Baby Jesus in the Cheese Grater.

The holidays are upon us. I don't even know where the past two months went. The last thing I remember was preparing for the harvest Party at church at the end of October and suddenly Christmas is here and the New Year is right behind it. Where does the time go?!?!? I want to take the opportunity to wish all my Fish Bowl readers a very Merry Christmas season. I pray an abundance of blessings, wisdom, health and happiness for you all in the New Year.
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Having seven kiddlings, I need to be very organized and extra stealthy at this time of year. Every present brought into the house must be wrapped and gift tagged immediately then hidden away from little prying eyes. I thought this year was going to be the very best yet as I finally had a CLOSET, not just any closet but a SUPER CLOSET! When we had the addition built we had a large closet put in along the length of one wall to house all our clothing, especially all my Diva's (Oops, I mean my husband's) clothes, and to provide a little more storage space.

This would be the perfect place to hide the little darlings Christmas gifts....or so I thought! I was amazed at how much stuff I was able to neatly stack in the closet. The shelf is wide and long....so much room! But during lunch one afternoon Grandma and I sat in the kitchen chatting over a sandwich when suddenly...CRASH!!!! "What the heck was that?!" We both hollered as we ran toward the bedrooms. She darted to her room and I investigated mine. I threw open the closet door to find...... a mess!
I am not sure if it was contractor error, organizer error, or a combination of the two but I was not thrilled with having to re wrap and re organize my stash of gifts.
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I woke up at 5:45 am one morning to an odd sound in the distance. "Clink, clink, clink, clink." It was a soft metallic type of sound and I couldn't quite figure out what it was. I slipped out of bed and quietly crept down the hall toward the source of the sound. My heart sunk when I noticed the Baby's bedroom door was ajar. The gate was still locked but she was not in her room. Someone had forgotten to chain her door at bedtime and she had climbed the gate and escaped. I ran for the source of the noise knowing whatever it was, she would be the cause of it. As I rounded the corner into the kitchen I saw her. Sitting on the floor in the dim light of the early morning, her back against the cupboards, and the bottom drawer pulled all the way out.

She was dropping plastic nativity scene figures, piece by piece into the cheese grater. "Clink, clink, clink...." The rhythmic sound of the plastic hitting the metal of the grater was soothing to her and held her attention. In her left hand she held a small wax birthday cake (that's been in the family since I was little). When she looked up and noticed me she held the wax cake out as if offering it to me. "I bit it" she said "here, smell my breath."  I giggled to myself and breathed a sigh of relief. She could have wandered anywhere in the house getting into all sorts of trouble as we slept but instead here she was safe and sound in the kitchen playing with baby Jesus in the cheese grater.
I felt very grateful (no pun intended). That seems to be the theme for me this year... gratefulness. For all the things I have AND for all the things I don't have, I am grateful.
I'm sure I am not alone in my mindset this time of year. This is the season to look back and reminisce and then to look ahead and dream. At least it is for me :)
In my reminiscing I went back throughout the past two years in my blog posts and spent a lot of time laughing out loud over the memories stored there. I thought it would be fun for my Fish Bowl readers to "go back" there too and share a few laughs with me so I designed another cool CONTEST!!!! Yes, you heard it right... the final Fish Bowl CONTEST of 2012. Win a Napoleon Dynamite DVD!!!!!

Here are the details:
* The contest will run from now (Monday December 31, 2012) through midnight of Sunday January 6th, 2013.
* The contest winner will be notified of their win and will receive their prize immediately. Their identity will be published in the next Fish Bowl blog post.
* Listed below are ten phrases. Each phrase can be found in one of the previously archived Fish Bowl Blog posts. The archived listing of posts can be found on the right hand side of the page under "Archives".
* Search the past Fish Bowl posts to find the 10 phrases listed and let us know where you found them (either the title of the post or the date the post was published). Example: 1. "Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, Across the carpet. BANG." your answer would be #1. December 6, 2012.
* Post your answers in the comment section below or email them to me. Be sure to include your name and email address.
* To win, you must find all 10 phrases and their correct locations All correct entries received by the deadline will be entered into a draw for the Prize (a Napoleon Dynamite DVD). The draw will take place on January 6th, 2013 at midnight.

Phrases to Find

1. "Mom, come quick!  Susan and Latoya have their pants off and they're pooping in the snow!"

2. "Mom did it .... I saw her." Shouted a little one. "Daddy's gonna be maaaaaad."

3. I didn't even say those bad words that pop into your head and out of your mouth before you can hold them back in situations such as this.

4. A "pack of children" is much like a pack of wild dogs. They move as one. When one of them gets a bright idea, they all move together to carry it out.

5. It was the same kind of look in his eyes that he had the morning after his "big operation" when he bent down to clean himself and realized "something wasn't quite right."....

6. "Ewww, that's so gross! They're spreading germs!" and another screams "Look - he's eating her face!"

7. "....I wouldn't have changed a thing about how I became their mom, I am just so thankful that I am."

8. What I really would have preferred was a quiet sunrise in a dew covered duck blind cuddled up next to My Hunter waiting with great anticipation....

9. then he'll scream like a girl when he pulls the visor down and the pixie falls on to his lap.

10. My husband drew closer to me and with a hint of sarcasm in his voice said "Hey Babe, I have an idea, let's have seven kids!" Then he rolled over and pulled the covers over his head. 

*Here's a Few Funnies From Our House to Yours*

* Teenager: Baby, you need to eat your food! Hurry up!

   The Baby: (sticks pointer finger at the Teenager) Don't you get lippy with me lady!

   Teenager: Eat your food Baby!

   The Baby: Don't raise your voice at me Teenager!

*The Baby comes home from school and announces to everyone that she likes to play the P-NANO now. (piano)

*The Baby likes to cuddle with Daddy. One day as she sits on his lap gazing into his eyes she points to a small skin tag on his eye lid. "It's a nipple!" she squeals with glee.

* Our dogs were recently breeding and the Baby happened to catch a view of the action. She got very excited and cheered them on. "Good girl Emma! You're doing it! Look it! Good boy Buzzy!  He's helping her get the babies out." she explained

*The Baby noticed that a light bulb had burnt out in the kitchen. :Mommy, the batteries runned out!" she exclaimed.

*The baby was sitting with Daddy. She reached over and patted his belly. "You've got a big belly Daddy." "Yup." he said flatly. "You gonna have a baby?" she inquired innocently. 

*As we wandered down the produce aisle I pointed out several fruits and veggies to the Baby. "Do you know what this is?" I asked as she shook her head no. "It's a zucchini" I informed her. "I have a zucchini" she said with animation "it's my bathing suit."

*The Baby was talking to Grandma while eating. She began pointing and giggling. "Grandma you have crumpled faces" she said as she pointed to the wrinkles around Grandma's lips. 

Subscribers Stories

Introducing a new area of the tank.... Subscribers Stories! Do you have a funny or or cute story to share? Want to have it included in the "Subscribers Stories" section of The Fish Bowl? Just email me your story and I 'll include it in a future edition of The Fish Bowl. Please include your name and email address with all submissions.

* We were in line at Shoppers and Gabby decides to run to the front of the store and redecorate their tree and "fix" the tree skirt. Of course I'm telling her to leave it alone and get back in line and she says "What are they thinking, they can't expect Santa to come unless the tree is perfect." (This is my niece and I had to share with all my co-workers)

Submitted by Corrine S, Windsor, Ontario

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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year ~ Be Blessed,

Lucy