Last night, after yet another round of present wrapping, in order to quell the giddiness swelling in a certain five year old, Ari and Avi sat down to write a follow up letter to Ol’ St. Nick.
Now, these letters are prepared to silence any misapprehension in the gift giver, supplying the jolly old elf not only with written names and descriptions, but accompanying pictures to ensure that Santa Claus doesn’t get it wrong.
Ari and I watched Avi as he completed his last drawing, turned with his impish smile and proclaimed, “all done!” Then, quicker than Claus down the chimney, a somber look came over Avi’s face and “Serious Olivier” took over. He gently sat the letter down on the coffee table, turned, and knelt down. Clasping his hands together, he closed his eyes and spoke softly. “Dear Santa Claus, please bring me these presents. Amen.” He then opened his eyes, looked at me, and then asked, “What?” when he saw my face.
Just as the famed poem’s author, “I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself.”
Sure, one can write to Santa, but the power of prayer is obviously not lost on this guy!
The date and time are set! The sealing clearance from the First Presidency has been approved! Now the panic of preparation is setting in.
Ari and I will be married and sealed in the Houston Temple on September 17th. Announcements are forthcoming, but we plan on having a relatively small wedding with family (including any available "extendeds") in attendance.
More details to come! (We just have to finalize them!)
I hadn't shaved yesterday and so last night Avi was exploring my face, fascinated with his subject. He summarily decided that he, in fact, did not like it.
I spoke: "You know, you're going to have a beard too, buddy."
A look of complete horror came over his face.
"No," he breathed, dripping with trepidation. "I no want that."
"Doesn't matter," I replied. "It's gonna happen."
"No. Please, no."
I finally ended it with a little white lie so that he could sleep. Oh, the horror that awaits.
I love writing. I've tried writing in several genres and discovered something amazing: the under-appreciation of comedy. The sheer difficulty of writing/performing something truly funny is staggering. It's easy to see: take a look at great movies. In my view, there are a lot of great dramas, action movies, and horror movies out there. But to find a truly great comedy, one that will make you laugh out loud to the point where you have tears springing to your eyes... well that is something different, altogether. ("Well that is something different" -- come on - Airplane reference, people!)
Sure, there are great Rom-Coms that warm the heart... but a true comedy - or a true comedian for that matter... now that is a gem. For some reason, the British churn them out in mass production. I'm almost to the point of adding the full BBC package to my cable. We're missing a lot of great stuff over on this side of the pond!
I recently stumbled across this new show in Britain called "The Trip." It's about two comedians (Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon) that go to restaurants in the North of England and (evidently) try and make each other laugh. In this clip, they do an impression. (Now warning kids: do not try this at home. Impressions should only be left in the hands of a handful of people in the world... and you are probably not one of them. But these two guys are. Check out the full clip on youtube where they tackle other people as well.)
Warning: Contains some strong language.
The part about "the broken voice" makes me lose it. (If you want to see something amazing, also check out Rob Brydon's "Angry man trapped in a box.")
I'm getting excited for the holidays. The food, the family, the love, the joy... all that is great. But the real goal of the season is when my brothers and I get together and try to make our Dad laugh to the point that he cries.
Well, he made it. My boy is four years old. And, not to sound like a proud dad or anything, but he did it really well!
The Day: The family tradition is breakfast in bed, however at this point in life, bed is not something we enjoy spending time in so Avi opted out of that perk. Instead, he was met with a choice: hang out watching TV or go to the church to clean (our week this year happened to fall on his B-Day!).
"Daddy, let's go church and CLEAN!"
So we did. We were working in the chapel (Avi dusting and Dad vacuuming) after we talked about reverence. In walked the Bishop and in a normal voice said, "You're doing a great job, Olivier!" Avi's response: "Shhhh!" The Bishop laughed.
After our cleaning adventure, we went on a donut/kolache run and took them over to Grandma and Poppops. We then came home and relaxed for a little bit until we found three hornets nests out on the patio.
There was a massacre (the authorities would have found 9 bodies had we not "taken care" of them), but the victors emerged unscathed and proceeded to clean the patio so that there would no longer be a "perfect spot" for our vespa vulgaris friends to squat on.
We then filled the car trunk to the brim with presents and decorations and headed back over to the grandparents' for the festivities.
We started with a quick dinner with some of the most unhealthy food Dad could find:
(here Finn is wondering why the food hasn't yet arrived)
We then went on an adventure! Evidently, Buzz was lost in a carnival and needed Avi, Nadia, and Finn to help find him and the presents. We first had to find money, then we drew pictures (to know who we were looking for), we threw balls,, and we destroyed a pinata as we made our way through the carnival, eventually finding Buzz and way too many presents!
That fun was followed by the cake!
We then headed home to watch (what else?) Toy Story 3 before having a crazy bath (by the end, the ceiling had ended up with more water than the bathtub) and off to bed.
Thanks to everyone for all the presents, cards, texts, and calls! The boy is certainly loved! (And special thanks to Ari, my photographer and videographer!)
Olivier turns four on Saturday. He's excited, I'm excited, we're all excited. Gotta have a party, right? Then it hits me. I'm the one that has to plan it. Cue sinking feeling in stomach. (Guess I'm still not used to all the responsibilities.)
He had a great party at his Mom's house last week, but he still needs to have his Houston party (and especially since it will be on his birthday) so I have to plan something. Last week's party revolved around THE Buzz Lightyear (which touches every aspect of our lives these days). So I, thinking that it would be good/fun to change it up, decide to do a Spiderman party instead. Afterall, we've been watching Spiderman a lot lately and get excited talking about it.
So yesterday after work I sprint to:
to pick up the decorations. I spend an embarrising amount of money on streamers, balloons, gifts, and a pinata and head home.
Later that night, I start talking with Avi in a casual tone:
"Hey bud, your birthday is on Saturday." (No response as he is transfixed on the TV - watching Spiderman by the way!) "You want to have a party?" "Yes." "You want to have a Spiderman party?" (Face goes into 'thinking mode') "We can have a cool Spiderman party." "No, thanks." "You don't want to have a Spiderman party?" "No. Spiderman too scary." "It's not scary. We watch it all the time. You don't want that kind of party?" "No. I want Buzz party." "You want to have a Buzz party?" "Yep."
Number of Trick-or-Treaters tonight: Zero Upside: Tons of left over candy for Avi and my office to enjoy Downside: The realization that it's possible that I'm becoming that strange old guy in the neighborhood that lives alone and who parents tell their children to avoid...
Anyway... on to Avi's Birthday and then Thanksgiving! I love the fall!
