Another Way to Spread the Crazy

In case you hadn't noticed, there are a bunch of really amazing people who have bought ad space in support of Christmas Crazy. They have pretty little badges way over there --------------------->

You should go check them out because every single one of them is worth your time. For reals.

Also falling under the category "amazing" is Amie Powell. Amie is an fantastic photographer based in Pittsburgh and she has offered a little sumpin sumpin. She emailed me asking that I share this:

"I would like to have a session with one of YOU - and donate the money to Christmas Crazy. It will be awesome to be able to help out such a great cause, also give a family some fun photographs before the holidays. If there is more than one family interested, I will donate $50 of every session."

So if you're looking to get some great photographs (perhaps family portraits for Christmas cards), check her out. Make sure that you tell her I sent you.

P.S. for Mr. or Mrs. FTC law enforcer--No compensation here. Zero. Zip. Zilch. You may now carry on.

"Thank You" Doesn't Quite Do It Justice

Can we talk about Christmas Crazy for Kids for a minute? Please?

YOU GUYS!

After watching donation after donation roll in and after reading amazing email after amazing tweet after amazing email, I'm beginning to wonder a little something. If I ask y'all for some help curing the common cold, are you going to manage to cure cancer? I set a goal, y'all smash it, again and again and again. Words can't even express my gratitude.

All I have is "thank you." So, thank you.

We (and I do mean "WE"--none of this happens without each of you) are currently sitting at just over $2100. Already Alle Kiski HOPE Center is looking to have a better Christmas than they expected as $750 worth of gift cards are headed their way tomorrow. And, yes, I said gift cards. You see, they are a short-term domestic violence shelter, meaning their residents are limited to a 30 day stay. They do get help from various groups to provide Christmas magic, but it requires that they provide the information about residents now. The people who are in the shelter now will not be the ones there next month. Y'all saved them from their usual annual scramble to try to pull something together for kids who they may not even know about yet. Gift cards will allow them to shop for specific items for those kids, and may give some parents a chance to select gifts for their kids at a time when they are mostly focused on survival.

You did good.

Additionally, because the original goal was smashed in such magnificent fashion, I did a little digging around regarding another domestic violence shelter in Pittsburgh. The Women's Center and Shelter of Great Pittsburgh is another agency that does amazing work, and we're going to be adopting two families for Christmas this year.

The holidays are often a time of year when domestic violence agencies provide the most support, so your help is about as perfectly timed as it gets.

(Slightly off topic--I know so much about what these agencies do because I used to work for a company that sold software to them. I spent mucho time in shelters nation-wide providing support and training, so I've seen firsthand how needed their services are. If you are outside of Pittsburgh and interested in starting a little Christmas Crazy fund for your local shelter, send me an email. I am more than happy to help however I can.)

That brings us to the rest of the money. HOLY SMOKES! TOYS! LOTS OF TOYS! I'm going to be delivering a mega-truckload of toys to Toys for Tots on November 30th. I can't wait. More information about that bit of fun (including lots of pics) is headed your way in the days to come.

So. I was going to close up the PayPal account tomorrow and declare a job well done. However, a few people have emailed and asked to be able to help beyond tomorrow. I think there is enough time to make it all work, so I'm extending it by a week. If you've got a buck or two sitting around, you've got until November 20th to toss it in the Christmas Crazy pot. Can we make it to $3000? I think we can.

P.S.
I'm not above making you all weepy again, so compliance is probably your best option. Just sayin'.

The Christmas Ball Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree

When I picked her up from school, Alexis should have been wearing a sign around her neck. It should have said something like, "Caution: Operating without a nap," or "Warning: Subject to wild mood swings." That is to say, she was not what I would call stable. Or happy. I take that back; she was happy. It's just that she was happy and then she was devastated and then she was happy and then she was devastated. And then she was happy. And then she was devastated.

And then momma wanted to slam her head through a wall.

To fill the time between dinner and an early-but-still-reasonable bedtime and, hopefully, avoid a bit of drama, I decided to start dragging out a couple of the Christmas trees. Now, first of all, shooooosh with your "it's too early" crap. Of the 14 days between now and Thanksgiving, I only have 8 of them with spare time for Christmas decorating and such. I'm starting to panic just a weeeeeee bit. Second of all, the kid has been asking to do some Christmas decorating for over a month. If I have to deal with a three-year old turned tiny sleep-deprived terrorist, I'm very willing to give in to her more reasonable demands.

So, I drug up all of the pencil trees and told Alexis to come help me decorate her tree. We started out with a little discussion around which tree was hers and the fact that all of the rest of them are mine.

It went really well.

(embedded video)

A few things:

1. It's really hard to deny that she is my kid when she throws that sort of epic fit over wanting the biggest Christmas tree. It almost brings a tear of pride to my eye.

2. It's even harder to deny that she is my kid when the method for ending that fit was to plug in the lights. She was all, "Oooooooooh . . . look! It's so pretty!"

3. You'd have to be a complete moron to not realize that she's my kid considering that when we were putting the ornaments on the tree, she repeatedly gazed lovingly at the multi-colored balls as she said, "Oooooh . . . shiiiiiny."

Now that I think about it, perhaps we should both wear signs around our neck. They should say: "Caution: Easily distracted by shiny things."

Oooooooh . . . shiiiiiny.