NOT TO WORRY

Thanksgiving is over and Christmas is around the corner. You couldn't have missed it. It was in all the Walmart ads.

So, you pulled out the outdoor extension cords and Christmas trimming lights you store together and discover all the cords look like the first spaghetti you made as a young bride or anxious bachelor.

Hint: never pack the lights up on New Years Day when you have a New Years Eve hangover. You have enough on your mind just trying to figure out how the hedgehog got in your bed.

NOT TO WORRY # 1. Be like us. At our home we're as prepared as the Pentagon.

About a week before Thanksgiving we pack all the cords in a large cardboard box and haul them over to the local daycare center. They become the focal point of the Annual Thanksgiving Puzzle Contest. (ATPC)

The kids are split up in teams of three - with a teacher or volunteer assigned to each group as a timer. All the various cords are covered with nap pads before the contest starts so no child can inavertently start unwinding them in their mind. (We have some really advanced kids in our daycare center who are taking calculus as an elective)

The teacher blows a whistle and the puzzle solving begins. If a few kids on the teams are temporarily members of the remedial puzzle solving group - maybe due to a poor attention span or boredom - but are great sleepers - that's when the nap pads come in handy once more.

NOT TO WORRY #2. Prizes? That's the genius in this whole scheme.

About eight days before Thanksgiving you thaw out some of those fruitcakes Aunt Martha gives you annually. You know, the ones you shove in the freezer cause you never know what to do with them.

Ah ha! You're starting to recognize the classic "two-fer": Even weird Aunt Martie can't get upset should she discover you were willing to give up your Christmas goodies to feed hungry kids.

NOT TO WORRY #3. Remember those are the same tummies that can digest edible crayons, cat food, and colored snow. Kids are tougher than you think.

Be sure to pick up your unentangled cords the morning before holiday recess. You'll have the trimming done in about 15 minutes. Guaranteed!
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Hope you had a great Thanksgiving.