"Do not be afraid!"

Madison made this drawing today, and at a first glance - like most children's drawings - you don't have much to go on as to what it is. Fortunately, Madison explained it to us.

"Do not be afraid," she said. "The shepherds were afraid, and the angel told them not to be afraid. A baby is born!"

I'm paraphrasing here, obviously. Madison went on to tell us the rest of the story, about the angel telling the shepherds about a baby born in a manger. Needless to say, Mommy and Daddy were thrilled and touched at hearing this, and listening to Madison tell us part of the most important story ever told.

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy. It is for all the people."

-Luke 2:10 NIrV

Tonight, Madison went to Christmas play practice, graduating from sheep to the role of cow. As this is a deeply spiritual story, feel free to call her a holy cow. Practice was rather simple, but it is always so wonderful to see kids dressed up and telling the Nativity story. Madison was so incredibly cute, the shortest one out there, dressed in a costume Mommy put together - and doing her part: "Moooo!"

Earlier today, Madison went with Daddy to do some last minute Christmas shopping. We hit Kohl's and the Mall of Georgia, which - to quote Charlton Heston from "The Planet of the Apes," was "A madhouse! A madhouse!" There were billions of people there - but we found parking favor. If we were Catholic, we'd be thanking the patron saint of empty parking spots for the remarkable place we found so close to the mall entrance. Daddy and Madison did a lot of walking and shopping, but didn't buy too much this time around. Daddy is trying to demonstrate that fruit of the spirit known as "self-control!" Still, we got some neat stuff. We're not done shopping yet though - we've got a few more days to go. The chain links on the wall tell us we've got three more sleeps 'til Christmas, so we're down to the wire!

This morning, we were filling out paperwork and doing last-minute wrapping (more of that tomorrow), and watching "The Santa Clause 3" with Madison. She seemed to like it, but hadn't actually seen the first two, so I'm sure there was some moments of confusion at the end.

Finally, we have to talk about the weather today. I know I mention that here or there in this blog, but Thomas Jefferson wrote about the weather every single day with his journal, so by gum, I've got a patriotic right to do it now and then here. Anyway, today was the first day of winter, according to the calendar. Yet, I'm driving home after dark and the temperature is sixty-six degrees outside! It is too freakish to call "unseasonably warm," and just plain weird, to be honest. On one hand, you want to say how awesome the weather is outside and how great it feels. But at the same time, it is so not like December or Christmas, that you sort of want to complain. Hopefully, we'll see a drop in temperatures - Madison wants to build another snowman this year.