In a moment of weakness, a non-firefighting blog entry, or at least it's not pure firefighting stuff in the sense of the word. But I digress- I'm standing in my kitchen, watching Caroline and Honora share Shepherd's Pie back and forth across the table (definitely not desired behavior) and glaring at the Christmas lights I have strung from the kitchen to the dining room and across to the living room.

I'm not one to ascribe to conspiracy theories, but it definitely seems as if each of these little strands of twinkling joy all have at least one section out, at which I come to an impasse; to pitch or not to pitch. I mean, part of me says to hell with the throwaway society and I should rescue each and every single one of these $2.89 strands. The other half says, for the hour I work on them, it totals up to roughly what twenty of these things are worth, so just screw it and chuck it in the trash.

I take the time out to stop the girls' banging on the table now (they are banging their milk cups and saying "bah, bah, bah, bah" over and over again, and since it just reached noon, a drink is not advised) then return to this quick post. But as I return to the computer, they engage in a tug of war with the plastic snowman Santa placemats, which could turn ugly (Caroline is all sweetness and light, but Honora is willing to fight to the death, which is admirable in a mixed martial artist, but not in a 18 month old).

I guess you could say the firefighting aspect of this post would have to do with leadership, like in the attempt to save the partially flawed lights is similar to trying to look at the best in each of us and trying to gently fix what is not going right and salvage the entire person. Or it could be that I recommend not having a fire in your home by using cheap-ass lights that are probably just itching to set our beautiful tree on fire. The cynical side of me, however, leans toward the lesson that just when you think you have one problem solved, four others are popping up down the line somewhere. Maybe this story doesn't even have a moral and the lesson is, get to your point early before you lose these readers altogether.

Anyway, think about patience in this holiday season, treasure your lovely moments (like I am treasuring the battle going on right now over the placemat), and try to spread a little peace among you and your loved ones.

As for te lights, I'm going to give it my best shot and try to recover these babies, but I'm thinking, now might be the time to give up the old and plunk down the cash for some of those LED beauties I've had my eye on for a while. Stay safe and I'm sure I'll post SOMETHING more worthwhile before the season is truly upon us.