The Christmas season has officially begun: Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer made its first annual appearance on network TV last night. AJ hurried through his bath so we could watch it together. We did our annual family deconstruction of gender roles in the special. I always point out that Rudolph is not the only one who doesn't get to join in any reindeer games, while my husband snorts vigorously when Yukon Cornelius says, "Let's get the women back to Christmas Town" as the storm rolls in. This is contrasted with the totalitarian elf state which exhibits gender equality in the workplace, but only at the expense of all individuality and dental hygiene.

Fun with gender studies.

And speaking of having fun with academic subjects, here are some scientists in need of a project:

Dissection of a Magic 8 Ball

Experiments with Twinkies

And that is all of, er, intelligence you�ll get from me for the moment. I am currently supervising AJ and his friend D while they dismantle my house piece by piece, since it�s too snowy to go outside and play. Tornados are less effective at destruction. Perhaps I should consider building a bunker out of Twinkies.

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