In the spirit of our “go big or go home” 2010 holiday extravaganza, we took the kids to a little holiday fair tonight.  It was put on by our local crazy commune cult of crafters, and the hot event (next to the booth of teapot cozies) was the horse (pony? how can you tell?) carousel.  Jafta was thrilled to be able to ride a horse (pony?), but a long line meant that we stood watching other kids ride for a good portion of the evening.  At one point, one of the horses (I’m just gonna . . .

Kembe and India had their preschool Christmas play tonight.  I really wanted to go, but it was the last class of the semester so I was feeling responsible to be there, too.  At the last minute, I called in my TA and had her run the first potion of class so I could drop by.  My TA did a great job and I realize that this semester could have been much easier if I were better at delegating.  A lesson I always seem to remember in retrospect. It bears mentioning that I am . . .

This week for my advice column over at the Orange County Register, I am talking about how to deal with grandparents who go crazy with the gifts at Christmas.  For full-disclosure, I have to admit that I am lucky in that both my parents and Mark’s parents are generous but reasonable.  My mom has been known to over-do it: overflowing gifts under two separate trees, in wrapping paper that coordinates with the ornaments (one red and gold tree, one silver and white).  But we scaled it . . .

Last week I wrote a bit about the difficulties of adopting from the foster-care system.  It was mostly a vent about the judgments that people have for adopting internationally . . . but I worry that I sounded like I was discouraging people from adopting through foster care. Though I do believe that it is a difficult process that needs massive reform, I also believe it is totally worth the hardships and inconveniences. I cannot sugar-coat it.  The process was very difficult for me . . .