Old

You guys. I've started 3 different posts tonight but have given up on all of them. I really want to write but I don't have anything to say. 

I'm turning 25 next month and generally I don't feel old when I'm interacting with...the people I generally interact with. Until last week. 

I'm involved in a production of "Arsenic and Old Lace" at the Valley Center Playhouse in Lindon. I play the part of Elaine, who is engaged to Mortimer, the main character. At one of our rehearsals last week, the director wanted me and Mortimer to get to know each other better, so we just sat and talked for about a half hour. 

The guy who plays Mortimer was telling me about where he lives, which is a small town just inside the Provo canyon. He told me that most of the people who live there have lived there since they were little kids. And then he said, "But now they're old. Like, they have kids now and they're like 30 or 40." 

I reeled (not literally, just in my head). When he said "old," in my mind I figured they were 70 or 80. 30 or 40 is old? Granted, this guy recently graduated high school and so is likely 18 or 19. I remember being 18 and thinking that 30 or 40 was old. But 18 wasn't that long ago for me. At least, it doesn't feel that way. But now, 30 isn't so far away either and I don't feel old. Am I old? 

It's like that episode of Friends where Rachel turns 30 and they talk about when they were kids and mean old Mrs. Traeger lived down the road, but looking back now, they realized that she was 30. 

I'm sure as time goes on and I get older I'll feel this way more often, but for now, I'll pretend like it didn't happen and that I'm not actually that old. That works, right?

Secret #31

Mad props to the men brave enough to sport a skullet. That takes some serious self-confidence, right there, I tell you what.

The Beginner's Guide to Passive-Aggressively Making Your Neighbor Hate Your Guts

*The real first step of this is to live in a house which is shared with two other tenants. Also, there must be a shared washer and dryer in the basement and the house must be super old with paper thin walls, floors, and ceilings.

1. When your neighbors first move in, establish a system where you take their trash can out to the street for them on trash day, and they will bring your trash can back from the street for you after the garbage truck has come. Wait until a week when they have a lot of trash in their can, and then decide that the system isn't necessary anymore, and don't take their trash can out. Watch with glee as they spend the next week trying to cram more trash bags into their trash can because they thought they had a relationship built with you. Laugh at their naivety.

2. When your yard is full of leaves, sit and watch out your window as your neighbors clean up all the leaves in the yard (which takes them about 2-3 hours) and don't send your 8 and 10 year-old children out to help.

3. Laundry:
      a. Find a time when your neighbor starts to do their laundry. Wait until the washer has just finished. Take some incredibly important laundry down that you simply can't wait to wash. Take your neighbor's wet laundry out of the washer (bonus points if it's their white sheets) and put them on top of the incredibly dirty dryer. Put your clothes in the washer, and then leave your house. For the day. Don't worry about putting your clothes in the dryer for at least the next 24-48 hours.
              a1. If you don't manage to get down to the washer before they do (I mean, who really pays attention to how long the washer is going to take??), have no fear! As soon as you hear them coming down the stairs with their next load of laundry, grab whatever clothes you have available, put them in a basket, and walk out your door at the exact moment they do. This will cause them to feel guilty and let you do your laundry in the middle of theirs. This is your chance to leave your clothes in the washer (or dryer, if you actually care about your clothes not getting moldy) all day. This technique will make them especially mad, because they know you saw that they had more laundry to do. Plus one for you! 
      b. Generally, whenever you do your laundry, try your best to leave things in the washer or dryer for as long as possible. Don't leave a basket downstairs for your neighbor to put your clothes into (I mean, they're nice people and wouldn't to put your clothes on top of the dirty dryer, so take advantage of that), causing them to never be able to use the washer and dryer.
      c.  Never, ever, ever clean out the lint trap on the dryer. If you're lucky, you could burn the house down! Bonus points for complaining to the neighbor that sometimes the dryer just doesn't work and you can't figure out why.
      d. Teach your children to do their own laundry, and then make them do it. Make sure they leave chocolate bars in their pockets that will melt and then burn, solid as a rock into the side of the dryer, but not before it leaves chocolate smears on the next few loads of laundry.

4. Never, ever pick up your dog's poop.

5. Making a lot of noise is a beginner's technique. To really be considered a master, make persistent tapping or banging noises on one of your walls. Do it every day, and make sure to make the noise at a constant rate.

This message is brought to you by my downstairs neighbor. She's the ultimate expert on this topic.

Secret #30

I'm currently on my lunch break at work, eating a pot pie. Usually in the mornings I wake up at the last possible minute, so I don't have time to make myself a lunch for the day. A few weeks back I bought a box of frozen chicken pot pies from Costco in the hopes that one of those would be able to hold me over on the days that I wasn't able to make a lunch (which, consequently, seems to be every day) or convince one of my coworkers that they want to go out to lunch.

I think since I bought them, I've eaten 4 or 5 of them. They've actually got a lot of things in them: chicken, carrots, celery, peas, and onions. And of course the pie itself and the sauce.

The problem is that I don't like peas, onions, or cooked celery. So for the first 2 pies, I had chicken and carrot pot pie. Not too bad. But I kept feeling sick after I finished them and had this weird film on the roof of my mouth. 2 pies ago, I decided to not eat the chicken. This was because I found a particularly sketchy piece in my mouth that felt and tasted like cartilage and nothing else. After closer inspection of the chicken, I discovered that the chicken in these pies is suuuuuper sketchy. Like real bad.

So now, my lunch is a "carrot and sauce" pot pie. The upside to this is that the crust of these pies is really, really good, so I get to taste more of it because there's no other crap in my mouth to interfere with the taste of the crust.

Maybe I should start making lunches for myself...

Secret #29

1. This is my 200th post. Part of the reason I haven't posted in so long is because I've been trying to decide what to do it about. I gave up. Here it is.

2. I have a few favorite words. Narcoleptic is one of them. Another one..well, let's just say its definition is a little unfortunate, because it's an awesome word. What's the word, you ask? Chlamydia.

Just say it. It's fun.

Living

Since we got married, Kagan and I have tried to "live off the land" if you will. How do we do this, living in an apartment complex, with no option of a garden or livestock? Let me tell you.

Every morning, I have a breakfast drink. It's fast, easy, and fairly healthy. The most important quality of this meal option is that it is fast. I generally don't have tons of time in the morning, so fast is best. This drink is usually consumed in the car, while on the way to work. I don't know if you've ever drank (drunk? I don't really know) out of a glass in a moving vehicle, but it's incredibly difficult. The perfect solution: drink out of a straw.

Another situation: I don't like ketchup. Kagan does, but he doesn't often eat things that he wants ketchup with. We don't really want to buy ketchup, just because Kagan eats it so rarely at home.

Here's the connection between the two: whenever we go out to eat at a fast food place, we just take a few extra straws, or maybe a couple packets of ketchup (ok, maybe more than a few), as our needs may be.

So, you see? We are living off the land. Being resourceful, if you will. I've never had to buy straws, and we've never bought a bottle of ketchup. However, our needs are met. Can't beat that.

Adventures in Texting

Tonight Kagan received a text from a random number, and I decided to have a conversation with this person. The following is a transcript of our conversation (almost exactly as it happened, grammar, spelling mistakes, and all):

Mandy: Hey its mandy cynthia gave me ur number

Mandy: cynthia said to txt you

Brooklyn: Um, I dont know why cynthia told you to text me, but we're not friends anymore

Mandy: u and cynthia

Brooklyn: yeah. She ate my last piece of shepherd's pie and that was it. straw that broke the camel's back.

Mandy: that's weird she sent me a pic that she drew that said i luv alex shes made at me for saying yes

Brooklyn: well that's her problem, not ours. i'm a little confused, tho. why did she want you to text me?

M:because she wanted me to ask u if u liked her

B: well i think it's a bit obvious how i feel, don't you?

M: ya it is she thinks you got dared to ask me out and my cousin wants to see a pic of you

B: do you think i got dared to ask you out? i cant send a pic my camera is broke. find me on facebook.

M: okay whats ur last name and idk if u were or not

B:i cant believe you said yes to go out with me and you dont even know my last name. ask cynthia. she knows.

M: well no i dont know just tell me

B (in an attempt to change the subject): my mom bought me a tarantula today and i think it just bit me. are tarantulas poisonous? I'm worried where it bit me might fall off

M: Ur a dork and i have no idea

B: no seriously. this is a pretty vital body part.

M: dont want to know and whats ur last name please tell me

B: muhahaha this is too fun. never telling. i'll tell you tomorrow when i see you. how about that?

M: Ur mean im on fb so just tell me please

B: you're on facebook all the time, not like it's anything new

M: How did u know that

B: you just give off that vibe. enough about me. tell me something about you that i dont know.

M: u ask ill answer

B: ok. do you think my muscles are big enough?

M: I dont havent seen um

B: it's not like i only every wear long-sleeved turtlenecks. i'm sure you've taken a little peek before at least once

M: nope when i met u u had a jacket on

B: speaking of jackets...do you ever feel trapped? I do. have you ever had a dream to do something other than what's expected of you? I just feel so trapped and want someone who will understand me...

M:(picture message of a completely black picture) Fwd: Fwd: Fwd: Fwd: Fwd: Forward this message to 15 people and then look back at the picture. at first you will just see black, but if you forward this message, the photo will reveal the name of your true love. If u dont forward you will never know your true love. Try it it actually works unlike all of the other forwards like this. So if you want to know the love of your life just forward it to 15 people.

M: Nice and any other questions

B: those things actually work, you know. once i didnt forward one of those messages and it actually came true. I puked up a small rodent and it infected my entire elementary school with influenza. worst 4th grade ever.

B: ok. ever been married?

M: nice

M: no thx ive dated alot of guys and made out and kissed but no married

B: why not? I knew a guy who had been married 3 times by the time he was your age. he was a polygamist though, so that could have had something to do with it. at least, i think he was your age. how old are you again?

M: 12

B: wow you look a lot younger. when i asked you out i thought you were 11.

M: no

B: weird. so what do you do for fun?

B (after like 15 minutes of no response): was that a bad question? how about...would you rather live in the shirt pocket of a sweaty giant, or in his shower drain?

M: that wasnt a bad question i was showering i play football for fun and softball

B: what about the sweaty giant?

M: shirt pocket

B: and why is that?

M: i dont know sooooo any other questions

B: have you ever had someone text you thinking they were texting a guy they liked and then you played along just for fun?...

M: nope by the way u act like a third or fourth grader its really weird do you swear

B: I dont think you got it. I hate to break it to you mandy, but my name's not alex. it's brooklyn, and I'm a 23 year-old recent college grad. I've had a fun time talking to you, and good luck with cynthia and alex.

M: Haha real funny


If you ask me, this was a good use of my time tonight. What do you think? :)

Secret #28

I think that people who adamantly oppose evolution only do it for one reason: they don't understand evolution in and of itself. Sure, they know the "basics," but that does not mean they understand it. Whether it's because they are unintentionally, or, as is usually the case, very purposefully uninformed, I really honestly believe that if they simply knew what it really was, they would see how simple, easy, and logical it is.

And, most importantly, evolution does not have to attack whatever God you happen to worship. I believe in God very much, and I also believe in evolution very much. There are no problems here.

If you happen to be one of those people...stop making arguments with your eyes wide shut. Take some time to learn, with an open mind, about evolution, and you'll see it's really not that bad. At all.

Pets vs. Babies

As the end of our housing contract approaches, Kagan and I have been discussing whether we want to renew and continue living where we currently are, or if we want to move. We decided that the only way we would move is if we found a place that was about the same price (or better, less) as our place (including utilities, which is difficult since the cost of our internet is included in our rent), in a good location, about the same size as our place, and, here's the clincher: allows pets. Yes, Kagan and I want to get a pet. Specifically, a dog.

I could go into the discussion of whether we really should get a dog or not, but that's not what we're here to talk about. We're here to talk about pet policies of apartments in Provo/Orem.

I'll start by saying this: it is incredibly difficult to find a place in Provo that allows pets, let alone a place that allows pets and isn't super expensive. No one wants to let you have pets in their apartments. I can understand that they don't want your dog to pee/poop all over the carpet or chew up the baseboards, puke up all its dog food on the carpet, etc. I get that.

Here's what I don't get: why do apartments not allow pets, but they DO allow people to have children in their homes? They're just as, if not more destructive than pets. Sure, a dog may poop or pee on your carpet, but unless it's got a pretty bad case of the runs, it's easy to clean up. Dogs generally aren't dumb enough to sit down in their poop and drag it all over the house, or to roll in it and dig it into the carpet. Oh no. Dogs would hardly ever do that.

But a child? Those things love poop. They have no problems reaching down the back of their diaper and grabbing a handful of whatever happens to be in there, and then drawing you a nice, incredibly smelly and hard to remove picture on your walls and carpet. And baby poop stinks. Not like dog poop doesn't stink, but baby poop is, 90% of the time, raunchy.

Then you have the issue of baby puke. Dogs puke. Occasionally it may get in your carpet and yeah, it stinks. You clean it up, and generally the smell goes away. If it doesn't, shampoo your carpets. Problem solved. However, how often do dogs puke? If there's something really wrong with your dog, maybe once a month.

But babies? They puke like every hour, on the hour, and every half hour in between that. And then it gets in your carpet, and boy, does that stuff stink. Sure, you can clean it up or even shampoo your carpet, but that stuff is lasting. Plus, you can't shampoo your carpet every day. You might as well just replace your carpet once a month. Let me tell you, I've gone to far more baby owners' homes whose houses smell like rotten milk (baby throw up) than dog owners homes whose houses smell like dirty nasty dog smell.

My point is this: what the heck, Provo? This is ridiculous.

Please, Provo, give me a place to live that is the criteria we're looking for. I will be forever grateful.

Inconsistent

I feel bad that I hardly ever post anymore. Unfortunately, my life is slightly less-varied than it used to be. Rather than getting inspiration for posts from weird BYU students, my inspiration now comes from my slightly normal co-workers, my "office" (quotes because I don't know if I can really call it an office. It's where I do my work, but it's also a storage room for tables, t-shirts, and other odds and ends. Maybe it's a storofice. Yep, made that word up just now. I originally had storfice, but I like that it has the word orifice in it now.), and my husband. Those are pretty much the only things that I interact with on a daily basis. Working 40 hours a week in an office has its perks, but inspiration for blog posts is not included in those perks.

Lately I've been thinking of things to blog about but have been working and can't just drop everything to get on my blog and write whilst getting paid to do exactly not that. That would be dishonest, and while I enjoy the interspersed sarcastic fib, I don't generally indulge in stealing time and money from my company. Maybe I'll devote a pad of post-it's to blog ideas...

We'll see.

Confession

Here's something I've been wanting to talk about but have been to embarrassed what the reactions will be of the people I tell (mainly my husband and my mother). I don't want people to know. So here I am, posting on the internet about it because...well, there's no people on the internet, right? Right?

Here goes: I'm not going to grad school. I didn't even turn in my application. The deadline was February 1st and the night before I remember thinking to myself, "Maybe I should finish it and turn it in even though I don't have a professor to work with." Then I justified not doing it by remembering that I already blew $70 on a GRE Subject test that I decided I didn't want to take, and I would just be blowing $50 on this application, because the odds of me getting accepted without having a professor who wants me to work with him is just about slim to none. Then I remembered that if I didn't apply then I would have wasted another $70 on the GRE that I took but that now will go toward nothing since I'm not going to grad school.

Needless to say, there has been a lot of justifying going on in my head, both for and against going to grad school. However, that's how it's been since I started considering the possibility that I would go, so I'm fairly used to it.

In the end, it came down to this: is this really something that I'm willing to put myself through? I have absolutely no desire to go to grad school. None. After talking to professors and some grad students, I've come to realize that grad school is already awful and miserable enough, you don't want to do it if you're not doing something that you're really passionate about. And honestly...I can't think of anything that I would be able to study at BYU that I am truly and honestly passionate about studying for 2+ years. It seems like the things I am interested in change so rapidly that I don't think I could commit to doing the same thing for that long. Right now, I would love nothing more than to study dogs. Yes, the domesticated canine that you have sitting on your lap or on the floor next to you as you read this (if that is the case I am incredibly jealous, by the way. I want a dog more than anything). It's strange, but I love dogs and want to learn all I can about them. I was so interested in behavioral ecology while in school, and it's something that I'm still interested in, but I don't have a particular animal that I want to study, which is what I would have done in grad school.

I feel like this is the right decision. Even if it's not, there's really nothing that I can do about it since the deadline has passed, but that is beside the point. I've been on the lookout for job opportunities, and have even applied and interviewed for a few. Until then, I have a good job that I like, working with people I love. That's good enough for me.

Done!

Well, I'm done with college! I officially finished my last final at about 3:15, 45 minutes after starting it. I kinda lost steam at the end of this semester, along with any will to study. But I'm done, so it doesn't matter!

I wrote a really long and kind of depressing post the other night about graduating. I'll consider posting it. I hate complain-y blog posts, which is why I didn't post it after I wrote it, but I also like to be honest, which it very much is. Again...I'll think about it.

I don't really have anything to write about besides the fact that I finished college today. It's a big milestone! Now I need to think of something to do to celebrate slash some awesome thing to buy for myself now that I will lose 2 of my jobs at the end of December (they're on-campus jobs and so I won't be able to work at them once I'm not a student anymore) and will make substantially less than I am now. But I'm graduating so that's my reason for deserving something awesome. Any ideas? Trips to exotic places won't really be an option, although that would be cool. Maybe I'll buy some puffed Cheetos. That's a pretty good reward, right?

Anyway if you have any ideas you should comment on here and I will take them into consideration.

Yay for me!

Secret #27

I hate it when people spell the word "Yeah" as "Yea" or "Yah." They just look wrong to me.

Secret #26

When business or signs in general have "est. (year)" I always think the est means estimated. I don't think I figured out what it was until I was in college.

It always bothered me that some business didn't even know when it had started, and that they had to estimate it...

I'm alive!

Yes, it's true. I'm not actually dead. Just incredibly busy.

You may think that with only taking 7 credits this semester, one of which is a dance class and two of which are working in a lab, I wouldn't actually be that busy. If you do, you're wrong.

You see, along with my 7 credits, I also have 3 jobs and am preparing to apply for grad school. My days usually go something like this:

Go to school
Go to my TA job
Go to lab
Go to receptionist job
Go back to TA job
Go home and do TA stuff and homework
Go to sleep
Lather, rinse, repeat.

It's been crazy. Along with that, last week I was preparing to take the GRE, and starting next week, I'll be preparing to take the Biology Subject GRE test in November, which will be much harder than the normal GRE was.

So, needless to say, I don't have a lot of time for blogging (or anything, for that matter). In fact, I'm currently avoiding studying for the test that I have to take tomorrow morning (I don't have any other time that I can take it) by downloading songs and writing this post.

Hopefully I make it through this semester and that I get into grad school. Either way, you'll probably hear from me more in about 3 months. :)

Don't player hate on me...

Ok, is one of you messing with me? She posted again!

"Im looking for a pool so my kids can enjoy for the summer i have 5 kids!!
If you have a pool that is not ripped and that is in good conditions! please sell it to me!! it has to be $20 or less! because i can waste that much money! Please give me a call if you have a pool that you can sell to me please give me a call so i can go take a look at it!
Thanks please contact me if you can sell one to me!! for a cheap price!!!
It can be any size i just want a pool for my children to enjoy!!"

Double exclamation points now. And if possible, even worse grammar.

I don't not see the connection here. Fess up, whoever you are! (yes, I used one. On purpose.)

(link to actual post)

Remember?

Remember that post I wrote a few days ago about how the exclamation point is WAAAAAAAAAAAY overused and how it's ruining the way people write and read?

Here's evidence that I found on Craigslist today:

"I need a pool for my kids i have 5 kids that really want a pool for the summer for the hot days they really want a swimming pool! but saddly i cant afford buying a brand new swimming pool!
If you have a swimming pool that you could sell to us for a very cheap price please email me!
Or if you have any kind of pool! that you could sell to us! because my children really want a pool! for the summer if you could help us that would be nice!
Thanks for looking!
please email me if you can sell us one or give to us!
Thanks!"

Find it here if you don't believe me. I just copied and pasted it.

This whole thing really makes me want to vomit on myself. It's not only the bad grammar and incomplete sentences that make it gag-inducing, but to throw an exclamation point at the end of every sentence and even in the middle of some...are you trying to kill me?

Couldn't Be Happier

Sometimes I forget the title of my blog (see above). To be honest, sometimes it's not always the truth.

I learned a lesson this week. I've been without a job for about 2 months now I think. Well, this is kind of a lie. I do in fact have a job, but I only work about 5-8 hours a week there. And I really don't enjoy the work that I do, which makes it even more difficult to go in and log hours.

Kagan has a job (or 2) but it's still been really stressful on me (to say the least) not having a job and not really having an income. Not only has it been stressful, but also very frustrating, because I just don't know where to look for one anymore. To top it off, I'm tired of having jobs that I hate, so I've been kind of selective with what I want to do. I also would rather not get another job on campus, because I'll lose it in December when I graduate and be right back where I am now.

I've got a lot going against me, to say the least.

A few nights ago, I had I think the worst breakdown I've ever had. I didn't know what to do. Every option Kagan gave me, I had some kind of excuse for of why I couldn't do it (campus job: be unemployed again in December. Find a job on craigslist: that's what I've been trying to do for the last 2 months and I haven't even gotten one call about any of them. Try out substitute teaching: school is out for the summer. The list goes on and on). It felt (and still feels) completely hopeless. I still have absolutely no idea what to do.

However, after the breakdown, Heavenly Father decided he wanted me to know what's going on. No, that's an overstatement. Heavenly Father decided he was sick of hearing me complain. So he told me (multiple times, actually) to learn to be happy about this. Learn to be happy with the 5 hour a week job that I have. Learn to be happy sitting in my house mostly all day, every day, alone. Learn to be happy feeling like I'm not contributing anything.

I've set some goals, made a conscious effort, and I'm going into a new week. As Miss Stacey/Anne says, "Tomorrow is fresh, with no mistakes in it...yet." Wish me luck as I learn a lesson which will take me to a place that I probably hadn't anticipated.

Also I get to go home next weekend, and stay for nearly a week! I'm so excited! :)

The Exclamation Point

It's a tricky thing. Well...to some people.

I've always been very conservative in my exclamation point usage. Why? Because the exclamation point should really only be used when you would actually exclaim something.

Read this article, and you'll understand how I feel about the exclamation point. He says it way better than I could, plus he's already said it, so why should I say it again? Read it. Appreciate it.

Have you read it? Please read it before you continue. It'll make much more sense if you do.

Yes, it is ruining the world. People use it far too often. Whenever I read it, the upward inflection happens in my head. It's extremely irritating.

I once considered dating a guy who lived a few cities away. As a result, we spent a fair amount of time texting. However, I decided I didn't want to date him after about a day of this texting business. Why, you may ask? It was solely because he ended every sentence in every one of his texts with an exclamation point (also he was slightly creepy, but maybe the exclamation points played a part in that). It was brain melting to me. Every added exclamation point was like a nail being driven deeper and deeper into my head, killing me more and more.

I guess the moral of the story is, please reduce the use of your exclamation points by only using them when necessary. Please!

Santa

I don't have a lot of memories from my very young childhood. However, many of the ones that I have are very vivid.

I remember when I was about 5 or 6, I desperately wanted one of those little kitchen play sets that all my friends had (one of these). Christmas was coming, and I was sure I would get it. I wanted it so bad. *SO* bad!

Also, I had been a good girl, so I figured Santa would reward me for my good deeds and get me my heart's true desire (the kitchen thing).

Christmas morning came, and I clearly remember the pajamas that my grandmother had made for me. They were light blue, and I remember feeling like Princess Jasmine from Aladdin in them (which will come to be ironic later on). I went out to the living room, filled with presents, and there it was: a huge box, just the right size to fit a kitchen play set. And it was for me! I knew right away that all my dreams were about to come true.

I saved it for the very last. I wanted it to be the grand finale to everything that I had received. It finally came to that moment. I was elated, overjoyed, as I ripped the paper from the box, ripped the tape off the box, and opened it to find:

A blanket.

That's right. A huge Aladdin themed blanket.

Needless to say, I was crushed.

I've since recovered from the emotional trauma caused by this event. Whenever I tell this story around my mom, she says to me, "Well you should have asked for it. We never even knew you wanted it!"

I was thinking about this last night, and I came to a realization. There were two men in my life who I had never met, but were very important to me: Santa, and Heavenly Father. I'd learned all my life about my Heavenly Father. He lived in heaven, so I couldn't see him. He loved me. He wanted me to be happy. He knew everything that I did, even if no one saw it. He knew everything about me: my hopes, my dreams, my desires, etc.

Then there was Santa. All you really get told about Santa is that you never get to see him, that he knows whether you're bad or good (even if no one saw it), and he knows what you want for Christmas (although somehow I missed the "you have to ask him" part).

So you can see, that as a child, I could have easily paralleled the two in my head. It wasn't necessary to ask Santa for a present, because he already knew!*

So next time you don't know what to get your kids for Christmas, maybe ask them to write a letter to Santa asking for what they want. They might not realize that that's necessary.

*I know, I know, the Lord knows what we want but we still have to ask him for it, but think of this from a 6 year-old's perspective. It makes a lot more sense that way.