Chanukah, Day 1

Aside from some issues this morning -- Ben sulking and almost missing the bus, and Rebecca causing me to wrench my back trying to get her into her car seat because of all the I-want-to-do-it-myself squirming -- we had a nice beginning to Chanukah 2009. Oh except for that the kids whined all through dinner for gelt and presents. The kids seemed to enjoy their presents, especially Ben, whose present wasn't even new -- we gave him an old GameCube video game system and some games we bought used at GameStop. He played Super Mario Sunshine for two hours and when we informed him that it was time to go to bed he burst into tears and threw the controller. He could only be pacified by the promise that he'd be allowed to play again tomorrow AS SOON AS HE WAKES UP. I am bracing myself for an early morning awakening. I think we're going to need to establish some ground rules with this video game stuff.