First Fire

We had our first fire of the winter tonight, which Daddy miscalculated on the "where will the smoke go" department.  Fortunately, some adjustments had us breathing regular air again, rather than a bunch of smoke!

It's such a nice thing visually, isn't it?  Even more so this time of year, as we popped in yet another Christmas movie tonight.  I guess we're taking this thing seriously:  probably no other movies but Christmas ones for the next several weeks.  ABC has it's "25 Days of Christmas," but we've got them beat currently with "53 Days of Christmas."  I believe that's when we started - so far it was that short 1955 "Miracle on 34th Street," followed by "Disney's A Christmas Carol."  Tonight, we dipped a bit into the obscure with "One Magic Christmas," an unusual Christmas movie from 1985, starring Mary Steenburgen.  Mommy and Daddy sat down on the couch with our chai tea, and snuggled down for a movie together - it was a perfect evening.

It was a great day today, starting with a nice late start.  Or, at least it seemed like a late start.  Daylight Savings time in the fall is the best, isn't it?  We all go to bed earlier and wake up later!  Madison was well rested, and actually ready to go to school with no foot-dragging.  Daddy and Mommy left shortly after that, out to do some Christmas shopping.  We used gift cards galore, some at the Disney Store and another at Red Lobster, where we both enjoyed a nice lunch "date."  We also stopped by Teavana for some chai tea, which we now have enough of to last an entire year or more.  Yeah, we bought too much.

Daddy also picked up a new game for Madison and he to get through before Christmas time.  This one will last us a few weeks, and get us to Christmas, I believe - it's "Up" for the X-box.  We played a sample of it a few months ago, and enjoyed it.  Today, Daddy picked it up for $10, which is a steal, really.  It's a two-player game, and the perfect motivation for Madison to get through piano practice.  Speaking of which, that went well today.  It went well yesterday too - she's more focused (again, the motivation might be helping a bit!).  Tomorrow, she'll be all caught up finally.  This is a place she hasn't been for the last few weeks, mainly due to the cruise and the week before that, strep throat.

The last embers of the fire are currently burning out, a quiet crackling in the great room - it's even a pleasant sound to have a fireplace.  The fake fireplace in the extra room up front is fun too.  It's nearby the piano where we practice, and Madison enjoys pretending she's backed up to the fake fire too closely.  She pretends to panic, and gets Daddy to pretend to pour water on her backside to put out the fire.  We did this one time, and now, we have to do it a lot.  That's the fun of having a seven-year-old.  The other fun thing is stories at bedtime - we're still at 100 Acre Wood.  Currently, we're on book #11 of the series, where Madison sits and listens as Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, Roo and Eeyore look on.  Perhaps for Christmas we should consider finding a Rabbit and Owl doll.  Do they even make those?  Poor guys - what would 100 Acre Wood be without them?  And Kanga too?  We need to have an Owl Appreciation Week or something.  And for heaven's sake, start making Rabbit toys - we know how fussy he can be.