December, And There is No Snow

I finally have a few minutes to write a post here. It has been hectic, but in the way that there has been a 19-month-old running around my legs constantly for the past few days, which generates no complaints for me. I am glad to be reunited with Dylan and Nicole, and had a successful show at the JCC Sunday night. The weather here has been surprisingly mild, in the high 40s most days if not 50s, and sunny except for today. Buffalo is not what it used to be. As has been the trend, the winter is starting later and later these days. I guess global warming might have some positive side effects. I guess some people in Buffalo have been proudly displaying a bumper sticker that says "Buffalonians for Global Warming"

I got to light the Hannuka candles with Dylan on Sunday night, so here are a couple of pictures from that:

It is great to be back here with her. She is talking more than ever, at least trying to. She seems to understand everything, so I don't think talking can be that far away. She is also climbing on everything, and trying to jump although she cannot get off the ground yet. Also, she is dancing any chance she can get, even doing different kind of dancing for slower music, and mimicking ballet. Very cute. Oh, and she went and saw Santa yesterday:

It doesn't get much better than that :)

I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season. I have to say one thing, that I cannot get my mind off of the tragedy that occurred in Newtown, CT this past weekend. I know that not just as a father, but as a teacher, and a human it is just one of the most disturbing things I have ever heard of. It really makes me think that all of these things that we have been wondering about, like whether or not these video games and military culture really can effect our children, well, it is time to get off the fence and say that yes, if you get the feeling that these games and movies can be influential then the answer is yes they can be. We have to trust those instincts from now on. There is a line, and it does get crossed. I was aware of it growing up, which kids had a healthy awareness of the dangers of guns and which were a little bit too gung-ho about them. You mix one of those kids with a slew of media and video games, and then give them access to and training on how to use a gun, and then mix in mental illness and normal adolescent and young adult troubles, and this will happen again. I hope we can learn something from this. I know I have.

Ok, I'm done. And here is one of my favorite songs of the year. I haven't watched this video yet, I hope it is ok. Love you all!