Hot, Hot, Hot... Hot Chocolate!

These tickets are non-transferable!  We had tonight a few tickets to go aboard the Polar Express once more, and to celebrate the night, Mommy made some absolutely astonishing hot chocolate.  We brought out the TV trays and sipped our hot chocolate, complete with cool whip and peppermint candy canes beside the glow of our tree.  It was a magical evening!

Today was the last Sunday of our Get-A-Clue series, and we had a fun time bridging the holidays Thanksgiving and Christmas with a little skit Daddy wrote over the last few days.

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KidPak Adventures:  Get a Clue

The Fugitive

CUE TRACK:  1 DATA, DATA, DATA

CUE SLIDE:  GET A CLUE

LIGHTS ON STAGE

WATSON enters STAGE RIGHT.

WATSON:  “Today I want to tell you about an unusual case that happened just this week.  To begin with, there was a manhunt!”

CUE TRACK:  2 MARITAL SABOTAGE

WATSON:  “The fugitive in question was running from the law.  He was quite an evasive one at that!  Who was it, and what is it that this suspicious character had done?”

DRUMSTICK runs out STAGE RIGHT

DRUMSTICK:  “I DON’T KNOW!  Help me!  I’m a turkey on the run!”

WATSON:  “Are you saying you don’t want to get gobbled!”

DRUMSTICK:  “Oh, you think that’s funny?  I ought to baste you!”

MYCROFT:  (backstage) “Watson?!”

DRUMSTICK:  “He’s after me!”

WATSON:  “Who?”

DRUMSTICK:  “Doom!  Judgment!  The end of the world as we know it!  Or… at least as I know it!”

WATSON:  “And it was at that point that Drumstick shrieked an unholy, not-of-this-earth sort of howl that reverberated throughout this cityscape!”

WATSON looks at DRUMSTICK, expectantly.

DRUMSTICK lets out a little scream, sort of embarrassed about it after the fact.

WATSON:  “Nice.  Anyway, upon hearing his impending doom, Drumstick went to hide!”

DRUMSTICK runs to STAGE LEFT, and hid in SHERLOCK’S OFFICE.

CUE TRACK:  3 MY MIND REBELS AT STAGNATION (stop at 1:02.75)

MYCROFT and VIOLET enter STAGE RIGHT with a noisy entrance!

VIOLET:  “Where is he?”

WATSON:  “Where is who?”

VIOLET:  “Don’t play games with us!”

MYCROFT:  “You’re hiding that turkey, aren’t you?”

MYCROFT looks around, investigating the STAGE.

WATSON:  “At this, Mycroft looked around the stage for this fowl creature.”

DRUMSTICK:  (offstage) “Hey, bad joke!  Bad joke!”

MYCROFT:  “This is the most interesting bird case since the Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle!”

WATSON:  “Ah yes!  Sherlock Holmes and myself discovered a rare jewel actually inside a Christmas goose, hanging up in a shop!”

VIOLET:  (with unnecessary energy) “Yes!  Once they found that bird, they had to reach into its gullet, dig deep into its throat, viciously probe around there, and violently rip out the jewel!”

DRUMSTICK runs out screaming in terror, pointing at VIOLET and MYCROFT.

DRUMSTICK:  “Oh, that’s gross!  You people are sick!  Evil!   Evil!”

VIOLET:  “A-ha!”

DRUMSTICK realizes he’s been found, so he runs to CENTER STAGE PLATFORM, but is cornered there by MYCROFT and VIOLET.

DRUMSTICK:  “You better back off!  Don’t make me an Angry Bird!”

WATSON:  “It was a face-off with these two versus the turkey.  And the turkey was in beak form!”

DRUMSTICK:  “Enough with the bad jokes!”

MYCROFT:  “Wait!  You don’t understand, bird!”

DRUMSTICK:  “I understand all right!  You want to have me for a holiday feast!”

WATSON:  “And this is where the story changed dramatically.  Mycroft said something quite surprising.”

MYCROFT:  “You know, I rather like pie.”

WATSON:  “What?”

VIOLET:  “He likes pie.  What’s so hard to understand about that?”

WATSON:  “Not that thing.  Mycroft said the other thing!”

MYCROFT:  “Oh!  The other thing!  Why didn’t you say so?  Drumstick, I’m not here to cook you and eat you.  Although that doesn’t sound so bad right about now, because I’m really hungry, and there’s nothing like a good holiday turkey cooked just right.  You know what I’m saying?”

DRUMSTICK:  “NO!  I don’t know what you’re saying!”

CUE TRACK:  4 MY FRIEND THE BRACHIOSAURUS

MYCROFT:  “The point is, you’re saved.  You had a sentence of death.  But the President of the United States has issued you a pardon.  You, Drumstick, are the Thanksgiving Day Turkey that gets to go free!”

DRUMSTICK:  “No way.”

MYCROFT:  “Way!  You are the Pardoned Turkey!”

MYCROFT hands DRUMSTICK a rolled up paper with a ribbon on it.

WATSON:  “At hearing this Drumstick was filled with a wondrous joy the spilled out his soul with a rapturous squeal of absolute delight!”

DRUMSTICK:  “Yay.”

VIOLET:  (approaching DRUMSTICK) “I say we eat him!”

DRUMSTICK:  (retreating in fear) “I mean YAY!  Wow!  BEST DAY EVER!!!!”

WATSON:  “And that’s how we should act this holiday season, isn’t it?  For all of us were once given a sentence of death.  Like this dumb bird.”

DRUMSTICK:  “I’m standing right here?”

MYCROFT:  “But out of all the gifts given at Christmas, the very best one was this:  Jesus.”

VIOLET:  “Because of what he did, that sentence of death is no more.”

WATSON:  “Sometimes we act as if there’s not that much to be grateful for.”

DRUMSTICK:  “But the truth is, we all have something to be thankful for.   Like me, all of us were doomed.  But because of Jesus, we have so much to be thankful for, and so much to celebrate this time of year.”

CUE TRACK:  5 CATATONIC

VIOLET:  “Indeed!  So I say we deck the halls and decorate the trees.”

WATSON:  “We can sing rollicking Christmas carols!”

MYCROFT:  “And gather together and have a great feast!”

VIOLET: “That sounds perfectly lovely!  But what are we going to eat?”

VIOLET, MYCROFT and WATSON turn slowly to face DRUMSTICK.

DRUMSTICK shrieks loudly and runs off stage.

VIOLET:  “Doughnuts.  I was going to ask him to get some doughnuts for us.  He’s a little jittery, ain’t he?”

WATSON:  “Ah, yes.  Well, from all of us to all of you, thanks so much for joining us.”

ALL:  “Merry Christmas!”

WATSON, VIOLET and MYCROFT briskly exit.

******

It was a really nice morning, with a fun skit and a great message that followed:  it was all about walking through the valley of the shadow of death.  Naturally, with a Sherlock Holmes theme, this fit the story of "The Hound of the Baskervilles."  Really solid morning, actually!

We got home to a feast that Mommy prepared.  Daddy put out a few decorations, although not many. We were playing "Epic Mickey 2" for a bit this afternoon, as Madison is older now, and more able to handle the controls, and solve various mysteries.  It is a two-player game, and that is the attraction of the game for her - she and Daddy can play the game together.

One of the decorations that was put out was the stocking full of Christmas glasses.  These, when put on, convert the various Christmas lights into different designs.  We've had these a while, in fact, Madison first put them on in 2009.  But each year we try them out because it's pretty cool.  Daddy took a few pictures through the glasses tonight, really setting up the Christmas spirit around here:

It's a fun little thing to try out each Christmas season, and after our Christmas movie, it was off to bed early:  we had a few late nights the past few nights.  Daddy read the last of "A Very Merry Tribes Christmas" to Madison, our KidPak devotional from two years ago.  And then we continued reading about this phantom horse in Nancy Drew's adventure at the Shadow Ranch.  Already we're suspecting a character named Shorty, but we need to find some evidence first.  And we need to figure out where this mysterious green bottle is.  These are things that will keep us anxious to read the next chapter - but we won't lose any sleep over it.  Not tonight, anyway!  Everyone is waaaaay tired!