New Year's Eve

And here's what we do!  We spent the last day of the year at KidPak, putting together a very nice New Year's Eve service for the kids.  We had worship, a wacky invention, a candy cane relay race, and a message about Keeping Christmas Well throughout the year.  It's still Scrooge's series, so we were talking about how it was always said of him, he kept Christmas well.  How do you do that throughout the year?   For us, "Keeping Christmas Well" is really just another way of saying, "Keeping God's Presence" throughout the year.  And as you can see above, one of those ways is with worship.

Here's Daddy and Calvin with the famous invention that tells people what their New Year's Resolution could be.  Hmm... I wonder what those could be?  It was anything from winning at "America's Got Talent" to "Putting on a Mask and Fighting Injustice."  Or "Getting a Million Dollars," and then more significantly, "Praying More."  It was a fun little skit, but at the same time we got a good point in.  The fun didn't stop there!

Josh and Calvin had a girls versus boys game involving candy canes, using the hook parts to pass along other candy canes to a tub.  Who could do more?  The answer was the girls team in both services, and of course Madison was cheering loudest for that.

After a great message from Pastor Lance about using our time wisely, we all went home to rest up, and get ready for a long night.  Yes, tonight was New Year's Eve!

We were watching movies tonight, starting with "Scavenger Hunt," which used to be a tradition for Daddy when he was younger.  Or, at least perhaps it was.  I remember watching "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" on New Year's Eve one time, so the whole motif of wild, large cast, race movies was there.  Madison kept wondering about Montclair the toilet, but on the whole enjoyed the movie, as it started out with a similar premise to the Westing Game, which is to say there's an eccentric millionaire with a bizarre will.  

We saw the last bits of "La Nouba" online, the Cirque du Soleil show that closed out tonight after nearly two decades of shows in Orlando.  Mommy and Daddy saw it twice, and tonight we got to see the last act in the show, along with all the bows and curtain calls.  It was bittersweet, of course, and nice of them to broadcast this last showing live.

Almost there to midnight, we watched a few old videos with Madison in them, including her jousting videos.  How long ago that seems now.  How fleeting time is, and yes, it was fleeting tonight - we were approaching midnight.  We had on the big television the live broadcast from the Magic Kingdom, and watched the fireworks live, and together, we counted down the final seconds of 2017.  It's been a good year, actually.  A really good year, better than any of us deserve.  Sure, we've had a few complications along the way, but who hasn't?  The overall thing is that we've arrived safely, blessed and highly favored.  And that's our prayer for 2018, another year of peace, joy, and God's presence.

Get Out

Daddy has spent this Christmas break writing, writing, and writing.  The reason:  there are three booklets for this new series, all with new material inside.  Still, the writing is from home, and that makes it a bit more tolerable.  It's just the deadline factor.  Deadlines are like weights at times, these heavy burdens that weigh you down.  The great thing about those weights is that they lift, and there's a euphoric feeling when you're not weighted down any more.  Each book done is like a tremendous weight lifted, and suddenly on days like today you're starting to feel a bit better.

Today we were at home for a bit, working of course.  We decided to go out though, just to get out of the house.  There was no exact destination other than simply escape from the house for a bit.  We did some shopping for Christmas wrapping paper, and inevitably found a few other items as well.  Daddy got a Dave Barry book that was so discounted, he told Mommy to get him that for Valentine's Day.  Ah yes, Valentine's Day.  It'll be here soon, and Daddy has to go out soon to get the ideal card.  But today, we got our shopping done quickly, and decided we'd had enough of the crowds.  Post Christmas shopping is busy, which is good for the economy, but we're not the biggest fans of huge shopping crowds, and always feeling like you're in the way of someone else.  Some folks thrive on that, but not us.

Still, we weren't ready to go back home yet, so we decided to make a trip to Texas Roadhouse for a visit with a piece of steak.  It was a goodbye to an old friend, although a temporary one.  We're fasting soon, therefore we'll be missing out on meats and steak.  We'll also be in really good shape soon - lately it seems as if we've been eating too much candy.  That's the post-Christmas sugar rush for you.  Anyway, we had a nice meal there, and it wasn't crowded yet because we were in between the dinner and lunch hours.  As we were walking out, there was a huge crowd lining up, and a full parking lot.  We sauntered out to our spot, directly in front of the restaurant door, full tummies.  It's always been a nice visit for us.  Madison loves the jukebox, where during this season you can literally pick five different versions of "Winter Wonderland" by five different country artists she's never heard of.  The Christmas trees were still up, and that's okay, because it's still Christmas season for us.

We've been reading "The Westing Game" at night, a book that Madison just loves.  She got it for Christmas, and has read it twice so far.  She wanted to hear Daddy read it, so now the three of us are embroiled in a mystery for a few weeks.  Whodunnit?  It's been an interesting read!

Tonight we also watched "Ninjago," which Daddy got for Christmas.  It was a decent movie, although we liked "The LEGO Movie" more.  Still, there were some laugh-out-loud moments in this one.  It was fun, and the three of us enjoyed watching it with some popcorn.  Next week, I think we're revisiting Middle Earth though, as we're borrowing the Hobbit Trilogy from Nana and Ye-Ye.  Get ready to hear more Shire Music, not that Madison minds at all.  It plays in the background as she colors in her stained glass pictures, or her new art book:  a pixel-based coloring book.  She colors in these tiny coded squares, to create a mosaic.  She's been enjoying that, as Daddy sits beside her writing messages for "Elevate," while Mommy does more continued research with ancestry.  It's an interesting hobby for her, something she's been very much into the last few years.  Along the way, we've submitted Madison's DNA, found a few significant relatives for her father, and of course gone way, way back on Daddy's ancestry.  Daddy's family tree, and therefore Madison's now, is currently ginormous.

The Third Man on the Mountain

One of the stocking stuffers was this little "grow-your-own-crystal" kit, which was something like you'd see in a dollar store.  It wasn't much of a big deal, but we wanted to give it a try, so here it is at the end of day one.  We'll post another picture later on, but you can see a little bit of growth here.

We started working on our Stormtrooper today too:

This is something we got for Christmas, a blank canvas of a helmet.  Madison and Daddy decorated this one, attempting to make it look like a "Day of the Dead" stormtrooper.  It's turning out well so far, although we still have the back to decorate as well.  Madison and Daddy were at the kitchen table today doing crafts, and Mommy was back with ancestry for a bit as well.  Madison has been coloring more of her stained glass window pictures, and hanging them up on windows.  Soon we'll have our own little cathedral here, the windows all completely covered with hand-colored stained glass window imagery.

We had a visit today at our doorstep, a candidate for a local office here in Forsyth County.  Madison had got the door for him, and although we didn't let him into the house (it's a post-Christmas mess), we did hear him out for a bit.  It was not that much of an ordeal at all, to be honest.  His views were quite similar to ours, so it was sort of a unique civic moment for us.  The thing about these local primaries is that we have occasionally have candidates with the same viewpoints running for the same office, with similar experience.  That being said, how can you tell the difference between the two, at least enough to make a decision to cast a vote.  This was clearly one of those deciding factors, should that occasion arise.

A little later, we were back with LEGO Dimensions, one of the "toys of the week" after Christmas.  This level was hilarious, a visit with Dr. Who and these LEGO Weeping Angels.  This is by far Madison's favorite level right now, as it's hilarious and creepy at the same time.

Our phones were dead today, but just the dialing feature on both.  It's odd.  The dial tone is there, but the phone isn't that enthused about making an actual call, despite our insistence.  Furthermore, our cell phone service is about to end.  This makes for an interesting moment with trying to talk with people.  But we'll have service on New Year's Eve, and we'll make contact with the relatives again.

Tonight's movie feature was more of a research thing, as we prepare for "Elevate."  Daddy popped in the movie, "The Third Man on the Mountain," an old Disney movie that is actually not that bad at all.  It has a great message at the end, certainly.  But the views of the Matterhorn are wonderful, as is some of the climbing footage.  For back then, this movie had to be astounding.  Today, some of the footage is pretty amazing, the perilous rock climbing causing Madison and Daddy to cringe a bit:  "No way we're doing that!"

The "Third Man on the Mountain" in the movie is about an actual person, and it makes sense for the story, and a good bottom line about what's important in life.  But in researching for the "Elevate" devotional, Daddy was reading frequently about a "Third Man" that many climbers sensed nearby as they climbed higher and higher.  In fact, here's the devotional entry for that very topic, something I'll post here as we close for the day:

“The Lord your God will go with you. He will never leave you. He’ll never desert you.” Deuteronomy 31:6 NIRV

     Reinhold Messner is the first man to climb Mount Everest without an oxygen tank.  He’s the first climber to reach the top of all fourteen peaks that are over 26,000 feet tall.  He’s also the first to cross Antarctica and Greenland without a snowmobile or a dogsled.

     As you can imagine, he’s seen a thing or two.  But he’s also heard a thing or two as well:  he’s one of the many climbers who has heard the voice of “The Third Man.”  

     “The Third Man” is something that was first described by an explorer in Antarctica who felt the presence of someone with them, encouraging the troubled explorers to keep moving to safety.  There were two people trying to survive their journey, but they both just knew there was the presence of a “Third Man” that was with them.

      Messner himself said this voice “leads you out of the impossible.”  Doug Scott, who climbed Mount Everest in 1975, describes it as “someone else walking beside you, a comforting presence telling you what to do next.”  Alone on Mount Everest in 1933, climber Frank Smith was so convinced he was with someone else that he reached into his pocket for a piece of peppermint.  He said, “This I took out of my pocket and, carefully dividing it into two halves, turned round with one half in my hand to offer to my companion.”

      You have a “Third Man” with you, of course.  Our Heavenly Father has promised to never leave us or forsake us.  He’s a comforting presence, a guide, and a place to go to in times of trouble.  You may not physically hear His voice, but you can always know He’s there right beside you, every step of this journey. 

      Sometimes you can feel that presence right there.  Other times, not so much.  But regardless of what you feel, just know this:  He’s there, our Provider, our Healer, our Protector, our Hope and Salvation, and our “Third Man.”

Finishing Things

Today we finished quite a few things on our "to do" list.  Some of them involved cleaning up certain rooms, or putting decorations away.  But there was plenty of time for play as well, as here you can see Madison finished a ski lodge for her LEGO friends:

She did this entirely by herself, and she's been doing the LEGO Dimensions constructions by herself as well.  She asked for LEGO items for Christmas, and these have been fun to put together, all of them.  This skit lodge comes complete with a hot tub, a hot chocolate bar, beds upstairs, a kitchen area, a fireplace and more.  The roof opens up to show the sleeping area upstairs, and as you can see in the picture, there's a snowmobile that comes with it as well.  We're apparently ready for some more snow!

Daddy finished up a lot of the details and writing for the Fasting Devotional today, which we should have all proofed and ready for printing by tomorrow.  That was a good portion of the day.  Mommy has been working on the ancestry trees online, and Madison has been back into the High School Musical movies again.

But as far as trilogies go, tonight was the end of the Middle Earth trilogy, at least the original one.  We finished "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy with "The Return of the King" tonight.  It is a pretty epic amount of time we've been in Middle Earth this week, but Madison has loved it.  It's a bittersweet ending, of course.  The three of us have been so immersed in Middle Earth, that's it's almost like it's been our vacation destination for Christmas Break.  Obviously New Zealand might be a little far to go for us this year.  Maybe some day, right?

Tonight we also finished "The Nutcracker," which ended with a more familiar theme of celebrations, candy and toys.  It was an unusual read, and Maurice Sendak's illustrations certainly complimented this peculiar story.  We enjoyed it, although the tradition of the Nutcracker ballet has sort of etched itself into our collective minds as the true story of "The Nutcracker."  This one by ETA Hoffman was a nice read though, for Nutcracker enthusiasts.

The year is winding down, but it's been a quiet week here.  Daddy left the house one time to return some books to the library, and that was literally the only time we left the house since Christmas Eve.  Tomorrow, we may venture out, but otherwise, it's been a relaxing week here.  Daddy has worked a lot, but we've also played a lot too:  we're continuing with LEGO Dimensions, bumper cars, and building things.  Basically, we're having a great Christmas break.

The Two Towers

We had to return some library books today.  That was about it for "leaving the house" though.  Seriously, it was over to the library... and back.  There and back again.

This morning we slept in again, because we could.  It was another play date of sorts for Madison, although in yesterday's description I failed to mention that Madison had been given a small amount of homework over the break.  It came by way of an email to Mommy.  Madison has been periodically sitting down at this computer to do some math homework, just to break things up.

Otherwise, it's more of LEGO Dimensions, which is turning out to be a lot of fun.  Gandalf, Batman and Wyldstyle are carrying a companion cube from Portals in Oz.  That's a lot of creative fun, mixing and matching all these different worlds, somewhat like Disney Infinity used to do.

Daddy had to do a lot of writing today again, with more mountain climbing.  Tonight, we were watching "The Two Towers," and it opens with quite a flyover of the Misty Mountains, something that would be great for our Elevate series.  This is Daddy's favorite of the original Lord of the Rings Trilogy, another long movie for Madison.  We have intermission points, where we can make more popcorn or take bathroom breaks.  But otherwise, everyone enjoyed part two, which ends with a hint of menace from Gollum, who mentions taking the Hobbits to "her," who of course gives Daddy the absolute creeps.  But that's tomorrow.  Today was all about the Battle for Helm's Deep, and giant marching trees.  Madison thought it would be great if Groot were in there.  Also, the trees from "Maleficent" and maybe those apple-throwing trees from "The Wizard of Oz."  Talk about a tree army then, although the ones in this movie do sufficient damage to the bad guys' lair.

So it's all about the Lord of the Rings right now in the house.  We watched our KidPak parody of it, where Daddy is a Ringwraith and Sam.  We also watched the Vuvuzela video, where the Fellowship of the Ring has to fight off a bunch of crazy soccer fans with vuvuzelas.  Madison is full on into the series now, and was completely ready for tonight's movie, and now tomorrow night's as well.

ANYWAY, we went to bed tonight and read some more from "The Nutcracker," which is actually quite a bit different from the ballet now.  It has similarities, but the ballet is more of an overview than anything.  I suspect that some people, upon reading this story, would be disappointed in the story itself, as the ballet leaves so much up to your imagination.  Still, we're glad to be reading it, and we are in fact enjoying the story.  It's a book that Maurice Sendak illustrated, although Madison hasn't read much from him in the past.  I know:  why hasn't she read "Where the Wild Things Are" yet?  We need to get to that right away, don't we?

We were doing crafts today, more stained glass art.  Madison was building things with LEGO Dimensions - it's a great part of the game. You actually have LEGO pieces, and you build accessories, characters, and vehicles as the game progresses.  The instructions for building are in the game itself, so you have to stop everything to build this or that.  Madison built a companion cube today, the cube from the game Portals.  It has a LEGO version now, and there's GLaDOS again with her hilarious commentary.  She's been with us for years now, and one of the best video game characters ever made.  Definitely one of the best villains of all time.  And now she's a LEGO character, which is so much fun.  The LEGO Portals game is no where near as great as the actual Portals game, but it's still fun to run through.  And again, at least we now have an actual mini companion cube.  This is awesomeness.

This morning as we were doing our artwork and homework, Madison had on a loop of music from "The Shire" in "Lord of the Rings."  The music to her is "so peaceful," and she doesn't mind listening to it over and over again.  In fact, there are a few channels that have it playing for ten hours straight.  Over and over again for ten hours.  It sort of blends into the background a bit, and would actually be pretty great for music to be played as your young one is going to sleep.  Maybe we'll reintroduce that to Madison soon enough.  She'd probably love it.  At least, until the theme song for the Ring Wraiths shows up.  They're trouble.

Climbing

So today is the annual "Play Date," where we get to play with all the toys we got for Christmas.  Only, Daddy had to do a lot of writing for the upcoming devotional about fasting.  It should be good, and I'm plugging along on it one day at a time, just like a climber approaches that mountain one step at a time.  Today I was reading about a mountain called Link Sar, which only recently was submitted. Amazing pictures from the top, simply jaw dropping.  The entire experience had to be incredible, although I am not sure I have the fortitude to do that sort of journey.  Still, I'm quite happy to read about it and see all kinds of pictures.  The research that goes into each of these series at KidPak can be so much fun, as we dive into stories and history of the various subjects.  In this case, it's been all about mountaineering the past few weeks.  We're learning about the art of climbing, famous climbers, famous mountains, and the fact that there are still really high mountains that have never been climbed thus far.  Daddy will have written about fifty devotional entries with the theme of climbing by the time this week is over with.  It's been a lot of work, but it's also been fascinating.  I feel like I'm a climber myself lately, with all the knowledge gathered.  But there's also been a lot learned from the Bible too, as the Message version has been really great lately.  Consider this scripture here:

“When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside.  Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions.” Matthew 5:1-2 (MSG)

Basically, I gather from this that Jesus was seeing who the committed were, so he climbed a hillside.  Those who were committed climbed with him.  I love the fact that this version calls those who were with him his "climbing companions."  There's this picture of mountaineers in my mind, all going up together, and there's Jesus too.  It's just an interesting version of the a scripture, and of course this all introduces the Sermon on the Mount.  So yes, there's quite a bit of mountain material in the Bible.

We were cleaning up today, putting new gifts away and probably playing with too many of them as well.  We went to Hill Valley, or at least a LEGO version of it.  We have that level for LEGO Dimensions now, which is a game you'll be hearing about here for a few weeks, I'm sure.  Madison and Daddy spent a good bit of time playing that today, and enjoying it as well.  Lots of fun, and hopefully nothing we'll get too obsessive about.  The funny thing is the other game we were playing,  a Burger King bumper car video game.  This was the white elephant gift, but it's one Madison and Daddy were getting quite a kick out of today.  Bumper cars - that's the new thing lately.

We were washing dishes today, listening to our new music today, and also coloring some of the new stained glass books Madison got for Christmas.

One is a series of passages from the book of Psalms, all with a decorative stained glass window backdrop that you could color in.  Madison did a few of those this afternoon, something she'll be doing the next few days I'm sure.

Because we can sleep in all week, we decided that today would be the day to start the Lord of the Rings trilogy at night.  These movies are so long, it's impossible to watch them back to back on a school night.  There's homework, ballet, piano, and getting up early to contend with.  It's an unusual trilogy because it's so long.  But this week, we'll conquer Middle Earth.  For Madison, it'll be her first visit there, although she's played the LEGO video game of it extensively.  In fact, that's what spawned the idea in the first place:  LEGO Dimensions has a Middle Earth level, and we have Gimli the dwarf as part of her collection.  So tonight, Madison met Gimli and the other characters from the Fellowship of the Ring, and we set things in motion to go there and back again.

Speaking of deep movies, upon the second viewing, there is quite a bit that can be pulled from the Lord of the Rings, in regards to messages and meanings.  I'm sure there are several books dedicated to that, I'm sure.  Regardless, Madison enjoyed the movie, as did Mommy.  She's never seen the next two movies, but the idea is to watch these the next two nights consecutive, as we go on a journey across Middle Earth to Mount Doom.

Mordor is a lovely place.  Not saying I'd like to build a summer home there, but the trees are quite lovely!

A Merry Little Christmas

Madison just couldn't wait for today!  We heard her scurry out of bed this morning - it's always funny how that works as parents.  You're partially asleep, but you're listening for that sound in the morning, the sound of your child waking up and marching out to see if there's something under the tree.  Oh yes, there was!

You can see here that Madison must have been good again this year, as there were plenty of gifts for her under the tree.  Most notably, there's a Southern Belle costume that she asked for on her note to Santa.  The stockings were filled, and she was so ready to start ripping into these presents!

We let her open a few to begin with, and as you can see, the books got her attention right away.  She had asked for a few books, and was even reading them throughout the day.  Meanwhile, Mommy was getting the grandparents on the computer so they could watch too:

We shared Christmas with the grandparents in Florida, as you can see above.  Mommy - and sometimes Daddy - held the camera so they could watch as Madison opened various presents from Santa, and one from them as well.  Here's a big present from Mommy and Daddy:

Madison was taking pictures all day now.  This is the camera that we used to take pictures in China when we first met Madison.  The flash isn't 100%, and previously the lens was broken.  But we invested in a new lens for her, and it should be a good camera to start learning about taking pictures with.  She took about sixty today, or something like that!

Daddy took a lot of pictures too!  But it's okay, because we're parents and it's Christmas.  We had the Christmas music playing this morning, our tea in hand, and just sat there enjoying Madison's facial expressions as she went from one gift to another.  She got LEGO Dimensions, plenty of books including Nancy Drew, costumes, clothing, LEGO toys, movies and even this:

This is a mermaid blanket.  I think.  It covers her feet and keeps her legs and feet warm.  It has been very useful as she sits and watches a movie with us at night!  Oh, and look at her reaction when she got this card here:

She's gotten a card that is telling her that Mommy and Daddy are signing her up for the Marine Science Center Camp again.  She has been really wanting to go back to that, so she was all smiles when she discovered she's going back.

Soon afterwards, the grandparents and cousins were here to celebrate Christmas!

This year, we had Christmas at our house, which meant that Mommy spent quite a long time preparing food for everyone.  We even got to use some of our new Christmas dishes and glassware, which looked very nice on the table.  

Of course, the food looked really good too.  We had turkey, sweet potato casserole, pork and this au jus that was just amazing, and all kinds of desserts.  Of course,  we had a birthday cake for Jesus:  we stood in a circle and sang "Happy Birthday to You," and had some birthday cake, some pecan pie, and some apple pie too.  There were lots of candies and chocolates, especially after Daddy's gift of Crunchie bars to Mommy.  There were some fun gifts this morning.

And Mommy made some wassail as well.   Here we came, a wassailing!  Seriously, it was delicious.  We exchanged some more gifts, and simply because Nana heard Donald Trump was in "Home Alone 2," we plugged in that Christmas movie, and watched it through the end, laughing all the way.  The end is rather painful to watch in some ways.  Okay, a lot of ways.

Anyway, it was very nice to have everyone over.  And soon enough, they were on their way to their own homes, leaving the three of us to clean up a bit, and play some of our new toys.  

It was a merry little Christmas.  Madison and Daddy went to bed a little later, getting caught up with video games and fun.  Tomorrow, we'll continue that fun - and throughout the week.  Daddy has a lot of writing to do this week, but we'll make sure we have time together as a family as well.

The Night Before Christmas

Christmas time is here, and Madison was looking quite lovely in her special dress, getting ready for church this morning.  We had her pose in front of the tree, one that would shortly see gifts all around - at least that's the hope!

Christmas Eve service was nice at KidPak.  We're no longer up with the families in the main sanctuary for the candlelight service, so we have our own service downstairs.  You can see above one of our traditional games, where a boys team and a girls team decorate an adult volunteer as if they were a Christmas tree.  A sweater is put on, and ornaments and garland are draped and hung on that volunteer.  Whoever has the most decorations on at the end of a particular time is the winning team.  In the case above, it was the girls team.

The rest of the service is fairly simple:  we read from the book of Luke, Chapter 2, along with a bit from Matthew about the Wise Men.  Daddy prints out all of this together, and makes it just the right size to fit in the Bible, and read together.

Here's Pastor Lance and his daughter for their first Christmas together.  He's reading the Christmas story to the kids - and adults - who are there.  It's a nice moment being together, followed by our own little "light" service:

The kids all had those electric candles, which are safer and less messy.  Madison is in the picture above, to the right a row or two back.  It was a nice morning, one where we all wished one another a Merry Christmas, and soon we were out the door to our families.

At home, we prepared for Christmas Eve, bringing foods and presents to Aunt Shain's house.  Tonight, we had "A Christmas Story" playing, and we exchanged some white elephant gifts.  That's always a fun game:  Madison came home with an X-Box game with bumper cars, which is a funny little theme for the year, given her first bumper car rides back in October.

We had dinner, played Christmas music, and just sat back for a while, enjoying each other's company.  It's been a long trip to get to Christmas Eve, and it seems surreal that it's finally here.  But here it is, and it was a perfectly nice sort of day.

We got home, and of course there was plenty to do.  For one thing, we had to set out the cookies, milk - and the carrots for the reindeer.

Daddy read "The Night Before Christmas," and that was about it for reading tonight, as everyone was pretty tired.  It wasn't long before we all were asleep, visions of sugar plums dancing in our head.  NORAD was showing Santa zooming in our direction, so we all did our best to get in bed quickly.  And to all a goodnight!

Christmas Eve Eve

Christmas Eve Eve is here, which is a thing, by the way.  Madison is so ready for the day, but for the first time acknowledged that time does indeed fly.  For Daddy, this season of awesomeness starts around September with apples and pumpkins, and coasts through Thanksgiving with all things Christmas for a couple months.  And if you look at it on paper, we did quite a bit.  Yet, it still seems like we're already here and where did the time go?  Looking back on this season, we certainly did enough.  It's juts that here we are already.  And soon, it'll be next year when we do it all over again.  I suppose that's the the thing about this time of year that's so unsettling:  when it's over, there's a keen awareness of how time does go by quickly, despite our best efforts.  It's a unit of measurement:  tick, tick, tick.  Each one is the same, but what we do with each one quite different.  In the end, it's the most valuable thing we have. 

And there's not much of it left this year, or until Christmas.  Case in point:  Jingle Bell and Snowflake have already left us for the year, with a note and a pair of pajamas for Madison as a gift.  She's wearing them in the picture above.  She also got yet another Tsum-Tsum, and the streak is ongoing!

The rain today was tremendous, a downpour of large proportions.  This could have been snow had things been timed a bit differently, but that's okay.  That was another thing we were blessed with this Christmas season:  snow.  It was a winter wonderland, and something special.

This morning Madison and Daddy were out doing a bit of last-minute shopping for Mommy.  We didn't go far, and were glad to get back.  To quote Charlton Heston from "Planet of the Apes:"  "It's a madhouse!  A madhouse!"

We did go out once more though:  we had to get a refillable popcorn bucket for Aunt Shain, so we went to the movies to pick on up, and hey, why not see a movie while we were there?  Sadly, the two CHRISTMAS themed movies we wanted to see were already GONE.  One of them, "The Man Who Invented Christmas" never even lasted a week.  So neither of those was an option, so we instead watched, "Jumanji:  Welcome to the Jungle."

Madison liked this movie, although Daddy liked the original much better.  Madison prefers this one better though, so it's a tie.  Mommy wasn't ready to compare the two so much!  Anyway, it had some fun moments, and some awkward moments too.  On the whole, it was a good movie.  I'm not understanding how this ancient board game could transform into a video game cartridge, but for what it was, it was enjoyable.  The theater, by the way, was absolutely packed.  The lines there were huge, and it was the most crowded we've seen things in a while.  The rain and Christmas season no doubt played a bit part in that.

We got home, and we did some more wrapping today.  Lots of wrapping goes on before the big day, but we've been doing it along the way, so it wasn't anywhere near as bad as it could be.  In fact, tomorrow there will be very little wrapping at all, which is somewhat unusual for Christmas Eve.  It'll actually be a quiet day in that respect.

Tonight, we saw a few more Christmas specials, including "Olaf's Frozen Adventure," but it was pretty much time to go to bed early.  Tomorrow is going to be a big, big day, starting with two services in the morning at KidPak.  For that reason alone, it's time to hit the sack, and say to all a goodnight!

Merry Christmas Mr. Bean

It appears as if the Elf has set up a kissing booth, although these kisses are altogether different, the chocolate kind, and in fact "the taste of Christmas."

We were busy today, of course.  That's how it is leading up to the big day, which is only a hop, skip and a jump away from here now.  Mommy was off shopping, so Daddy and Madison were wrapping some of her Christmas presents.  We did this while listening to some Christmas records we have, like the Star Wars "Christmas in the Stars" and the Sesame Street Christmas record, both classics!  

Daddy has been busy writing devotional entries too.  Madison spent her first day of Christmas break playing games, but she was helping out with the cleaning too.  We had leaves in the front yard to contend with, thanks to these dreadful Bradford Pear trees.  Lots of boxes were carried downstairs, and decorations hung up on the walls.  Decorating for Christmas is a bigger process this year than most, as we've got company coming for dinner on Monday.  Due to their house being renovated, which is due to three trees crashing through it, Ye-Ye and Nana won't be hosting this year - they're coming to our house.

We were going to get a Christmas present for Aunt Shain, a movie popcorn tub from a local theater.  This would be in conjunction with seeing a movie tonight, but then Madison shot that idea down by saying, "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is on tonight!"

So we stayed home and watched a few Christmas episodes before that, including the absolutely hilarious Johnny Bravo Christmas episode, and then "Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean."

This is a great episode.  We watched this, and a few other episodes before heading upstairs.  This was Madison's first exposure to Mr. Bean, and it was lots of fun.  We have the box set with all the episodes, plus two movies, so there'll be other opportunities to see Mr. Bean for sure.  Finally, we all snuggled upstairs for the latest episode of the above television series, which was pretty awesome.

We're almost done with the devotional, and moving along with the Nutcracker story, which now involves a rat queen that's out to kill a princess baby.  Yes, that's a bit off from the ballet.  Interesting though!  By the time we're done with this book, we'll have a few more that should be delivered Christmas morning.  Madison put a lot of books on her letter to Santa.

The leaf process in the front yard could not be finished today.  It's just raining too much.  Tonight it started raining actually a bit harder, and tomorrow is not going to be much better.  Best to let it go for now.  Daddy was out there for about an hour, and there were a lot of leaves.  

Speaking of which, it's time to make like a tree... and get out of here.

Immigration Day

This was a pretty full day, all started out with our elf doing his own version of "The Voice."  It's a show that Madison has never seen, and to be fair, neither had we.  It's been sort of a pop culture thing, akin to "American Idol" or "America's Got Talent."  The judges to the right sit in these swivel chairs that face away from the singer, and only when they're convinced the singer has enough talent to move on, they turn to face the contestant.  So far, Jingle Bell has two judges on his side!

We saw one of these contestants - actually a show winner - when we went to see the Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith concert a few weeks ago.  Jordan Smith was simply amazing.  He did a few songs, including "Mr. Grinch," "O Holy Night," and "All is Well."  His voice is amazing.

This morning, Daddy went to school with Madison to take pictures for the yearbook, accompanying the fifth graders with their "Immigration Day."

You can see a few of the immigrants here, ready to sail off to Ellis Island.  A lot of the kids were dressed up in outfits from over a hundred years ago.  The guys carried old suitcases, wore ties, or old caps.  The girls came dressed in various outfits like you see above.

Everyone started out with a passport, of course.  This would have to be checked initially, and then there would be questioning at various stations.

It was all very serious here, as the interviewers were quite intent on learning about each immigrant, and why they were coming to America.  This one here is asking Madison - or Astrid - why she is coming to the United States.  Astrid is looking for her husband, who came here about five years ago.  She hasn't heard from him in over a year, and so she's off in search of him.  Hopefully that will work out.

In the meantime, here she is on one of the very many lines at our virtual Ellis Island.  One thing that was pretty fun was the "boat" the kids took from their classrooms.  Each class had a long piece of brown boat-shaped paper that they carried outside, and around down the hall.  Here's Madison "on board" her little boat:

Here's the entire class onboard the "S.S. Reed."  That's their teacher's name, of course.

They knew they were getting close when they passed by the Statue of Liberty, which was one of their assistant principals, dressed up, and holding her arm upwards for a really long time!

Though it was a lot of fun for the kids, it was also a very educational sort of day.  The adults really got into the act.  One running joke was that various teachers alongside the wall couldn't understand what these kids were asking, because they only spoke English.  See, Madison is from Scandinavia, and therefore wasn't speaking English.

Kids that were talking were promptly sent to the back of these very big lines, which was just enough punishment to keep everyone in line.  So to speak.  But they went through all the same processes, largely, of immigration, including the medical check-up:

Madison did well with this, although some others did not.  Nurses used flashlights and tongue depressors to give these hopeful citizens a proper check-up before allowing them into the country.  Madison did well here, and then had herself yet another test:  the citizenship test.

These were done on laptops, which must have been available in 1900, right?  Madison passed her citizenship test the first try, which made Daddy proud.  Next came the oath of citizenship.  A lot of the kids were lined up for this in the library, as one teacher led them through the entire oath.

And there you have it!  Most of the kids got their citizenship, so there was time to celebrate.  Why not have a Christmas party in the classroom?  

Mommy had donated sprinkles and other items, and back in the classroom we had an Italian Christmas party, although hot chocolate bars and cookie decorating stations are probably more universal.  Still, it was a sugar rush of a time there, and the kids were enjoying it.  It was a nice way to end 2017 in the class.

When Madison got home, we weren't done with the adventures for the day yet.  It was finally time to go see that movie.  What movie?  This one:

We saw "Star Wars:  The Last Jedi" this afternoon, meeting a few friends in the Gainesville theater, and watching it together.  Madison and Daddy liked it, although Mommy was a little iffy on it. The new characters were a lot of fun, including a new Asian character named Rose.

She actually plays a bigger part, and not a cameo as other roles tend to be.  In fact, the other roles that we've seen a lot of on commercials - Captain Phasma and BB-9E - are pretty much just cameos.  We were expecting a greater role from these two, simply based on all the commercials for this movie.

But ultimately, it was about these two:

We're going to miss these characters.  Although we're glad they were back for any period at all, it's sort of time to say goodbye.  That seems to be the theme of the movie, "letting go of the past, and moving on to the next generation."  This might be Disney's next big theme for 2017-2018, as this one and "Cars 3" seem to have the same general idea.

As far as details go, we'll leave spoilers for later.  But Madison enjoyed the movie, and it was nice to see it with friends too.  The movie is controversial for some Star Wars fans, but we didn't think too much of certain plot points to let the experience be a bad one.  It was a fun time, and it's always great to see the Millennium Falcon soaring through the air.

We got home after that, and honestly, we were all pretty tired.  It was time for bed not long afterwards.  We had dinner, read from the devotional and the "Nutcracker," and soon after that, it was time for bed, with visions of space battles in our heads.