Journal, Day 189

This has been a very active and chaotic week for the benefactor and children. Holiday vacation has descended, which means preparation for festive celebrations and plenty of time to slowly drive the benefactor insane as the days count down. To recharge, the younger female and benefactor spent some time on Sunday resting and watching the media box, literally lying in bed without a care in world. It was a peaceful and quiet afternoon of snuggles, conversation, and laughter.
 
Later that day, the benefactor took the younger children to visit with the man in the red suit. Only the younger female chose to talk to St. Nick, as the elder male bounced around the outlying kiosks of goods, constantly touching items as the benefactor reminded him over and over to stop touching said items. This was followed by gathering some holiday necessities from a general store, which turned into a faux jousting match when the children decidedly chose tubes of shiny wrapping paper and used them to charge at one another in the crowded store. After getting them to stand down with minor threats, the children began an endless litany of complaining about having to shop and be out in public, and the benefactor gave up and took them back to the homestead, for which they thanked the benefactor by making her tea.
 
The next day, the younger children accompanied the benefactor to her place of employment for the day, which proved to be a draining and exhausting day of nonstop whining and boredom, as the younger children did not adequately prepare activities to keep them busy. Upon leaving, however, an interesting conversation ensued when the youngest female pronounced that she wasn’t sure, but she might marry a woman when she is older, and then asked the benefactor if two women could have children together. The younger male, without a filter, immediately responded that she would need to borrow male virility to make that possible, which the benefactor had to carefully and gently explain as the can of worms had been opened. During the conversation that followed, the younger male was shocked to learn that men could have children pretty much until the day they died, whereas women suffer from yet another form of ageism when it comes to reproduction, which irritated the younger female.

When they finally arrived home that evening, the younger male sensed the benefactor’s exhaustion, refusing his nighttime meal, insisting that he hated the potato soup the elder female had worked all day to make, which the benefactor didn't have the energy to argue. However, he then attempted to steal a bag of cinnamon baking chips as his dinner, sloppily hiding them in a blanket, where they fell with a thud to his feet as he tried to slink away. That night, the benefactor was never so happy to hear the whisper soft breath of children sleeping.
 
For their holiday correspondence, the benefactor insisted they gather and travel to a location above the city to have their image captured. After 20 takes, the appropriate portrait was finally captured, but not until after the elder male and younger female jokingly faked a maternity pose, and the children lost their composure for several minutes. Their task accomplished, they wandered down to the city center plaza to admire the festive lights, and then reconnected with the elder male who was meeting his new love interest for a rooftop, sunset picnic in the crisp, winter air. The younger children only mildly embarrassed him, which openly entertained the benefactor, who rewarded the other children with drinkable cocoa and snacks at a local western establishment.
 
Apparently suffering from amnesia, the benefactor again took the children shopping, this time finding herself yelling in vain as they acquired air guns and played a game of cat and mouse throughout the store (luckily not being asked to leave), the benefactor unsuccessfully trying to pick out gifts as she asked them repeatedly to stand down. They then traveled to a food market, where the younger male stealthily swiped an excessive amount of free, sample cookies, vexing the benefactor and pushing her to threaten his expected gifts if he did not stop stealing.  
 
Tensions have been running high between the elder male and the benefactor, as he strives for independence but does so without the same respect for the benefactor he once displayed. The elder children, in general, have been much more defiant as of late, and with all else the benefactor feels she is fighting in this world, it often feels like too much to argue with them over and over, especially as her love for them know no bounds. Alas, as the holidays descend, hopefully some semblance of peace will accompany it, for both our home, and yours.