There are certain foods I've recently come to believe just aren't worth: the calories, the effort of eating, or the slime in the mouth. It's not a diet thing, it's just a complete realization.

Example:

Doughnuts. My child asks for them as a special treat. We make the date. We visit the hole-in-the-wall doughnut shop. We browse for our favorites: maple bar for her, perhaps an old-fashioned for me (or a bismark, apple fritter, cherry turnover, etc.). They smell yeasty and sweet. The sugar is pleasant, but then the fat begins to coat my teeth and mouth. Pretty soon it seems to hit my gut. Gas follows sometime after, and perhaps a Tums-worthy moment. Hopefully it won't seek a rampage on my bowels.

That's a lot of displeasure for a nice smell and an initial sweet sensation. What I find most interesting is that I still believe I crave them.

Stupid doughnut lust.

I'm so proud of my child's writing talents. Here's a sampling of this year's valentines to friends:

Shortly before holiday break my daughter was busy on a school assignment that seemed to involve research, writing, and assembling odd bits of costume and art projects. When asked, she confirmed it was homework--a presentation she was going to make to her kindergarten buddy (third graders are paired with kindergarteners for cross-grade learning).

The assignment was to present on a family holiday tradition. On Christmas Day it is her job (and honor) to distribute gifts, an occupation Ken calls the "elf." Care is taken not only to deliver presents to open laps, but to allow for time for appreciation, and make best efforts to distribute evenly, so that any one person doesn't feel ungifted. She does these things well.

For her presentation, she took her research further than her father's tradition, and cited internet articles that discussed mythical elves in various countries and the comparison of their work to her own. Drawing on those fairy tales, she assembled illustrative costumes and created ornamentation to accompany the monologue she'd put on index cards.

I find this quite impressive work for an 8-year-old. What I find most impressive is that she recognizes this as a family tradition and that she is honored to perform as her father and his siblings did when they were children. It's a tradition well worth maintaining and I appreciate her appreciation of it.