Gifts, gifts, gifts!

 

This morning, Jingle Bell and Snowflake each brought a little gift for our family - some gingerbread creations!  Or, at least, some kits to make those creations.  On one side is the usual gingerbread house, and on the other is a gingerbread reindeer and sleigh.  We'll see what those look like completed shortly, as that's a tradition we've been enjoying for many years.

Today was a cold and rainy sort of day, the kind that makes you want to stay indoors, and that's okay, because we needed to stay indoors today.  I'm still struggling with symptoms, and it's been somewhat scary.  But by the end of the day things were progressing in a positive direction.  I drank a very large amount of water today, had medication, got at least eight hours of sleep, walked a bit, and Mom has been packing some very healthy lunches for me.  This is the new trend, and if it keeps me away from feeling as I have the the last week, then it's all good.  

Speaking of "all good," we saw the latest Mandalorian episode tonight, and it was so epic to see Boba Fett in action.  And Ming-Na Wen's character is still alive from last season too - this might be an episode we watch again!  Speaking of Ming-Na Wen, we watched the new live-action "Mulan" afterwards, and it was pretty good.  It wasn't as good as the animated motion picture, of course.  Some of these live-action remakes are pretty good:  "Aladdin," "The Jungle Book," and "Cinderella" come to mind.  Others are a little "meh," like "Beauty and the Beast" or "The Lion King."  This one was pretty decent though.  We might see it again, certainly during the season of the Chinese New Year.

We closed the evening out with "Toy Story that Time Forgot," just because I miss the characters from Toy Story so much, and then read from our current book, "A Tribes Merry Christmas."  We prayed for health for ourselves in our house, but for others too - there are a lot of different issues out there, and this year has been difficult for many.  We're praying for that hope, and peace too.  Peace in all our hearts.

Madison did well on her Spanish quiz, and she believes she's done well on a lot of her tests this week.  We'll have some other big things next week, including a piano recital and the second round of testing for that black belt.  It seems like the week after that, she can do a bit of relaxing with her various studies.  But she's still enjoying school, at least I think she is!  It's somewhat of a ritual:

"How's school?"

"Good."

That's phase one.   It's somewhat of an opening similar to:

"How are you?"

"Fine."

Nothing is necessarily new here, unless the answering party says anything other than "good" or "fine," then you know there's something terribly wrong.  So, that being said, in order to discover more about this "good" or "fine" day, we must ask the follow-up question!

"What'd you do today?"

This could go in many directions.  There are some answers too complicated for us, some of those involving math equations, scientific formulas, or short essays by Nobel Prize winning authors.  So the hope is that we can find some middle ground there, and just find out a little about the day.  It's like digging for little nuggets of value, something that takes a bit of effort, but in the end the hope is that we actually learn a tiny bit about what happened during the several hours she was away from us.

She seems to be doing fine scholastically though, and she has friends.  We fretted over that to begin with.  But she is very faithful to her friends, and they talk a lot outside of school on the phones and elsewhere.  That "elsewhere" is also where Maddie writes some of her novels that she has been working on throughout the year.  I'll probably never be allowed to actually read any of these, but that's okay.  One day it would be nice to take a story she's written - or even a collection of short stories - and compile them in an actual book that I can have printed at the printers.  It may once again be that I'm not actually allowed to read what's inside, but it would be nice to have that on her bookshelf, wouldn't it?  Imagine that, right there on the wall, her name alongside all the other great authors that she likes to read.  She does write well, from what she's let me read in the past, and the more she does write, the more skilled she becomes with presentation and grammar.  Oh, grammar!  There's the one thing that gets us all.  Sorry, Madison, but someday as an author, you'll have to subject yourself to an - gasp - an editor.  It's that person that reads your material and finds those grammatical and clerical errors and offers their help.  Of course, most of these people do that sort of thing for a living.  As an artist, especially worth words, it's difficult to see someone come in and suggest changes to your creation.  But a better end product is what matters, so as an author, a touch of humility is needed to see your product through to the end.  

It is interesting to see her skills develop, and see the ones she's interested in.  Piano is a skill, but it isn't something she diligently practices.  It sometimes takes a small skirmish to get her up and going in that direction.  But she's doing well with that, and it sounds fantastic.  Just look at her fingers here in this latest practice.

Choosing this song is a gift for me, something she said she would do for my birthday.  And even though she's not quite done with the practice for this song, this video above is just a wonderful birthday present.  So thank you, Madison.  It's beautiful.  We're not in the room when she practices, and that's to give her some space, but this video allows me to see the intricate movement of your fingers as they dance across the keys.  I know it's still you practicing, but it sounds wonderful. 

Anyway, she's got so many talents:  and yes, there are nunchuck skills in there, Napoleon.  And skills with a bo staff too.   We're very proud of her, and she's doing well with so many things.  Most of all, her heart is filled with kindness:  she's been very sweet with Nana, who again was having some difficulties today.  

If you don't hear it enough elsewhere enough, Madison, know that you are an absolute treasure.