$10,406.46

We mailed our property tax check to the Dallas County tax office today, and that check would be so much easier to write if our marriage was recognized by the government that takes our money. I talked about what it's like to pay taxes to a government that does not give you equal rights last year; you can find it here.

I believe it's important for me to continue to point out this injustice.

We paid $10,406.46 in property taxes this year. Our property taxes have gone up every year we've owned a home. My husband and I are productive members of this society: we work, we pay taxes, and we give money to causes and people we care about. We are doing our part to make our world a better place, but we do not have the same rights as my brother and his wife...that's not the way it should be...

My Superrman

This holiday season I was speaking with our friend William who is also a reader of this blog, and he said that on this blog I make my husband sound like Superman. Actually, I think his exact quote was directed towards my husband: "If I didn't know you I would think you were a super hero according to the blog."

Here's the secret: I AM married to Superman. He's not THE Superman, but he's MY Superman!

Baby Boy

This is very good news for my husband and me: On Christmas day Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish welcomed their new son Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John to this world. The baby was born via surrogacy. I can only imagine the ecstasy those two must be feeling right now; what a joy to have a child with the one you love!

Elton was born in 1947 and David was born in 1962 which means they are not young men.

Sometimes I think we'll never have the "extra" $75,000 to $100,000 in time that is required to have a baby through surrogacy, in addition to the cash required to rear a child, but if we use Elton's timeline we have until 2043! We need to find an extra $3,000 for each of the next 33 years...and then it's baby time!

Quack Quack

My husband's parents live on the lake, and the ducks who are migrating like to waddle up and eat the sunflower seeds under the bird feeders. It's really fun to watch. As soon as you walk outside they take off in a thunderous flight...but they always come back.

At one point I looked out the window and saw ducks, squirrels, and one bunny rabbit. My husband's parents have created a utopia for the wild animals, and it makes me want to move to the lake.

Wisdom

Christmas Eve I was speaking with my grandfather who is around 80-years-old, and at one point he said to me, "I sure do like your little black bulldog." I thanked him and then I disclosed that it's still strange because even though I love and adore Sarah Dooley sometimes I still can't believe that Martha Fauker is gone and I won't see her again. He looked at me with understanding and then he said, "Well, no one lives forever. That's just the way it is."

For some reason, and perhaps it won't translate on this blog, I found his comment really profound and comforting. It was something about the way he said it...it's a fact of life that no one lives forever, and you just have to accept it because that's just the way it is.

Ho Ho Ho

We had a fantastic Christmas at my husband's parent's house. They hosted 20+ family members in their home, which is always an equally exciting and intense experience. The commotion is a big part of the fun. It was great to see the young-ins experience Christmas. We got to watch Owen, Lucy, and Blake walk out and see what Santa left for them. I've decided Christmas is more fun with children running around!

Also, you will notice in the photo that Yaya and Papa made sure to get a stocking for the youngest member of the family-- Dooley!

Happy Christmas Adam!

It's Christmas Adam! (Remember: Adam came before Eve.) And it's time for my kitchen to start churning out cinnamon rolls- it's the same drill every year. All families have food traditions; if you don't have a family food tradition, then I highly recommend you create one, because it doesn't feel like summer until I eat my mom's homemade ice cream; it doesn't feel like Thanksgiving until I've consumed the vegetable casserole and taken a bite of dressing, and it doesn't feel like Christmas until I start baking cinnamon rolls!

Christmas morning we eat cinnamon rolls, sausage balls, pigs in a blanket, and if we're spending Christmas with my husband's sister or our Cousin Kate then one of those beautiful ladies will also attempt to feed us something "alive" to go along with our breakfast feast- like some fruit or something.

Happy Christmas Adam!