Going for a Walk

Jingle Bells took it upon himself to take the Palace Pets for a walk this morning, which was awfully industrious of him!

Daddy's still recovering, pretty wiped out from medication or something.  Seriously, once Madison got home from school, Daddy lie down on the couch, and fell into a deep sleep.  This has been difficult each night, as every night he's been up here and there.  The recovery process is a little more slower than I'd like, or maybe I've been a little more optimistic than I should have been.


Meanwhile Madison had a great day at school, learning the phases of the moon in science, but doing some Christmas-themed classwork too.  Everyone's excited about Christmas upcoming.  It was hard to focus, even during the usual multiplication test.  Madison and two of her classmates took the fifth-grade test today, because they've advanced.  She said she got all the fifth grade questions correct, and was quite proud of herself.

At home, Mommy and Daddy spent a good deal of time getting all the Christmas cards made up and sent out.  Gradually, we've been getting cards in the mail ourselves the last few weeks.  Each one is a happy surprise.  There are nowhere near as many in the mail as there used to be.  This must be across the board, as the stores we've been at don't have anywhere near the amount of Christmas cards they used to have.

Mommy and Daddy still send out quite a few cards, although not as many as we used to ourselves.  Daddy got the Christmas stamps last week, and we sent out photos of Madison with Santa along with a letter Daddy made up with more pictures, plus a Christmas card too.  It all takes a bit of setting up, but it makes for a nice thing to send in the mail.  Most should arrive just in time.  The ones going to Great Britain will be close though - hopefully just in time.

The temperature was cold tonight - all day really.  It was in the twenties, which makes for nice seasonal weather.  We had that fire crackling in the fireplace all day long pretty much, and the living room was nice and toasty.  We had movies playing as we wrapped a few presents and made up cards.  It was a Christmas movie marathon of sorts: "The Preacher's Wife" and "The Bells of St. Mary's" while we wrapped and wrote cards.  Mommy got them sent in the mail, and went to pick up a few things, while Daddy stood outside waiting for Madison at the bus stop.  Brrrr!

Later on tonight we even watched "Home Alone 2:  Lost in New York," which features a cameo from our President-elect.  I would venture to say that more people are watching this movie this year than last, just because of this cameo.  As is, Madison watched it for the first time - and Mommy too.  This is a painful movie to watch - Marv and Harry really suffer through this one to the point that it's difficult for Daddy to watch.  I mean... ouch!  Still, Madison laughed all the way through and enjoyed it greatly.

We had the popcorn and the fire in the fireplace, and even after that we caught another short movie that Mommy wanted to watch, "The Greatest Christmas Pageant Ever."  It's a sweet movie, and was a nice one to end the marathon with.

It was just that sort of day, really.  Sitting about and setting up for Christmas while watching Christmas movies.  It's cold outside, but we're cozy inside and all is right.  Daddy will be better soon enough, but even so, it's just fine to be here together on the couch like this making Christmas memories.