Homemade lemonade, Christmas lies and other stuff

This afternoon the oldest and I made lemonade from scratch which we've never done before.  We used this recipe to get the job done:

1 3/4 c sugar

8 c water

1 1/2 c lemon juice

Of course we only had three lemons so I ended up squinting into the distance while trying to divide fractions in my head.

After using the hand juicer we got out the vintage Juice O Mat to get the rest of the juice.

Cheers!

What else is new?  Well the week before last our stove finally went kaput.  I been in the habit of using the oven lock as a safety feature so the kids couldn't get the door open.  Because ovens can be damn hot and because I personally once worked with a woman whose child died when they climbed on an open oven door in an effort to reach a cookie and the stove fell on them.  So every time the  oven was on it got locked as well as most regular times.  Then the lock started sticking but turning the stove off and unplugging it was usually enough to re-set it to get the latch back open.  Until the day when I made meatloaf for dinner, put it under the broiler to finish and threw the lock.  It stuck.  And was still stuck 24 hours later when we got out the tools and took the top off of the stove and pried the door open to rescue my mom's Dru casserole dish.  We really can't complain, the stove came with the house and didn't owe use anything.  But we had to go directly out and buy a new one that week.  Which is nice in a lot of ways but seems to take 3x as long to heat anything. Yes, the anti-tip feature was installed too.

It came packaged inside the best toy either of the kids have ever seem.  Both kids (and both cats) are in love with the box.  It's large enough that both kids and I can fit into it along with Bee and read books.

Christmas baking has been thought about but hasn't started.  The fruit for the fruitcake has been soaking in brandy for three weeks now.  It won't hurt anything and might actually make a better cake.

The oldest has been busy making this garland chain for the tree out of pipe cleaners.  The youngest has stripped all of the ornaments of the tree as high as he can reach.  So the tree is heavily decorated at the top and nearly naked for the final two feet.  It's charming, really.

Cards have been sent out and gifts mostly bought. Husband and I haven't bought anything for each other and would be fine doing without (see: stove story above).  Last year we picked one $20 gift each and he got me a yoga bag that I still use twice a week and love.  This year neither of us want for anything.  But it seems like he and I should have something under the tree to keep up the Santa story.  Initially I didn't even want to do "Santa" because it just seemed like commercialism with a weird "the big man is watching you" overtone plus flat out lying to kids but then I realized that my kids get excited over things like new socks and I lie to the oldest regularly anyway.

Yesterday I told the oldest that this is where one of the cats had made a snow angel in the driveway. 90% true. 

I have also tried to convince him that snowflakes are frozen penguin toots that have come down from the North Pole. 100% b.s.

And so on.  God knows what he tells people at pre-school.

Who's mature around here?  Certainly not me at 40.  My wonderful husband organized a birthday party for me last weekend and it was great.  A big thank you to everyone who traveled to see us and make it a special day.  I had so much fun.  Really, thank you so much.

So tonight the oldest and I are going to make egg noodle pasta for dinner with meatballs and garlic bread.  We will cook them with the new, expensive-for-us stove and then probably pop popcorn and watch a Christmas movie.  I will keep the immaturity to a minimum.  The husband and I will discuss gifts.  Tomorrow the oldest has a Christmas program at his pre-school.  Last year "Santa" made a surprise visit at the end so it will be interesting to see his reaction. Life does get more fun every year.