Monday, December 10, 2007

Thank goodness for small giggles

This is a generally stressful time of year - hell, our lives are stressful all year round, it's just crazier (and colder) right now. But just when I'm ready to snap (or to start crying at stupid Hallmark specials), it's nice to have something remind me not to take it all so seriously. Yesterday I had to go to a family-education-day at my boys' religious school (while normally I get the house to myself on Sunday mornings), and in a fairly heavy session on 'The December Dilemma' (dealing with Chanukah in a secular Christian world, not to mention interfaith families, which is my situation), one dad told us about an ad he'd seen, reminding customers to 'order their Chanukah Ham!' (Okay, it's only funny if you know that ham isn't kosher, so even jews who don't keep kosher know better than to eat ham or shellfish on jewish holidays. But in the middle of a deep discussion, it made me laugh!)
That night, I went to see a friend's cabaret show, and while I wanted to be a supportive friend, I was stressed getting out of the house and wishing it was scheduled on a different weekend, and as a jewish mom in an interfaith family in a neighborhood overloaded with Christmas, I wasn't exactly excited about yet more Christmas music. A few songs into the concert, her guitarist began this fun, funky lick, and they went into a crazy jazz version of "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear" - and I started laughing. Out loud. So much so that the singer noticed, and commented, "Gee I guess Lauren likes this arrangement!" (I felt a little like Mary Tyler Moore in the Chuckles The Clown Funeral episode - I'll blog about that one later, if you've never seen it . . . . . )
So now I'm keeping my eyes and ears open for those unexpected moments that crack me up - while I'm simultaneously looking for examples of super moms imploding! (That's both funny and incredibly evilly satisfying!)

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