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And what a merry Christmas it was! December 27, 2007 2:17 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Amy, Cathy, Christmas, Daily Life, Evan, Family, Holiday, Noah, Of Being Dad, Sarah, Tommy , 3comments
To all to whom I have not responded, thank you for your well wishes!
To all to whom we did not send a card, you were not forgotten! There was probably a technical reason like needed your address or my mad cow caused me to fail to get you on Cathy’s master mailing list.
Miracles and angels came through to help pull together our Christmas at the last minute. The children were well gifted and very happy with their presents. 
We had a wonderful visit from both sets of grandparents and Aunt Kelly.Cathy and I promised to be budget minded and agreed to not buy each other anything which is why we are both now the proud owners of new iPod nanos. We both cheated feeling the other was well deserving of a new toy.
Each year it seems one of the children gets a bum deal. This year it was Sarah’s turn. Both Tommy and Sarah received new office chairs for their desks from their grandparents. They were thrilled! I prompted Tommy to hold off on assembly until I could help him. Sarah did not heed my warning and broken open the package of numerous parts in the midst of our unwrapping mess and started assembling without checking the parts list nor understanding the instructions. (She’s going to drive like Cathy! "It felt correct to turn this way. NO! I didn’t take a left turn at Albuquerque this time.") We could not find the screws! 6 screws AWOL. We even pulled the trash back inside and went through every piece of wrapping and package that had been discarded. Tommy learned and quickly went over his parts list only to find a critical piece missing. We quickly discovered his critical piece was already attached to his chair. It wasn’t until a day later that Sarah and I drove to Home Depot and purchased bolts and washers that we realized her bolts were already in their respective holes. 
We figured this out because we could not get the new bolts to go into them! Doh! She also received a Nabaztag but it still isn’t working. Story to follow. which is finally working! After creating an account at Nabaztag, you can send a message to her rabbit over the Internet or with your phone and it will speak the message to Sarah. Oh, I almost forgot. When assembling the chair, Sarah dropped a heavy part on her foot breaking a toe. Poor Sarah!
The children had a fantastic Christmas and so did Cathy and I. Now back to work so I can finish paying off this one and put away for Christmas 2008!
3commentsWhy Twitter? Because Santa Listens! December 25, 2007 4:02 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Christmas, Communications, Daily Life, Holiday, Technology , 4comments"I don’t get Twitter." That is said so often it should be put on t-shirts and bumper stickers. I have used the Red Cross as an example of a good use of Twitter. Now I get to point to Santa Claus! Santa Twittered his flight this year. It was phenomenal. He frequently reported his location and the amazing thing was that he responded to people! He has hundreds following him and he was following many of them in return. As busy as the night kept him, he still managed to find time to give personal responses to many people! I quipped that Valium or Vicodin would help with the holidays.
djuggler Dear Santa, Instead of candy this year, can we please have Valium and Vicodin in our stockings? Thx. “Oh stress levels are frightful..lala” 11:12 AM December 19, 2007 from web
Santa replied in a private message directly to me:
SantaClaus Tsk! Tsk! Santa can not deliver illegal items. What would itlook like to have Santa busted on his rounds? 09:08 AM December 19, 2007
I mentioned putting food on the lawn.
djuggler There is now more magic reindeer food on my lawn than I have grass! @SantaClaus and crew should be very pleased. And glittery. about 2 hours ago from web
And almost at the same time Santa posted (which could have just been a coincidence):
Thank you one and all for the wonderful treats you have left for the reindeer and me. It has really helped us to keep up our energy on … … about 2 hours ago from Snitter
His Twittering was informative, fun, personal, and a joy to watch. I only wish the children were using Twitter. Hmm. I suppose I could have threatened to text Santa if they were bad. Bet he would have responded too!
4commentsMerry Christmas! December 25, 2007 1:26 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Christmas, Holiday , add a commentSeen on 1938Media
add a commentTick Tock Tick Tock I’m Afraid of That Big Bad Clock December 24, 2007 10:56 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Christmas, Daily Life, Holiday , add a commentAfter scoring bagels at Panera I wasted time at two stores and scored on the third. One more check off my list but look at that time fly! Back to shopping!
add a commentChristmas Eve is upon us! December 24, 2007 8:34 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Christmas, Daily Life, Holiday , add a commentShopping done? No.
House cleaning done? No.
Gifts wrapped? What do you think?
Stressed? Why certainly!
From the mouths of babes December 21, 2007 6:43 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Amy, Christmas, Daily Life, Family, From the mouths of babes, Holiday, Of Being Dad , add a commentAmy, 5 years old and very excited: "There’s only 3 more boxes on my advent calender then it’s Christmas!"
Dad: *bleeehh nehhhhh*
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! December 20, 2007 6:59 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Christmas, Holiday , 3commentsThis year looked like it would be the first Christmas in a long time that I wouldn’t be buying presents at the last minute. Everything would be done over the Internet and mailed well in advance. At least that was the plan. What happened?! One thing that has happened is angels have lighted upon us and helped alleviate some of the holiday stress! I feel a little bit like Charles Dickens is authoring my life. Now if only it would snow!
3commentsMy Secret Christmas Present December 13, 2007 12:33 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Christmas, Holiday , 1 comment so farDon’t tell my family, but they are ALL getting one of these for Christmas!
Special thanks to Duncan Riley where I first saw the video and who I’m not sure whether to thank or to curse for inviting me into Seesmic.
1 comment so farWe won’t have a tree for Christmas November 29, 2007 9:13 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Christmas, Daily Life, Evan, Holiday, Of Being Dad , 8commentsSomeone should make rubber ornaments. Evan is going to have far too much fun smashing ornaments this year. We should be using popcorn, wooden blocks, and plastic disposable decorations.
8commentsChristmas Eve Is Upon Us - Really? December 24, 2006 9:50 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Christmas, Daily Life, Holiday , 2commentsIt’s going to be a comfortable 13°C today. The sun is shining and there is no chance of a white Christmas this year. We will have rain! So perhaps if we can get this global warming thing under control we can return to having white Christmases!
Do you have the spirit? Seeing Santa last night was great! The children certainly are ready. I am excited and we have been blessed this year.
Our tree is a bit barren in comparison to years past at this time. We have only a few packages under the tree for fear of Evan opening them prematurely. So far, only one present has been opened. That was Molly’s doing. She was unhappy that we left her alone last night. The item isn’t damaged and the package was rewrapped unawares to the children.
Time to do some last minute tiddying up!
2commentsSanta Lives in Westmoreland December 23, 2006 9:51 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Christmas, Daily Life, Holiday , 3commentsSo being a dad, I had the sudden urge to torment the children with a long drive home so that we could look at lights. I turn into Westmoreland and suddenly see Santa running up his driveway with candy canes in hand for each of the children! As he opened the door to the van Evan puckered up but quickly became contented as a candy cane was presented to him. I think Evan figures Santa is alright.
This guy was great! I look forward to one day being as creative and taking time to bring such magic to people’s lives. Thanks Santa!
3commentsSanta Isn’t At the North Pole! December 17, 2006 4:36 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Christmas, Daily Life, Family, Health, Holiday, Mental , add a commentSanta Claus actually lives in central London! Here’s sending out a special thank you to a special person across the pond who has spread a some extra Christmas cheer to our children at just the right time! Merry Christmas!
add a commentDinner date with a woman without children December 8, 2006 9:28 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Cathy, Christmas, Daily Life, Family , 1 comment so farWoohoo! Cathy and I have a date tonight! The grandparents are watching all the children. So what are our plans? Christmas shopping! (after using the gift certificate to P.F. Chang’s that I got for my birthday of course)
Update: I also thought that no restaurant in Knoxville took reservations. P.F. Chang’s will actually take reservations up to a month in advance! The wait was way too long so our evening started with dropping Sarah off for her Church party, shopping, snuck in a dinner at Mimi’s Cafe, more shopping, picking up Sarah, and returning home. It was a fantastic evening.
1 comment so farWanna watch me pull a rabbit from my hat? November 29, 2006 12:30 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Christmas, Daily Life, Holiday , add a commentSo this past weekend we got the Christmas tree up and I actually got all the lights working instead of taking a month to light the tree and finishing on Christmas Eve as has become our tradition. Of course, I had hoped to really impress the wife and kids by getting the lights on the house too. Now last year I bought three extra strands when they went on sale so we could do twice as much of the roof as we did last year but I could not break those open until I found the old lights…you know, on a matter of principle. I tore the garage apart and much of the rest of the house only to find them when I wasn’t looking. Apparently for an entire year, the outside lights have been sitting beside my desk.
I don my headlamp, you know, because it is 10pm at night, and after sweeping the leaves off the front half of the roof, I proceed to string the outside of the house. Half way through I have to start reattaching the clips that I halfway took down last year. After the first 3 strands of lights (3×300=900 lights) are up, the house is looking pretty good but I am not satisfied. A glass of wine later and I am back on the roof.
Now, we live in a split rancher. What that means is that our house is built into a hillside. The front of the house is 1 story tall. The sides and back are two stories tall but the hill continues downward giving the illusion that from the roof you are about 9 meters above the ground. Of course I started taking down the gutters years ago so while we still have gutters on the front of the house, the back has no gutters so the dark roof just blends nicely with the blackness of the night. One big lesson of the night is that as you back up on a roof, even if you are sitting on it, you are not necessarily backing up in a straight line and that vast emptiness you feel under your toes isn’t roof.
Now, running the next 3 strands of lights is a little more heart pounding and shortly after getting over the peak of the roof I hear a disturbing noise as if I were sliding down the roof just before dropping into the great abyss. But I am not moving so I quickly turn my head to see what I might have knocked down the roof. My eyes are just in time to see this gray blur of fur leap from the roof, missing anything resembling a branch, and get absorbed into the blackness. Seconds later I hear a resounding thud and rustling of leaves as the thing hits the ground. Apparently I scared the holy sh*t out of one of the squirrels living in our attic. I have to admit, I almost laughed myself off the roof as I watched it propel itself into nothingness. I have seen squirrels fall from trees, shake their head and run off; I am sure this one will be back in the attic shortly.
Did I mention that I only swept leaves from the front half of the roof. Man leaves are slippery! Being on the roof at night was very enlightening. I was able to listen to something large and not domesticated tromp through our backyard. The crisp air was exhilirating!
add a commentHalf way done November 26, 2006 2:58 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Christmas, Daily Life, Holiday , add a commentBah! The tree is lit!
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