Save the Date: May 10th, 7pm

So, I've been a little busy.

A good busy though. In case you missed it, we have a fantastic cast lined up for LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER San Francisco and if you live in the Bay Area you will not want to miss this celebration of motherhood.

Tickets are now on sale.  Click here for more info.

My Funny Valentine

Turns out we're not the only ones who just got back from Disneyland

So here's the thing. I hate crowds. I really, really hate crowds. I hate crowds the way I hate sites like Groupon and Living Social. I like a bargain as much as the next person, but I hate the feeling of "OMG, I have to buy this oil change for my car and $20 worth of drinks at a bar that I have never been to rightthisveryminute before the deal passes me by!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG!!!!!!!!" It's why I will never, ever be caught dead at a Black Friday or even a Cyber Monday sale. Crowds and the frenzy of people searching for DEALSOMGDEALS!!!!! is not for me.

Crowds turn normally nice, lovely people into annoying, pushy people. Throw a huge mass of people into an amusement park and they are even more annoying a pushy. Everyone is clamoring to be the next person in line for a corn dog or running to the new roller coaster or to make sure their child is the next in line to have their picture taken with a giant mouse in red shorts.

We took our kids to Disneyland this past week. They did not return to school until yesterday and I read somewhere that the first week of January is apparently the third least busiest week at the happiest place on earth. Well, it is now clear to me that they meant the first week of January during a normal year, when all the kids are likely to be back in school. It turns out that lots of schools did not return until yesterday, not just mine. Hindsight.

Here is what Disneyland looked like while we were there.

We make the trek to Mickey-ville every three years and this was our third trip. Both other times we've pulled the kids out of school and the crowds have been non-existant. We wandered at our own pace through the park and had a great time. This was an entirely different experience. I turned into a person I really wasn't too fond of.

"OK kids, stay right next to me and don't get distracted"

"Seriously? You have to go to the bathroom again? Jeez."

"OK, you HAVE to hold my hand. You blend right in with 50 million other kids in Yoda t-shirts"

"If I buy you cotton candy, will you promise not to whine while we stand in line for 45 minutes to ride Space Mountain?"

"I said stay right next to me!!"

"Stop touching me, mommy needs some personal space."

"No seriously, stop touching me."

"Stay close to your dad and yes, you HAVE to hold his hand."

We learned some valuable lessons though, like how to make the most of Disneyland fast passes, green cotton candy is gross, you get more wet on Grizzly River Run than you do on Splash Mountain, one should never ride the Matterhorn if one really has to pee and has given birth to three children, pancakes shaped like Mickey just taste better and sometimes all you can do is just laugh and enjoy the ride.

Although our trip wasn't ideal, we made the best of it and according to my son, "made some family memories." The look on his face after riding Star Tours for the first time made it all worth it for me. No matter how anti-Disney you may be, they do know how to create magic -- for kids and adults.

A December to Remember

Another Christmas come and gone. I was relaxed about the whole thing this year and it made all the difference. We enjoyed our usual traditions... cutting down a tree, making sugared almonds, watching Elf, listening to Christmas music non-stop. We skipped visiting Santa at the mall. At 9, 9 and 6 my kids had zero interest in standing in line to sit on a strangers lap and that was fine by me.

They got nearly everything on their Christmas lists which really wasn't that hard for me to accomplish. Their lists consisted of things like underwear, a giant Angry Bird, Twister, Clue in Paris, books, a wallet, earrings, charms, canvases and oil paints, Wipeout for the xbox, Slushy Magic. My girls wanted desks which I was planning on getting them anyway.

They were spoiled in the sense that they got everything they asked for, but not in an obnoxious way. My husband surprised them with Kindle Fires and a giant soccer goal for the backyard and they were sufficiently thrilled.

We had family over for our traditional curry Christmas dinner. It was perfect, the cousins played, the adults over ate and my house felt cozy and filled with happiness.

Per usual, when the whole thing was over I wished I had taken more pictures. I took a few on Christmas morning and one or two the rest of the day. Next year I'll just strap my camera to my neck and maybe that will remind me to document more of it all.

For now, here's a snippet of our December. Hope yours was cozy and happy no matter what you celebrated.

All I Want For Christmas

If you are seeking holiday cheer, you've come to the right place. Below is a little gift from my family to yours.

Happy, Merry, Holly, Jolly, Joyous, Lovely, Bright Holidays to You!

My favorite part happens at about 3:44.

Holiday Cheer from Kirsten Patel on Vimeo.

I'm just going to start typing...

Maybe I'll write about how much of a struggle it is to print things out at my house. We have a wireless printer, but it works about 2 times out of ten. It always seems to flash "communication error" at the most inopportune times, like this morning when I was trying to print out my daughter's book report.

Maybe I'll write about despite the fact that my sister has hosted Thanksgiving for the past eighteen years my mom has called me at least four times in the past week or so to ask me if we'll be at my house or my sister's for Thanksgiving.

Or I could write about my six year old son and his current obsession with Mad Libs. Every adjective is either farty or stinky and every noun is either New York or Kleenex.

I am so looking forward to Thanksgiving. I finished up my grocery shopping today and wrote out a schedule for the next three days of what I will cook and when. It might just be my favorite holiday and this is perhaps my favorite ABC Special of all time. Remember the days before DVRs and VCRs and it really was special when Charlie Brown was on TV?

I was going to write a post titled Words With Husbands. My husband and I used to play a lot of card games in our pre-kid days. He always won. Always. No matter what game we played, my wins were rare. The only games I can ever beat him at are air hockey, occasionally bowling and now Words With Friends. I've won four games in a row and it's killing him.

I recently found the blog Letters of Note, which contains all kinds of letters from all kinds of folks. The one below is from Roald Dahl, written to a girl who was inspired by The BFG to send him one of her dreams in a bottle. Isn't it lovely?

And with that, I'm off to bed.

Tomorrow my to do list has three items: 1) Answer emails 2) Buy black and grey tights and 3) Make pie dough.

Listen to This

When I was a new mother of twins I was clearly in over my head. I had no idea what I was getting into. In between changing diapers, yelling at my husband, making bottles and endless, futile attempts to get my babies to sleep, I craved interaction with other women who were going through the same shock to their systems.

Eventually I got up the courage to attend a mothers of twins club meeting and as soon as I walked in the door I knew I had found my people. Nine years later I still cherish the friendships I made through that group. I've shared my darkest and brightest moments with those women and I love their children like they are my own.

Back then I had never heard of a blog. When my husband first started using the word I thought he was kidding. When he explained to me what it was, I thought it sounded like the most ridiculous thing I'd ever heard of. What kind of crazy person would tell their stories on the internet for any Joe Schmoe to read and comment on?! I have no time for that.

Meanwhile I was devouring books like Mothers Who Think, The Bitch in the House and Because I Said So. These women writers were sharing the stories that I was living. The labyrinth of emotions I was trying to navigate suddenly didn't seem so scary. By sharing their stories, these women I had never met made me feel validated and less alone in the land of motherhood. If I had known back then that there mothers out there typing out their stories daily on blogs, I would never have left my computer.

We all know how this story ends. Of course I started my own blog. I never tire of reading how other women approach motherhood. Every woman has a story to tell and every woman can learn something from hearing the stories of others.

Two years ago when Ann Imig put together the Listen to Your Mother show in Madison, Wisconsin, I followed along from my computer and wished I could attend. Then last year, Stacey and Elise put on a show in Spokane and again I followed along from my computer and wished I could attend.

So when Listen to Your Mother put out the call for new cities interested in producing a show, and Kim tentatively raised her hand, I thought maybe I can do more than follow along from my computer this year.

Which leads me to this. Scroll down and check out the Director/Producer team for the 2012 San Francisco show. I am so excited to be partnering with Kim and I am thrilled to be a part of bringing Listen to Your Mother to San Francisco.

"The Mission of each LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER production is to take the audience on a well-crafted journey that celebrates and validates mothering through giving voice to motherhood -- in all of its complexity, diversity and humor."

Email !!!!!!!!!!

My kids have their own email addresses. My nine year olds send emails to their teachers and a few close friends and family. My six year old can't log on to his email without my help and he only emails me, my husband and his sisters. I log into their email accounts to check their messages much more often than they do.

If they didn't have email accounts I wouldn't be surprised by little gems like this in my inbox.

As I was tearing up reading the above message my daughter remarked, "you do realize he sent you little piles of poo right?" Yes, but he also sent me some martinis.

I also enjoy little exchanges like this one I had with my daughter tonight. We were sitting right next to each other on the couch while her brother was playing football on the xbox kinect. He was having a minor meltdown because the game was not going his way. Macy was writing "I will not be a whiner" 20 times because she had just finished a game on the xbox that involved a lot of whining because the game was not going her way.

You have to read from the bottom up since I could not figure out how to reverse the order.

One thing I've learned from my emailing with my children is that !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! runs in the family.