which she tickles someone with her foot and/or sticks her cute little Fred Flintstone foot in your face and yells "Jellyfoot!' Mayhaps you have to be there, but it's adorable.

In the grocery yesterday, we gave the kids ham from the deli package and after the baby kept bugging Daddy, yelling "Ham!" he said to her, "You still have a big piece of ham on your coat, eat that first." I could not stop laughing, and calling ham "Coat Ham" and asking "Did they have anything for lunch, besides Coat Ham?" and whatnot. I'm easily entertained I guess.

4. I'm thankful that I'm thankful that my baby has started talking. I know more about my kids, if you don't have kids or like kids, I won't judge you, skip to #4 but let me quickly 'splain. That means BABY stage is over, and here comes the toddler stage and before you know it, they're weird, rude teenagers. That's kind of sad. How quickly it all flies by. This one is my last, I thought each new stage would be devastating to me, and at moments it is, but I'm too tired and busy to be sad for long, and she is just so darn hilarious. 

We're really having fun with her, she even cracks her older sister up. I took a hilarious video of her wearing play dress-up glasses and whatnot, but I cannot get it to ever finish upload to YouTube and don't have time to figure it out at the moent. But it's hilarious, we taught her to make an "L" (kind of) on her forehead and say "Loser!" which when she says it sounds like "Woozer!" What? She won't be in school for like 2 more years, we'll unteach the swears and stuff by then.

5. Target dollar spot. Our power went out yesterday, yet again, and since I had stocked up on glow sticks and battery-operated tea lights, the kids were distracted and entertained. 

6. Elf Yourself. So much funny FOR FREE. This had me cracking up Thursday morning, when I have to get up before 5am to wait for the first child I watch to be dropped off.


7. Jib Jab. Same thing, different scenarios. It's probably just me, but I find this totally hilarious. I made all the Kardashians into weeners, have you seen my weeners?

8. Thank all the old gods and the new for: Professional Photographers. There is no way I can possibly ever get all of children to sit still and/or smile for a photo. ALL EFFING YEAR long I try! But last year we scheduled an appt at JCPenney studio, we were in and out in 20 minutes and everyone looked adorable. The teenager even smiled! It was a Christmas miracle! Worth every penny to get at least ONE family photo per year. And that is all we ever get: ONE.
Cards Against Humanity
Look into it

9. Cards Against Humanity. 

An interesting card game I discovered yesterday at a birthday party. 

Ask Google, it's worth looking into. It would make a great gift, or liven up any party!

10. I'm using the TToT mulligan: Thankful to be at TEN!! I need to do something about our holiday photo before it becomes a Valentine's Day photo!

Happy Holiday season, don't let it become STRESSEMBER!

16 comments:

  1. I also spent a good amount of time on Elf Yourself. I found it just so funny!

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    1. I do it every year, and every year I think "eh, this will take a minute, it's got to be getting old" and then I remember I can upload CELEBRITY pictures and well, there went all of Thursday morning!

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  2. MULLIGAN! YES!

    And I'm sure I've heard Cards Against Humanity referred to before. It was either you or Beth (my best other bet) and they do sound rather hilarious.

    I LOVE that you say 'whatnot', especially after my Niece's comment to me yesterday about her shoes.

    And now, a completely politically incorrect joke because of your family meet up (which, btw, kudos for getting out of the way in such a stress-free manner!)

    Q: What nationality is Santa?
    A: North Polish

    *waits while you crack up laughing (hoping you do so...)*

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    1. That is fantastic! I will use that joke, and credit you of course!
      North Polish hee hee hee

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  3. Thankful of laughter. yes. A friend just commented that she didn't know how funny my husband was. I said that that was hooked me. His humor. Got to look for Elfing myself.

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    1. I'll take funny over any other quality. Even rich. Probably.

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  4. my family is also huge... talk about the gift giving pain in the butt....and they would never agree to anything else either so we finally decided to just purchase for small kids and make family type gifts... it works!

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    1. Same here. I'm thankful for a big family all year, except at Christmas ;)

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  5. We have quite a few nieces and nephews, too. The problem is, I'm the godparent for half of them. I'd be buying gifts for all of them, anyway. The only ones I'm NOT godparents for are the ones who are Mormon instead of Catholic. I can't leave them out just because they aren't the same religion. I have to buy for all no matter what my siblings do.
    Jib Jab is hilarious. I've received a few of them, and I just can't stop laughing at them, no matter how many times I watch.
    I will have to look into the Cards against Humanity. We love a game night.
    The Flanders are awesome. What is wrong with Imagination Christmas?
    And lastly, stocking up on tea lights and glow in the dark sticks is BRILLIANT for power outages!

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    1. Funny you should say that! For awhile we were doing "Buy a small gift for the kids, and a SPECIAL gift for your godchild." Yes, I have FIVE godchildren, and the brother of one of them has a crappy godfather, so I would always feel guilty and want to get him something special as well.
      It's a really funny game, you'll love it.
      Once we got the glow sticks going, the kids could not have cared less the power was out. They wanted glow sticks the next night, too! They are great in the tub, or when we go for a walk in the evenings, since it gets dark at 4:30 here now.

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  6. Sounds like you always manage to find the fun in everything!

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    1. Well, we do TRY. Some days are easier than others.

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  7. Cards Against Humanity is the single greatest game ever. I think we've played that every single weekend since I bought it, like, 3-4 months ago. My favorite card: "jacking off into a pool of children's tears."

    Also, Polish Christmas is a brilliant idea. One definitely worth stealing (and I'm not even Polish).

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    1. I did not see that card when we played, wow. We did get the innocent card, "The heart of a child" but when did WE use it? For what you don't want to find in your Kung Pow Chicken. Also once someone used the card "Kanye West" that became our go-to answer for all things vile and evil. And I just realized those words are anagrams.

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  8. Elf yourself and Jib Jab are always fun! I need to check out Cards Against Humanity!

    December is a stressful month!

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    1. You said it. Last year I was smarter, I got our picture taken in November. Here it is 12/11 and I have NOTHING. Even if we take them today, they won't come in for at least a week, or probably longer. E-cards it is! Maybe I'll send cards through Jib Jab!!!

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