Peace on Earth

Jingle Bells made his yearly culinary theme, bringing along not just one gingerbread house, but a village.  It takes a village, apparently.  Speaking of which, today is the day that electors in each state officially vote for President.  Usually we don't really hear about this day too much except for the fact that the losers (and I'm beginning to think that in every sense of the word) are making a big deal about it, apparently attempting to change the laws I guess?  Anyway, as predicted, the people assigned to do a particular job in fact did their particular job as required by law, and yay, democracy continues.  Some think the fact that they did their job was a terribly unpatriotic thing to do.  Which leaves many of us scratching our heads.  Is this the new normal?  I have never seen an election in my lifetime where a the losing party throws such a fit so many days afterwards.  Okay, so there was 2000.  Yeah, that was another stinker.  But usually, one candidate graciously concedes and we move on as a country with one party or another.

Sorry for bringing that up.  Let's move on to some more uplifting conversation, shall we?  Like flying reindeer!

Here is Madison's spontaneous hairstyle by Mommy.  She wore this all day because it was such a popular idea.  Mommy thought it would be fun to make Madison look like Rudolph in the back, and there it was for the whole day.  Even getting home later on and going to the dentist, there was Madison with a Rudolph on the back of her head!

Festive!  Here she is at the dentist's office, in front of their tree.  They make a nice tree usually.  The whole office was decked - and Madison's visit was rather short today.  It was a routine cleaning, along with some x-rays.  On the horizon for Madison:  more lost teeth.  We'll have to let the Tooth Fairy know about that, as it seems she'll be busy this upcoming year.

Oh, and look who we visited on the way home!

Yes, it's Santa Cow.  They give you this picture, so I won't complain about the fact that Madison currently occupies roughly 20% of the total picture.  This is after I edited it, by the way.  The original has Madison even smaller!  The original picture is up there on the mantle with four other Santa Cow pictures - it's a new tradition, apparently.  There are all these Santa with Madison pictures up there, and then there are four framed pictures of Madison with Santa Cow.  Which I think is hilarious.  But this last one within it's card stock frame is taken in such a way that Madison is this tiny thing in the corner.  It's fun though, and Madison had a good time tonight.  It's not like this is an official portrait or anything, and also it's free.  We had a great time!  We ate Chick-Fil-A, which Daddy survived by eating grilled nuggets.  I had two waffle fries, and let's just say we're not quite ready for that yet.

Yes, Daddy is still healing.  Give me another two or three days though.  At least today, we're off the major pain pills.  I didn't take half the ones they gave me either, so that's a plus.  Definitely don't like getting too much of that.

Tonight, we got home from Chick-Fil-A, and watched "Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas," which is a gem.  Paul Williams is a wonderful musician and writer, and when you combine that with Jim Henson's genius, and a great story by Jerry Juhl, you get Christmas magic.  Mommy and Daddy love this one dearly.  And the out-takes on the DVD are not to be missed, particularly the drum sequence.  For some reason, Madison had not seen the drum out-takes, and it was just so funny watching her watch these.  If you haven't seen the drum out-takes on "Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas," then you need to.  Right away.

Anyway, that was hilarious.  It was a full day - we only have one more day of school in 2016.  When you put it that way, you sort of get all sentimental.  But not Madison.  She's all fired up about Christmas, which is less than a week away.  This thought scares the willies out of Mommy and Daddy, who still have so much to do.  Regardless, we read to Madison some more from her Christmas devotional, and her Never Girls books, and we said our prayers tonight for the world.  There have been more terrorist attacks today, this time in Germany.  We prayed for those hurting German citizens, and prayed for peace on earth, and goodwill towards all mankind.