Tree Skirt

The tree is finally down, although much earlier than usual this year. We've still got some other decorations to pack up for another year, including this nice tree skirt that Madison is proudly displaying for us. She first wore it as you see, calling herself an angel - and then she had it on as a literal skirt. This could be the start of the next big Christmas trend: literal tree skirts. Maybe for that little extra something, we could put little bits of pine needles on them, or have presents glued to the sides. Or, we could make them into tree ponchos, as Madison is showing off here in this photo. It was kind of chilly today, so this actually looks somewhat cozy!

Today we went to work for a considerable time, setting things up for Wonderland. That, of course, is a repeat series that we did in February of 2010. The "research" phase of that one is pretty much over with - so we've actually been focusing on February, a series based on Sherlock Holmes. It'll be called "Get a Clue," which is a reference to an incredible game Daddy used to play a few years ago at Georgia Tech. I was blessed enough to be invited to be a part of it - but you'll hear about that later. This paragraph is more about the "research" aspect. We were watching a behind-the-scenes feature on "Kung Fu Panda 2," and saw the staff going to China to study pandas for inspiration. That's what we do as well: we go get inspired by the subject matter. With Sherlock, we've been reading his books (Daddy just finished his third one), and watching movies. Last night with Madison, we watched "The Great Mouse Detective" again - she was enthralled! She couldn't take her eyes off it, when the plot was moving along. Another flick we saw after Madison was in bed was "Shanghai Knights," which was funny, and had some neat ideas to it as well. Tonight we didn't have much time: we spent a long time at work.

But soon we'll be going to the theater to watch the sequel to "Sherlock Holmes,"called "A Game of Shadows." Research is pretty fun! Maybe we can go stay at the old Grosvenor Hotel!