Blue Christmas

This morning, Jingle Bell was off in Mario World, which doesn't sound like such a bad place to be, actually!  There were quite a few others there to join him, including a Baby Bowser, Yoshi, Mario, Luigi, Wario and a couple of Thwomps.  This is the sort of year where it would be great to be a Thwomp, wouldn't it?

It was a fun school day today for Madison, who pretty much did nothing all day, but in a good way!  Not as many kids came today, as for all intents and purposes, education was over with.  Teachers posed the question, "Why are you even here?"  Which is pretty funny, actually, because that's not the sort of thing tax paying citizens would want their educational teachers asking students who are eager to learn!  Of course, the truth is that no student is eager to learn today, and that's okay.  She was there to have fun with friends and watch videos like the one you see she took above:  one of her school administrators - I think - impersonating Elvis singing "Blue Christmas."  Yes, it was that kind of day.  The best kind of school day!

Tonight's big story was the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn.  Social media sites were flooded with amateur and professional pictures of the planets in close proximity to one another, which is pretty thrilling, actually.  We were at Edge ATA tonight when it happened - all of the parents went out into the parking lot to see with our naked eyes the two stars in the night sky, hanging low and so close to one another.  Nana was with us there in the parking lot, along with Mom and I, all looking upward.  Madison saw it too, right after taekwondo. 

We went home, but I couldn't get the telescope's alignment right for the finder.  I'll try again this week, hopefully getting Madison a chance to see Saturn's rings with her own eyes.

Tonight's Christmas movie was "A Year Without a Santa Claus," the live version.  We saw the animated original on Sunday, as well as the animated sequel.  Tonight's version featured John Goodman as Santa, and is a pleasant diversion!  We enjoy this one.  I mean, it's not a classic, but it is fun to watch!

We started "The Magician's Nephew" tonight, so yes, we're back to Narnia again!  Madison wants to hear a Star Wars book after this, so we'll probably hit "Scoundrels" or something like that.  But tonight, we met Uncle Andrew, a creepy and somewhat villainous character, and of course Polly Plummer and Digory Kirk.  Reading from Narnia has been a highlight of the day, but so has hide-and-seek each night, which features now our groundhog puppet jumping up and singing, "Oh no.  Oh no!  Oh no, no, no, no, no!"  In fact, the groundhog puppet keeps popping up in the way, a gift from Madison who leaves it there as a surprise after bedtime!

We said our prayers tonight, and as Elvis was singing above, it's been a pretty blue Christmas.  Adding to this is the less-than-wonderful - and yet expected - squashed anticipation of snow on Christmas.  It's a Georgia thing, getting excited, happy and even worked up about some nice thing that will happen, only to have it taken away at the last minute.  That's living in Georgia for you, from sports to snow forecasts.  Occasionally, we do have that victory or that precious snowfall.  But all the talk of snow on Christmas this year - and there was plenty of it - has amounted to basically rain.  Which is even worse, of course.  You don't even get a sunny day.  Just a rainy forecast.  

Today Nana and I were out shopping the whole day.  We went to Captain D's for lunch, because that's a place Nana loves.  We met another couple there, another son taking his mom out to her favorite restaurant.  We did some shopping at quite a few places, getting caught up in the hustle and bustle.  Nana had moments of amazing forgetfulness, but other than that, she was good as gold.  She's been having the bluest of Christmases of all, of course, and we're doing our best.  But it'll never be enough either, and that's hard on all of us this season.  We said our prayers for her, for a good night's rest, and for a great day tomorrow.