New Year's Eve 2018

We made the long drive down to Daytona Beach today, all in one go, and it was fairly easy.  We had only one slow-down moment, and that was so insignificant that it is hardly worth mentioning except for the fact that this was solely it.  Of course, it was in Henry County, but even that one stretch of road along I-75 which is so notorious for jams was not too burdensome.  We slowed down a bit, as if we were all trained to do this after so many repeated trips down this stretch of road, and upon seeing no reason to do so, we all picked up our speed again and made our way.

Madison was in the back with the Nintendo Switch, looking for Peach and jumping rope and all the other side missions of the game Mario Odyssey.  We played this to its conclusion yesterday, at least until the end of the story within.  There are still so many things to see and do, as there are with any Mario-themed game.  Madison was exploring and doing all these things on the ride down, the battery life of the Switch surprisingly longer than expected.  Also, she watched "The Greatest Showman" once more, because she could.  Daddy has been finishing up the autobiography of PT Barnum as of late, a thicker book but an interesting one for sure.

Mommy and Daddy were listening to all the new music we got for Christmas, from Leon Redbone to Riders in the Sky and Shawn Colvin, and even listening to "The Preacher's Wife."  You have to have a good soundtrack when going on road trips, right?  This was a more subdued one at times, but it kept us going through the long journey.

We arrived in Daytona, and came in through the Port Orange direction so that we would avoid all the New Year's Eve excitement in downtown Daytona Beach.  It all worked out just fine.  We got there at the condo with plenty of time to spare - hours, in fact - before the big countdown of the New Year.  We brought along some holiday crackers for everyone, in fact!

We got these back at the beginning of November, and they made some loud noises as they popped!  We all got our paper crowns, gifts, and terrible jokes inside.  Actually, one of them was one of Daddy's favorites:

Q:  How do you make a good pair of trousers last?
A:  By making the shirt first.

Yes, that was weak.  But it was a fun night, and it was great catching up again.  You can see Ba-Ba above, wearing his new Christmas gift, a ball cap from the Daytona Tortugas team.  We ordered that not long after going to the baseball game this past summer.  Nana is wearing her paper crown, something we all did for pretty much the rest of the night.

Oh, and there were plenty of fireworks throughout the night.  We could see all sorts of amateur fireworks being launched from various parts of the beach, but we can also see the beach front of Daytona Beach from here, and see the actual fireworks going off throughout the night, and in huge quantities at the stroke of midnight.

Inside, we set up the television so we could watch on the big screen the countdown from the Magic Kingdom.  In the waning moments of 2018, we saw the fireworks show in Orlando, not far from here, and together, all of us counted down the last seconds of 2018.  Daddy, Madison and Mommy held hands, counting down together from ten - along with Mickey and Minnie, and Nana and Ba-Ba.

Daddy gave Mommy a kiss, and a kiss on the forehead for Madison, and we all celebrated the new year (and the fact that we were all somehow still awake!).  It was a great 2018, with so much to celebrate.  But 2019 will be even better, we know.  To quote the Disney song, "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow."  To quote "The Preacher's Wife" song we were just listening to on the way down here, "Help is on the Way."  We know our help comes from the Lord, Emmanuel, "God with us."

Happy New Year!

Last KidPak of 2018

It was another fun morning at KidPak, a final morning of our "Whoville" series, although we'll continue with the Whos all the way into the month of February.  Still, the Holiday theme of this series ends today with another skit, and a message about the Grinch, whose heart grew three sizes that day.

It was a lot of fun, including a return of the Wisenheimer invention, which "read biometric data in kids' minds and determined what the best New Year's Resolution is for each one."  You can see Madison above with the invention on, and the kids were having a great time with that.  The skit followed, and was a lot of fun!

It was the last KidPak service of 2018, and as with all of them, it went really well thanks to the efforts of the actors and staff above (and elsewhere).  We work hard together and do our very best to put something impactful together, and week after week, we attack each of these services and do our very best time and again.  It's been a remarkable year, and it will be a wonderful year next year as well!

We got home after this and did some packing for an upcoming trip, but we also did some cleaning up, and some putting things away.  The DeSantafication Process is in effect right now, even now before New Year's Eve.  There's been much discussion about when to take things down, but it's such a long process that we start as soon as we can.  Along with the putting things away, we'll be reorganizing quite a bit.

Tonight, we read and we said our prayers before bed.  It was an early night tonight, because we have a big day tomorrow.  But it was a good day today, all starting out with a great morning at KidPak.

Illuminate

We did some packing today, and some packing-up too.  The Star Wars tree is nearly done, and other decorations are in various stages of being put away.  We did quite a bit of cleaning up today, but we also ventured out of the house to check something out that we bought tickets to a long, long time ago!

We went south to a mall not far from here, and got there a bit early so that Madison could spend her Christmas gift card to a place there that sold earrings.  As Daddy stood by, Madison and Mommy did their shopping for quite some time, spending girl time, looking around at all the earrings and bracelets and girl things.  They had a great time together, but soon afterwards, we went out to the parking lot for something altogether different:

Tonight we went to an event called "Illuminate."  These beautiful glowing flowers greeted us as we entered the area.  Birds and butterflies were also there, adding to it all.  We couldn't wait to see the other things beyond this!

It's been going on this month at Sugarloaf Mills, about an hour south of our house.  It wasn't that far of a drive, an easy one really.  There are still a lot of shoppers about this week, but once out of that madhouse of a mall, we stepped into this very nice "Light Festival" that was set up in the parking lot.

These bits of material are put on metal framework, painted and illuminated, showing off so many beautiful colors.  There was so much to see this night, from flowers, to large castles as well.

It was like stepping into a Winter Wonderland, with castles, snowy landscapes, and of course Santa too!

Ho, ho, ho!  That reindeer in the front looks ready to fly pretty fast!  I think that's what his expression is saying.  There was some debate about that.  Is he angry?  Of course, where there's Santa, there are also Christmas trees, and pretty huge ones too!

The North Pole area was quite magical, and perhaps a little chilly too!  Madison might have been tempted to take a few of those parkas there!

There were polar bears and penguins and eskimos, of course, but one of the reasons we were so excited to go to this was the Chinese displays that were present.  This night was a perfect transition from Christmas to Chinese New Year, as you'll see with some of the pictures below.

These are quite beautiful, the metal framework supporting these illuminated painted fabrics, transporting those visiting to another world - in this case, China.  Here's Mommy and Madison, and you can see the bigger crowds hadn't quite arrived yet.

It was a timed event, with tickets telling you what times to come.  We purchased our tickets a long time ago, and we chose to come as early as possible so we can really check out the things to see.  We were not disappointed!

There were so many illuminated things here, you could spend a good deal of time just walking amongst them, which we did.  Madison really enjoyed it!

So did Mommy!  It was worth the trip heading down to see all of these, and seeing them a week after Christmas was great too.  Originally, Daddy thought he had purchased tickets for a week earlier, only to print them out and realize that the tickets were for tonight.  This was initially a bummer:  I was hoping to go see this before Christmas.

But God has wonderful timing about things:  we were all still recovering from illness a week ago, and it would not benefit us in any way to go out into the cold like this a week ago.  And another thing:  the weather tonight was ideal.  It was a perfect time to go out and see all these lights.  And there were also a few other things to see here, including a visit to see some Chinese acrobats.  We got in a long line, as there were plenty of people there by this point to see everything.

It was a large tent, one filled with people who came to see the show, and it did not disappoint.  Also nearby, there was a magician in another tent that Madison wanted to see.  We went to that tent soon afterwards, enjoying that performance as well.

But the lights were the real star of the night.  see the detail in this simple teapot here, one of the objects nearby as we waited in line.  Look how large that tower is in the back, easily a couple stories tall.  And each of these took up a lot of space horizontally too.

We couldn't tell if this was related to "Alice in Wonderland," or perhaps just some early Easter decor. There were sections of this area, and our favorite was probably the Chinese area, for obvious reasons.

This panda above was no doubt warm enough throughout the night.  The temperature was chilly, but not frigid.  And not raining either.  It's done that a lot lately, as noted here on these pages.  And later on this evening, it rained again, and a lot.  God blessed us with a perfect night together, enjoying this remarkable display

Here's a close up of the Chinese structure that stood at the center of all the pieces, something you could see from the interstate nearby.

Like previously said, this bridges things nicely to the Chinese New Year season, which is in fact somewhat of a "season" for us.

The Chinese acrobats had all sorts of performances with balancing chairs and tables, juggling, some interesting acts with large ceramic jars, and of course these hoops.

Yes, we understand that the Christmas season is the king of all seasons, but there is that empty place in January that needs desperately to be filled, and how fortunate we are to have a reason to celebrate Chinese New Year each year, bringing Madison to events like these, and doing all those related celebrations from home.  The vacancy of Christmas spirit can be formidable, but this is a nice season too, especially for some of us in the church as well, as you'll see upcoming.

Another theme of the area was something "Under the Sea."  It was a great display of sea turtles, octopi, and all kinds of underwater sea life.

You can see the sea turtle in the distance, the small green face sticking out.  Of course Madison got excited upon seeing that!  Here she is with Mommy amongst the fish there, bobbing along on the bottom of the beautiful briny sea.

And here below is Madison and Daddy, now Far East, in front of a portion of the Great Wall of China, joining the other soldiers!

Let's get down to business and defeat the Huns!  In this next shot, Madison poses with the other Chinese soldiers, ready to do battle!

Each of these displays were really large, and the fact that you can walk through each one - rather than drive - made it a much more enjoyable experience because you could sit there and take your time, admiring each design.

One of the nicer surprises was a a booth that handed out Christian tracks, and even a Nativity set:

From the Far East to under the sea to the North Pole, and then to Bethlehem.  Here's one more photo of Madison, not far from the manger.

It was getting colder as the night went on, and we saw everything there without any rush.  We left to the car, which was pretty close by (parking favor!), and were on our way home.  It was starting to rain about half-way home - I don't know if it was raining back on the festival or not, but it never rained once on us.  It was a perfect evening, and a very nice thing to do during this season.

New Donk City

It was a somewhat lazy day, which you can see above.  Madison and Daddy spent some time playing Mario Odyssey, and tonight we sat and watched "Avengers:  Infinity War."  It was that sort of day.  But it wasn't the type of day to go outside, because rain.  Again.  We've had flooding again, and super large amounts of rainfall again, with posts on social media showing videos of the Chattahoochee and other rivers overflowing their banks and causing trouble for those nearby.

Daddy wrote the upcoming skit for KidPak, the final service of the year 2018, and it turned out pretty well.  Here it is below, something we put together for Sunday.  You can read that, while we all get back to cleaning up a bit, putting Christmas stuff away, and playing games....!

KidPak Adventures: Whoville

Happy Who Year!

CUE SLIDE:  WHOVILLE

CUE TRACK:  1 SCROOGE COUNTS MONEY

HOST:            Now Christmas in Whoville is quite a big deal

                        But if you ask each Who just how they feel

                        There’s one holiday after each Christmas is done

                        Which one?

CINDY, CALVIN, ISAAC and ASHLEY enter STAGE RIGHT with excitement.

CAST:                                  New Year’s Day!

HOST:                                                             Yes, this day’s lots of fun!

                        They make resolutions to make themselves better

CALVIN:        I’m going to learn how to knit my own sweater!

ASHLEY:       My resolution is to earn a Who degree!

CINDY:          I’d like to be the best person I can be!

HOST:            Yes, all the Whos here are selfless.  It’s true.

ISAAC:           I want a million dollars, and to win American Idol!

CAST looks at ISAAC.

ISAAC:           Don’tyou?

HOST:            But there was one not too hip to this New Year’s scene.

                        He looked rather odd, and was covered in green.

GRINCH enters STAGE RIGHT

CAST gasps loudly.

HOST:            No, he’s actually a reformed Grinch now.

CAST:             Oh, yay Grinch!

HOST:            Except for one thing.

CAST:             What?  

HOST:            He wants to steal New Year’s Eve now.

CAST gasps loudly, overreacting.

HOST:            Just kidding!

CAST sighs a sigh of relief.

HOST:            No, but seriously.  He does.

GRINCH reaches backstage for a New Year Party Hat, which he puts on.  Maybe.

CAST:             What?!?

GRINCH goes over to grab a noise makers and related objects from STAGE RIGHT.

HOST:            He had stolen party hats and those things that make noise

                        And loud fireworks, and all their New Year’s Eve toys!
                        These trinkets, thought the Grinch, are the first things to go

                        For he hated New Year’s Eve, and he stole their… 

CALVIN:        (loudly announcing) Hello?

CAST looks at CALVIN

CALVIN:        We’re right here.  I mean, he’s stealing stuff right in front of us.

ISAAC:           So?

CALVIN:        Well, sort of like that Christmas Whobilation… when nobody was listening to me either… there’s more of us, and there’s only one of him ….so…

ISAAC, ASHLEY and CINDY LOU catch on.

ISAAC:           Get him!

ASHLEY, ISAAC and CALVIN rush towards GRINCH

CINDY:          Wait!

ASHLEY, ISAAC and CALVIN stop

HOST:            …said Cindy Lou, who thought this wasn’t right.      

                        She hoped the Grinch changed that last Christmas night

CINDY:          Grinch, we all thought that you would now make a change

                        Why steal New Year’s Eve?  That’s certainly strange.

HOST:            The Grinch thought about it, and then don’t ask why

                        He put his hands to his face, and he started to cry.

GRINCH does as indicated.

ISAAC:           Why?

HOST:            I said don’t ask why!

CUE TRACK:  2 AULD LANG SYNE

CINDY:          What’s wrong Mr. Grinch? For what reason did you steal?

HOST:            And Isaac put it more gently:

ISAAC:            Grinch, what is your deal?!?

CAST looks at ISAAC, who looks embarrassed.

HOST:            Sometimes bad habits with you want to stay

                        He’s tempted to steal holidays

CALVIN:        Uh-oh!  Look out, MLK Day!  

HOST:            But the Grinch wanted to change.  He didn’t know where to start.

                        And that’s when Cindy Lou said:

CINDY:          It starts with your heart!

ASHLEY:       Invite Jesus into your heart, and you’ll feel

                        A new heart inside you that has changed for real

ISAAC:           This new year, make plans to spend more time with Him

                        The more time for that, will mean less time to sin.

CALVIN:        And we’re all the same, we’ve allfailed a test.

                        Just ask God’s forgiveness, and do your very best.

CINDY:          God loves you so much, right now and right here.

                        Let’s all work together, to seek Him more this year.

CAST forms a circle on stage to pray.

HOST:            And so right now and right here they all did pray

                        And we hope that you also will do so today

                        For this holiday means that a new year will start

                        The best way to celebrate?  Let God into your heart.

CAST:             AMEN!

CALVIN:        So to all of you out there, from all of us here

                        We wish every one of you a…

CAST:             HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Return of Black Manta

So we did get to see a movie today, and we didn't know that much about the story line of this one going in, but it was the DC Heroes movie based on "Aquaman."  We still liked "Wonder Woman" a bit better, but this one was also pretty good - we may have to check out the other current DC Heroes movies.  But the big surprise for Daddy was seeing this guy on the big screen:

It's Black Manta!  I had NO IDEA he'd be in this movie, and that was a rather lame thing to say because he's only the most significant Aquaman villain there is.  Keep in mind my entire knowledge of Aquaman and villains is based on the cartoon from the 70's.  Black Manta sat there at the table with the other villains, and even though everyone was sitting at a table, out of the water, he still kept his helmet on.  He was the coolest guy at the villains' table (although Captain Cold was pretty chill too), and what's not to like?  He's Darth Vader, under water, with lasers that shoot out of his eyes.  He even sounds like Darth Vader with the echoey voice and a bit of "moo-ah-ah-ah" thrown in for good measure.  And on top of that, he carries a trident.

He wasn't the main villain of this movie, but he made for a big moment with Daddy, who was sort of cheering for him in a way.  Also something to cheer for:  a trident battle.  How many movies can claim one of those?

Anyway, the three of us enjoyed the movie, which made up for a bit of our time today really.  The movie was long, plus they seem to add a lot of trailers and previews lately.  It takes us a bit of time to get over there, and before you know it, you're at the movies for a while.  But it was a nice getaway, with popcorn and a good time.

It was a relaxing day otherwise.  Daddy did some proofing of a booklet for KidPak, and we spent a good deal of time blowing off leaves off the front yard.  Still have a lot do do there:  we have a lot of leaves.  There was Mario Odyssey again, and some time making those little paper fortune tellers too.

Everyone is feeling better today, which is good.  It's been a longer endurance for us with the runny noses, drainage, sore throats, and feverish feelings.  But we're moving past it now, and that's great.

It's raining a lot.  We saw the forecast coming, so Daddy parked his car next to the theater's back door, and we snuck out that way when the movie was over - by the time the movie was over with, the rain was really coming down.  It was an interesting drive home, with visibility not quite 100%.  But we made it safely, something we were thankful for of course.

We said our prayers tonight, and read some more.  It was a nice, quiet day with not much accomplished but rest and fun with our Christmas toys.  It's been a nice break.

Mario T-Rex

It's Boxing Day, which doesn't necessarily translate to anything here, but we do usually use the day to simply lounge about and play with our new Christmas toys.  That we did, especially the new Nintendo Switch that we got.  We were playing Mario Odyssey, and Daddy spent much of his time playing a video game character that was a hat.  This was a co-op experience, so Madison got to be Mario.  Daddy got to be a hat.

Of course, putting it that way doesn't make it sound like too much fun, but the game is just about as much fun as any Mario game has been, and perhaps a bit more:  there is a T-rex.  Right away, we learn we can play the game as a T-rex during one portion.  This is pretty exciting, of course, because really who wouldn't want to play the game as a T-Rex?  I hope that's not you, because there was just a little bit of respect I just lost for you!

Seriously though, it's a fun game so far, and given the way we're playing lately, it might be that we see a lot of it this week.  It's a great system, one that you can play in bed, and then plug into the television, and so on.

We were going to see a movie today, but at the last minute we were over at a neighbor's house, one who is moving away.  The call went out to some of us to come over and grab anything we want from the garage, as they are moving away and they were going to just donate the stuff elsewhere or have it thrown out.  It's easier to have us come and scavenge than hire folks to come pick it all up.   Anyway, we have some items in our garage now, things we don't necessarily need, but we picked them up for possibly the grandparents or Aunt Shain.  We have a few very large boxes of books that we plan on donating to a book store in town, one that uses its profits to help needy families.  The remaining stuff that nobody really wants, we'll try and pass off at the usual neighborhood yard sale.  Perhaps we can raise some money to pay for a summer camp or something.  We'll see!

Anyway, we went nowhere really.  Except to that neighbor's house.  And to Cascade Falls in the Mario game.  Oh, and of course the Kessel System.  That would be the one featured in the movie, "Han Solo," the movie we watched tonight.  Now that Christmas season is wrapping up, we're allowed to watch all sorts of non-Christmas movies, so we're sort of catching up now on some of the ones we either got as Christmas gifts, or even birthday gifts that we've been waiting to watch.  "Han Solo" was good - better than it got credit for.  It's not my favorite of the series, but Mommy and Madison really like it.  Of course, the characters are classics and they did a good job with that.

We watched that tonight, and started it pretty late - that's why we didn't read as much tonight before bed.  It was somewhat of a lazy sort of day that way.  We went to bed after reading, quite at rest because we knew we have absolutely nothing on the calendar to do tomorrow.  Maybe we'll see a movie, or maybe we'll stay home again.  It really doesn't matter.  It's a staycation, and we're fine with that!

It's Christmas Day

This morning Madison jumped onto our bed as she promised she would last night.  It was quite an abrupt way to wake up, but with the rallying call of, "It's Christmas!", we were up and going.  We asked if there was anything under the tree, and she told us there most certainly was!

And so here were were again at Christmas morning.  Santa had eaten the cookies and drank the milk we left out, and the carrots were gnawed at somewhat.  I never understood why a reindeer would come into the living room, but I guess the carrots serve as some sort of incentive.  Fortunately, there were no reindeer droppings anywhere, but perhaps these are really well trained reindeer.  Or perhaps Santa brings the carrots up to the rooftop to feed the reindeers our treats, and then takes the remnants of the carrots back down and leaves them for us to see.  Either way, one thing is clear:  I'm spending way too long thinking about this.

We had the music playing and of course Mommy and Daddy had to have tea prepared before opening presents from anyone.  Also, we Skyped with Nana and Ba-Ba down in Daytona Beach, so they got to spend Christmas morning with us as well.  They were happy to see us and visa versa:  we were all wishing each other a Merry Christmas!

Then came the unwrapping!  It's always a moment to savor, and you try to slow it down as much as you can.  Of course, with Madison there were so many presents under the tree that it took her a bit longer to open all the things she got.  And she was quite happy with what she opened up.

This "The Greatest Showman" book of piano music was a bit hit, as was this game below:

She got a few games, but she also got quite a bit of jewelry and clothing, and she loved it all.  Of course, here was the big "Red Ryder BB gun Moment" of the morning, the last present that she forgot about, in different wrapping paper and under a different tree.

Santa brought us a Nintendo Switch for Christmas!  This is probably a present for Daddy as well, don't you think?

Not immediately afterwards, but just for a few moments, we had it plugged in and everything was working just right.  But we didn't play for too long, as we were soon over to Nana and Ye-Ye's house for our yearly Christmas dinner.  Aunt Shain and her family were there as well, and we all had a huge and delicious dinner, followed by another round of opening presents under the tree.  For years we've joked about Ye-Ye's father, who left all our presents under the tree in a grocery bag.  And this year, Ye-Ye and Nana thought it would be fun to do exactly that:  all our presents were in grocery bags under the tree, each bag with our name on it.  There were nice gifts in each bag, but also joke items like cans of sardines and Spam.  It was pretty funny!

We had dessert after that, and all too soon, it was over with and time to go home.  All this leading up to one magical day, and so soon we're at the end of it, a bittersweet moment of goodbye.  Sure, we got to go home and play with some of the toys we got - but it's always a quiet moment afterwards, and a pretty tired one.  You don't want the day to necessarily end so soon, but at the same time, it's been quite a bit of work getting here, right?

Still, we had some time tonight, and we played an old game of Bonkers, a board game from 1978.  Aunt Shain let us borrow it, and I've always wanted to try it out.  So fast forward to 2018, and I'm finally getting to play "Bonkers!"

It was actually really easy to learn and pretty fun to play.  We'll do it again, but after about two rounds, we decided it was time for a movie.  Madison was ready to move on from Christmas movies, so tonight we watched one of the presents found under the tree this morning, the movie "Ant-Man and the Wasp."  Which was awesome.

When it was over, we were all pretty tired and ready for bed.  We started a new book tonight, "Peter and the Shadow Thieves," which starts out fun.  We'll be in Neverland or London for the next few weeks.  We said our prayers tonight after reading from the Christmas devotional, and then it was time for sleep once again.  Tomorrow, we sleep in - and tomorrow we get to play with our toys.  Christmas time is here.

Christmas Eve 2018

This might have been one of the more relaxed Christmas Eves we've ever had:  no rushing out for last-minute shopping and no huge piles of wrapping to do.  We woke up late, and did some limited wrapping of a few items that we got for each other, listening to Christmas music and just pretty much getting ready for the big night.  Christmas Eve is just as wonderful as Christmas, really.  Our night started out with the Christmas Eve Service at Free Chapel.

Despite the fact that we have several campuses now, and two services here in Gainesville, the entire sanctuary was filled and we had many people sit in overflow.  We got there early for the first service, and found our seats easily.  It was a wonderful service, of course, a special one with such warmth.  And of course the candlelight portion of the service was beautiful.

It was nice, and we even had time to go back home afterwards and get ready to head to Aunt Shain's house for a nice evening there with the family.  This of course is a big tradition, to spend time with family on Christmas Eve.

We picked up Nana and Ye-Ye, and drove down to Buford for the night, and it was very nice.  We had  the usual Christmas Eve snacks and desserts.  "The Man Who Invented Christmas" was playing on the television, and David Austen was giving us samples of some unique cheeses, including one with espresso in it.  He's a cheesemeister now, which is actually a pretty unique profession.  He actually did a lot of studying to get to this position, and enjoys selling all sorts of different cheeses, some from unique places or made in unique ways.  Some expensive, some ordinary, but all a unique experience.

Afterwards, we had our annual white elephant gift exchange.  We had some great items, lots of laughs!  Daddy wound up with a Statue of Liberty Chia Pet here, and someone else got the old VHS copy of "Gone with the Wind" that we've been exchanging since the 90's.  There was a terrible copy of LEGO blocks that made a set to build the Burj Khalifa, which is in essence one small cylinder on top of the other.  There was the dancing gorilla that plays the "Macarena," and an awful clown doll that will haunt someone's house for a while.   Oh, and the model of the Sphinx was genuinely really bad.  Anyway, it was fun to do that, and Ye-Ye had an idea for a game where we pass candy canes left and right based on a Christmas story he was reading.  We all sat in a circle and passed candy canes left and right whenever we heard the words "left" or "right."  It had everyone cracking up.

It was a nice evening together, and we'll all get to see each other again tomorrow for Christmas as well.  We rode home with Nana and Ye-Ye, and said Merry Christmas to one another once again.  We got home and checked on NORAD to see where Santa was.  He's getting closer!  It's Christmas time again, here before we knew it.  We set out the cookies and milk, and read a few Christmas stories, including "The Night Before Christmas" once again, and tucked ourselves in for one more long winter's night.  Merry Christmas!