Watch Your Step!

Got a bit of cleaning up to do here, apparently.  This one has been the most popular Elf picture yet - lots of responses when we posted this elsewhere.  Madison laughed at this too, and told us it was chocolate.  We asked her if she was sure it was chocolate, and she said absolutely.  So we said, "Prove it.  Eat one."  At which point, she thought a moment and replied:  "You prove it."

Today was ballet, and a nice time at that.  We were at Brenau, where the weather was much nicer this go-round.  It was dry, at least.  Still cold though.  It was cold all day.

We watched Emmett Otter's Jugband Christmas tonight, and Mommy made some popcorn the old fashioned way, pouring the kernels into a pan and moving that around over the stovetop.  Later, we read a few more Christmas books, including the "Nativity A to Z" booklet, where we actually learned a thing or two ourselves about St. Francis of Assisi, who apparently is responsible for the first Nativity set.  Children's books are great - we even learn stuff ourselves!

We've been wrapping, wrapping and wrapping.  Today we did some more wrapping, and a few chores as well.  Daddy went to the new Disney Store to pick up our reserved copy of "Planes."  This new location is perilously close to us:  in Dawsonville.  That means a Disney Store is less than twenty minutes away from us!  It's a decent-sized store too, although they were sold out of the other thing Daddy and Mommy were looking for.  We also went to the bank and a few other stops, but had to race back to make sure someone was there to pick up Madison from school.

Daddy was actually supremely early for school, but it seems like there's always someone else there that has been waiting for over an hour in their car in the parking lot.  No problem though - we managed to get home, eat, and get ready for ballet without incident.  Although the traffic on the way to ballet was intense.  I think this has to do with the holiday season.  Maybe.

After ballet, it was dark enough for us to enjoy some of the lights in town, including Gainesville's Christmas Tree, which is all lit up finally.  Last Sunday was the official lighting, which was a little late if you ask me.  But there was a parade and so forth, and despite the gloomy weather, a good number of people showed up.  We were at church at the time, so we missed that one.  But we'll catch a few other things later on this week.  Besides, Mommy hasn't been feeling well, and standing outside in all that probably wouldn't help her out much.

It was a quiet sort of day, but at least Mommy is on the mend and things are looking better for us.  This weekend, we'll be talking about the Grinch at KidPak.  Daddy's been working on this message.  But in the meantime, here's a short devotional entry on our favorite green friend at Christmas time:

DECEMBER 12 - "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"

He's a mean one, Mr. Grinch. It's been said his soul is an appalling dump heap overflowing with the most disgraceful assortment of deplorable rubbish imaginable, mangled up in tangled up knots! He's like a three-decker sauerkraut and toadstool sandwich, with arsenic sauce. Make no mistake: you wouldn't touch him with a thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole!

Has anyone ever bothered to find out why he is the way he is? Yes, he's mean. But he's also hurting. As we discover in the movie "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," some time ago he was hurt. He was made fun of by others, and now he's alone in a cave on top of Mount Crumpit.

Only Cindy Lou Who understands what needs to be done. She's the real hero of this movie. She reaches out to the Grinch time and again, despite his grouchy attitude. In the end, there is redemption for the Grinch – all he needed was to be shown love.

When Christmas comes around, we all think of the Grinch and Ebenezer Scrooge, and think of people in real life that tend to act that way. When we see these people, we could be tempted to shout out, "Stink! Stank! Stunk!"

But this season, why not act like Cindy Lou? Pray, and show some love to everyone, even if they act like a nasty, wasty skunk.