Calendars

Finally!

After 2 1/2 years of working at home, I finally have a calendar in my office. This is a good thing, because I have a real problem remembering what day of the week it is, much less the day of the month (or even the month itself, sometimes the year).

My new calendar was handmade by Timothy, so of course it's perfect. I got this one because a) we again forgot to purchase me a calendar on our day-after-Christmas calendar trip, and 2) we got calendars for all the other rooms in the house that are considered calendar-worthy.

(Woohoo! Two! Two early 90's "Must-see TV" references in the paragraph above. Find them and pat your own back.)

Yes, our annual calendar shopping trip is on December 26. Before Christmas this year, our Sunday school class (named "Got Young Kids?" because we do, in fact, got young kids) talked about Christmas traditions. Lots of folks had really nice ones about Advent trees and Bible lessons. We, of course, have just two.

The first is the calendar trip on the 26th. The second tradition is that, whenever we're driving, the first one to see Christmas lights on a house yells out "Merry Christmas!" Then everyone else in the car yells "Merry Christmas!" too. It's fun in November, deafening and maddening in December, and hilarious in June. Jonah is the undisputed king, both because of his ability to spot the lights and also because of the volume and gusto he puts into the yelling.

The calendar trip is for my wife, who loves Christmas so much that the day after Christmas is surely the saddest, most depressing day of the year. So this lets her get out of the house and spend some money, which (theoretically, at least) she hasn't been able to do since Thanksgiving.

We always get 3 calendars: one for the kitchen and then one for each of the boys' rooms. The boys usually get ones with illustrations from kids' books. This year Timothy (and Sam) got a very nice one with Harry Potter illustrations. Stephen and Jonah got an Incredibles calendar.

In the kitchen we get whatever my wife wants, usually Maxfield Parrish or John William Waterhouse. Last year was a Waterhouse, and it had an unusually large number of exposed breasts in it, which required some creative sticker-work by my wife (thanks to Creative Memories) to keep it PG enough for the kids. But the calendar company must have received a lot of complaints, though, because this year's version has nary a boob in sight.

I had wanted one of those Chick-fil-a Cowlendars for my office. Not because I like anthropomorphic cows doing silly things (I can't remember if this year's version was extreme sports or spy-type stuff). I like the Chick-fil-a calendars because they have coupons. And coupons mean food.

At some point in November, I recall being asked if I wanted one of those Cowlendars, and I also remember saying that I would. But it didn't happen. Oh, well. I should be used to it by now. I asked for new drill bits for 2 years straight, and I've been asking for Star Wars LEGO mini models for about 3 years now. Sigh. Such is a dad's life. I should ask for these this year and see what happens.

But now at least I have a calendar. Which I've just noticed is still on February. I guess whenever February only has 28 days, you can use the same page for most of March. Don't try this with any other month.

I may try to get a new calendar this year, but both Stephen and Timothy will be in school, so the chances of me getting another hand-made one are high. I wonder how many calendars you have to have to cover all of the possible day/month combinations? I would guess 7 would cover most of it, but then you've got leap years. Hmm. I'll have to research it. But with 4 boys in school, I may never have to buy another calendar again.