Christmas Cards

This past few days I have had a flood of Christmas Cards coming in, some funny, some down right depressing, and some annoying as all get out. Excuse my Southern expression, but it is the truth. I will give them awards.

Most Heartwarming:

Goes to my Aunt Mary Nell, she actually addressed the envelope to my mother so the envelope read Margaret Ann (insert really long hard to spell Italian last name). For those of you who don't know my name is most certainly not Margaret Ann, after all I am a Samantha Clair, Margaret Ann would be my mother. I cried realizing how old my Aunt truly was getting. I also felt horrible for not visiting her before I moved north.

Most Depressing:

Goes to my Granny's widower, he felt so inclined to send a copy of my Granny's obituary with the card, really, He pretty much said, "look, I know a way to make sure you do nothing but cry for two weeks" "try to have a merry christmas now" or I like this one even better, "how dare you abandon your family". Ah, Ed. Thanks for the card.

Most Comical:

That award goes to my sister Melanie, who has two of the prettiest kids ever, who are now teenagers, and were forced to wear antlers and have their picture taken. How embarrassing, but hey whatever. I thought it was cute, but I am not one of their friends. Did I also mention the dog had antlers too.

Most Annoying:

My mother, bless her heart was so desperate to feel so close to Parker, that she bought one of those cards that you could record your voice on, and she did, and that is the only thing I have heard for two days. Love you mom, but I want your voice out of my head. Like NOW.

Most Creative:

Goes to Alicia, who is my best friend in the whole world, and she actually had her two makes make their cards. This is a lot more impressive than it sounds due to the fact that her kids are 5 and 2. ...these also involved glitter, and cutting, and everything. WAY TO GO!!!

There you have it, if you send me a Christmas Card I will most certainly ridicule it.

New Direction/ Radicalism.

My whole life I have been told I was a radical. I do not feel this is accurate. Passionate, sure. Radical, no. I have a few very strong beliefs, and a few minor ideas. Vaccinations are something that falls under the strong belief category. I haven't blogged in a while, I really don't see how anyone with a toddler could find the time to blog, but here I am during nap time, thinking of new directions to take the blog. I most certainly will always want to talk about my child, I mean ALWAYS. Just for the record, I do honestly feel I have the cutest/smartest/funniest child ever, however I truly believe everyone will feel this way about Parker. A little delusional, at best. But, back to the point. I think I will start blogging some about my child, some about the current cultural/political aspects, and also the hilarious lengths you go to when you are a parent, and the stuff you do you swore to yourself you would never do. After the big move that happened all of four months ago, I think I am ready to link MY family and friends to the blog, and not just Nicko's, this should be interesting, to say the least. :) Start of first story.....NOW!


Most of you who know me, know exactly how I feel about Jenny McCarthy. If you don't know, I think she should stick to what she knows best and that just so happens to be porn, not parenting. I do not think she is a bad parent, but I do not feel she is educated/far enough away from the problem, to make good judgment calls. The bottom line I think she is an idiot. Does she love her child? ABSOLUTELY! Does she want what is best for her child? ABSOLUTELY! Does she know what is best for everyone's child? NEGATIVE! I can not fathom why anyone would go against the American Academy of Pediatrics to follow anyone's unproven ideas about how to treat your child medically.

I am actually dumbfounded. I am no conspiracy theorists, and I will say I am a bit of an idealists. My government loves me, I love them, we can be best friends, and they only want what is best for me. Crazy, no? I also can not fathom how anyone can say the government is pushing vaccines to make money. The government gives them for FREE, how is that making money. Everyone can go to your local health department, and get vaccinated. I do not understand how this isn't losing money, as opposed to earning. Furthermore, I can not understand why people who take Xanax when they have no anxiety, or pop pain killers just to "relax" think pharmaceutical companies are making their money off vaccines, instead of various other medicines that aren't medically necessary, per say Viagra anyone? What about that new one that gives you eyelashes? Those my friends are the "money makers" I would even say antibiotics to an extent, are way OVERPRICED. Vaccines are FREE, not a money maker. Now that is cleared up, I move to my next point.

I do NOT feel it is wrong for your child to be required to get vaccinated to go to public schools. It is as simple as this, you pay our government to protect you, and keep you safe. How are you not seeing the correlation between required vaccines, and public safety? Well, if you can't see them here is a great article for that. I also just want to kindly remind everyone why vaccines were required in the first place, you can remind yourself here. I am fastly approaching Parker's time to get his MMR, am I worried he might get sick, sure. Do I think he will have an adverse reaction? NO. Would I ever consider not vaccinating him? NO. You may even be asking yourself why I care what other's do with their children, well, this isn't something that just effects your family and your household, this has the potential to affect the WHOLE United States.

I cringe at the thought of MY vaccinated son going to school with un-vaccinated children. Diseases mutate, it is not like these diseases will come back and stay the way they are, they will change, making all of us "conformers" susceptible, thanks for the polio folks! What a great welcome to the neighborhood gift. Is this guaranteed, no. Could it happen, you bet your pants it can. Probably not in my lifetime, I hope not in Parker's, but it could, and it will. Everyone should not be vaccinated, there are a FEW people that have religious/medical reasons for not doing so/ I also want to remind you that Polio is only eradicated, because of vaccines, not proper hygiene. I also want to remind you of the numerous studies that found no link between vaccines and autism, you can find that information here.

I will now get off my soap box, and share the beautiful Christmas pictures I took of Parker, and our FIRST Christmas tree.