Ugly Christmas Sweater Day

This morning, Jingle Bell surprised Madison with a little book that let you design your own ugly Christmas sweater, and perhaps to give her a bit of inspiration, he had one on himself!

It was a pretty full day today, one with a bit of work and a bit of piano and a bit of revising a Paul Revere paper as well.  But the biggest event of the day was no doubt another trip to "The Nutcracker." We went to see the Gainesville Ballet's version of the famous production, and enjoyed it very much as always.  It was down at Brenau's Pierce Auditorium, which took us a surprisingly long time to get to because of what we assume is just naturally Christmas traffic this time of year.

Anyway, it was a very enjoyable performance as always, and we were right up there at the front of the balcony in our usual place to see all of it.  The dance just at the end of Act I with all the snowflakes coming down is always a favorite part, which just gets everyone once again in that Christmas spirit.

It's been great watching some of these kids grow over the years, and perform so incredibly well.  Madison really enjoys it too, which is something wonderful to see as well.  And now there's all kinds of themes from "The Nutcracker" playing in our heads, where they'll remain for the rest of this season.  But that's okay - the music has always been so timeless and simply fantastic.

So we got home, and after dinner it was just about time for us to settle down.  We squeezed in some piano practice, and a bit of revising for the Paul Revere paper (as we said above). But after that, we plugged in "The Santa Clause 3," which was an okay sequel to two really good movies before it.  It was still enjoyable, especially the Canada bits and the Yosemite story.  Madison loved the bloopers too.

We read tonight, and once again Injun Joe was foiled once more.  Although we don't know what will become of him, we know that thanks to Huckleberry Finn, old Widow Douglas will be okay.  We'll find out soon enough about the treasure that Huck and Tom were after, that's for sure.  Only a few more chapters of "Tom Sawyer" remain, and Madison is enjoying it mightily, that's for sure.  We'll start on "Huckleberry Finn" next, probably at Madison's insistence.   These are abridged versions of the classics, and the way she's reacting to this one makes us want to go out and get a few more.

And so it's time for bed.  Tonight is the night that St. Nicolas comes to certain parts of Eastern Europe.  And along with St. Nicolas, there's Krampus, who has a major motion picture out this weekend.  We've been marveling at Krampus for a few years now, and how such a hideous monster could have any place whatsoever in the magic of Christmas.  But there he is, right alongside St. Nicolas.  Krampus won't be visiting our house tonight, because Madison has been exceptionally good this year.

Before bedtime, Madison put her boots out in front of the fireplace.  We'll see if St. Nicolas comes by to fill them with candy and goodies.  Also, as a bonus, Daddy put Mommy's slippers in front of the fireplace... maybe she'll get a little something as well!  She's been very good this year!