Wednesday, December 31, 2008

I'll Have What She's Having

As some of you might recall, last Christmas Santa made the mistake of leaving stuffed puppies which were not identical in the little girls' stockings. They have spent the better part of this year fighting over Rachel's puppy, which happened to have a fetching red bow around its neck and "not-weird" eyes. So, this year Santa once again left very cute stuffed puppies; but this time they were puppies which in no way could be told apart without DNA testing. Problem solved, right?

Naturally, I could not help but be surprised to find Susie screaming and tugging at the puppy in Rachel's arms this afternoon. "Rachel!" I said. "Go find the other puppy and give it to Susie!"

"No!" yelled Susie. "This is mine! Its nose is softer!"

Resisting the urge to pull a King Solomon and cut the coveted toy in half, I located the second puppy, grabbed the first one (the soft-nosed one), and - determined to teach a valuable lesson - mixed them both up behind my back and held them out to the girls. Smug in the knowledge that neither of them could possibly tell those puppies apart, I asked, "Okay, Susie, which is yours?"

That kid didn't miss a beat. "Rachel's!" she said.

Lesson learned - by me, that is. Next year, matching pieces of coal...

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My access to the computer is being severely curtailed by the exigencies of college applications and the fact that a large number of people are showing up in our house tomorrow afternoon for our annual New Year's Open House. The logistics of getting ready for this event are staggering, what with printing out invites, cleaning the house, purchasing food, etc. Larry saw me making the grocery list and said, "Don't forget the pretzels!"

"Anything else?" I asked, anxious for ideas on how best to feed 40 or so guests.

"How about potato chips?" he suggested.

"Why do I think you really believe that all we need to entertain is beer and pretzels and chips?" I wondered aloud.

"Some peanuts would be good, too..."

Sigh. C'mon over to the frat house, y'all; we're having a kegger. Togas optional...




19 comments:

  1. Whenever my sister and I had a birthday, the other one would say "That's better than what I got for MY brthday."

    Eventually my parents figured out a way to appease us. The birthday girl got a large present (Like a guitar)and the non-birthday girl got a smaller gift.

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  2. I used to think that as long as I got them both something, it would be fine. But it goes far, far beyond that. I really wish all of our cups and dishes were the same color at this point.

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  3. That sounds like my husband too...except in his frat house world, the party isn't complete without a Taco Dip Platter. No other food needed!

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  4. I like popcorn myself...

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  5. I say go with Larry's menu - can you really go wrong as long as there's beer?

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  6. This is a webkinz love frog. I purchased three of these seemingly identical frogs, which were handed to my daughter and two nieces before a 15 minute car ride, in the dark. When we arrived, they were moved out of sight when left in the car for two hours to see a movie.

    When we returned, 2 plus hours after leaving them after only seeing them for 15 minutes in the dark, all three girls still knew exactly which ones were theirs in the frogpile by the different position of particular colors of small hearts in the print of the fabric in relation to various frog features. "mine had the red heart above the left eye" etc.

    I'm still baffled.. and I now try to remember not to underestimate the detailed observation powers gained through competition between young siblings of close ages.

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  7. Frat House indeed! I cracked up when I read that part. My husband would serve similar stuff, and then some. Of course we don't entertain as much as we did a few years ago before he worked retail. He loves making his signature hamburgers (way too big to eat and I keep telling him he makes our guests waste food!) and a kick butt pork tenderloin.

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  8. maybe it's good I only have one of each. . .although they do fight over whose star wars light saber belongs to whom. . .

    get wine, too. and chocolate.

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  9. I am so glad I'm not the only parent baffled by the stuffed animal issues. This year only the youngest received a stuffed chocolate moose in his stocking, and they ALL found dragons (all different, but I had dh help Santa choose which one went into which stocking).

    Beer and snacks sounds wonderful. It's all about the football anyway, isn't it?

    Happy New Year!

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  10. "Sarah, which one is yours?"

    "Rachel's!"

    That pretty much sums it up, doesn't it? As the fourth of six kids and the third of four daughters, I howled over that one! Too funny!

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  11. I don't even try to be fair. You can never win. Better they learn life is unfair from an early age.

    No wonder you weren't feel the holiday spirit earlier. You're on some kind of entertaining death march. I hope you get to relax after this!

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  12. Oh my. Cheetos for this girl please. And there is no way to solve that present ordeal. Sorry. Next year, just get 1 and say, "well you were going to fight over it anyway...."

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  13. I have three in carseats, and even though at one point the carseats were identical, bought the same day at the same store, and always buckled into the same seat, somehow they always like one of the other ones better. I think if one of them enjoyed a cold metal folding chair the others would fight over it as opposed to sitting on a couch.

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  14. Dammit! I wished I lived by you! Sounds like you're going to have a sweeeet party! Will you be performing the keg stands? Be sure you stretch out first.

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  15. The idea of 40 people coming over exhausts me!

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  16. My sister (the brunette) and I (the blond) received two hairbrush-and-mirror sets one Christmas, one pained with a brunette girl, and one painted with a blond girl. (See the pattern here?) They were switched at some point, so that we had ones that didn't look like us. There was NO convincing us to swap with each other. No way. No how. Must have driven my mom crazy...

    Oh, and her solution to children whining that they were given dissimilar presents? Take both presents back. ;) Mom played hardball.

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  17. Matching coal. Hilarious!

    ~Luke

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  18. Your daughter is SO four!
    I think we are mistaken in how to entertain--crack open bags & cans and stock a cooler. Seriously, what COULD be easier? Nothing. Which is why we complicate it.

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  19. You try to give identical presents? My goal is to get things as different as possible; thus no fighting. We all know exactly whose cup/shirt/happy meal toy is whose. If I do buy things that look alike I quickly get out the sharpie and put on initials.

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