Christmas in July

The song leaked from the backseat like the creak of a loose floorboard on the steps of my childhood home. Familiar but eerie. Comfortable, yet at the same time, jarring. It was Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy from The Nutcracker Suite. But this, after all, is July.

Peanut was playing with the iPad as we waited in the swagger wagon at the train station for My Director. This is our routine. I bring the iPad and she plays with one or two of the many apps that live in the folder marked with her name. Usually she plays a memory game or spelling game. So when I heard that song, I turned around with a smile:

"Why are you playing a Christmas game?"

"Because we don't have any summer ones, daddy."

Duh. Stupid of me for asking. So with that app, she made this for Santa:

Whimsical and festive

It is becoming more and more apparent that Peanut is a hard nut to crack. Amusingly literal and hilariously stubborn. During especially cold spells in the winter, she longs for the warm embrace of summer. And when it's been especially hot recently she has said, "I wish it was Christmas." (Yes, I promptly correct her grammar: I wish it WERE Christmas.) Maybe she wishes it were Christmas because of my fabulous Santa-on-steroids pajamas:

I'm a 21st Century Clark Griswold. On acid.

And since she wishes it were Christmas, maybe that's why Peanut wanted us to win her this elf Minion from Despicable Me during a recent trip to an amusement park:

(The awesome story of how it was won
is coming in a future blog post.) 

(DISCLAIMER: This is the second in my series of summer "retrospective" list posts, where I share a new story and then follow it with links to previous posts about that topic. Last week's topic was My Director. This week the theme is , you guessed it, Christmas. Who doesn't wish Christmas were all-year around? Enjoy: )

I wrote several rants this past December. I cleverly and presciently titled the first one, The First Rant of Christmas, in response to children who ask for exorbitantly expensive gifts.

The next three rants were folded into one post, where I revealed some of my pet peeves about some popular Christmas songs and shows.

If you think I made it to 12 rants, think again. (I'm not THAT angry of a guy.) I stopped at The Fifth Rant of Christmas, after the lights on my tree got the better of me.

While I just may pound out another rant or two (or seven) this December, you can also expect some good old-fashioned emotion, like when an unexpected song evoked an unexpected response at an unexpected time. Enjoy Kicked by a Donkey.

Or when I shared our most cherished family Christmas tradition established by my parents, and how My Director and I have kept it going.

There is no feeling quite like being a kid on Christmas. I dug deep in the archives for this post about Peanut's first real experience with Santa. I called it "Do You Believe in Magic?"

When Christmas is over, it's time to make those New Year's resolutions.  Peanut floored us and her teachers with hers before 2011. Check out  "The Promise."