Edgestravaganza 2025

Look under the tree!  Santa Buc-ee is here with another special gift for Maddie.  I wonder what it could be?  Maddie started out her big day today with her advent calendar upstairs, and then under the tree with Santa Buc-ee's gift... which was ...

A bag of Spicy Dill Pickle chips!  This may not sound appealing to some, but Maddie likes this flavor, and of course Santa Buc-ee knows this.  He knows when you're sleeping, when you're awake, and if you like spicy dill pickle chips too.  True to form, Maddie ate those chips at lunch today.  All gone!

Tonight was the big night, the Edgestravaganza!  Maddie got her third-degree belt tonight, and the family was here to watch the ceremony.  That would be Ye-Ye, Nana, Aunt Shain, Hannah, and of course Mom and I.  We got our seats early, and that was perfect because we needed them early - a good crowd showed up to see the ceremony, the Team Edge performance, and compete with the gingerbread house contest that was on the floor tonight.  

Team Edge did their big performance tonight, and it went really well!  Maddie was spectacular, showing off her skills with the bo staff, the nunchucks and the sword as well.  The group really showed off for the parents, and it was super fun to watch.  They've been practicing this together for months, and it really showed.  

There were some individual performances after that from some of Maddie's friends, and those were thrilling too.  The big event of course was the ceremony where the black belt recipients of 2025 were honored for their achievement this year.  As it happens, Maddie and three of her friends coincidentally earned third-degree black belts all on one night this week.  The statistic - again - is one in ten thousand martial arts students achieve a third-degree black belt.  And here we are with four in one night!  

Maddie and her three friends actually received their third-degree belt tonight.  The lights went down, the drums played, and the more serious ceremony began.  Maddie was awarded her new belt, and given a golden commemorative coin to join the other coins she has.  Gold goes to third-degree belts.  Her belt was first tied by Master Edge, and of course all the new belt recipients were "knighted" with the sword tapping each shoulder of the kneeling student.  There were some basic moves performed by the entire group of students, but soon enough, everyone was clapping and cheering for the honorees.  It was a great night!

As with every Edgestravaganza, there's a lot of food, all of it brought by parents - a big long table of food.  And then there was a gingerbread building contest for families. Sixteen families were spaced out across the floor, building gingerbread houses in a timed event that was a lot of fun to watch.  We got to see someone build the new Cheez-it house we saw for sale, and some chocolate ones too.  Lots of tasty houses, and lots of fun.

It was a a wonderful night, as it always is.  We stayed to help clean up afterwards, and that was great too - so much to do, and a big team of students all helping sweep, mop, pick up things and so on.  It was a great night together.

It was time to go home after that.  We watched a few Christmas things together tonight, and read from "Hogfather" a little bit too.  But after prayers, everyone was pretty ready for a long winter's nap.  Here are some pictures from tonight's unforgettable event:

Maddie signs the ceremony certificate, listing all the new belt holders.

Maddie's belt is tied by Master Edge.

This is actually an award for being at Edge Martial Arts for seven years now.