Grumpy Cat Christmas

We've had time for some new Christmas movies this year, including this Grumpy Cat Christmas special, a fun little gem we picked up earlier this summer and have been holding on to.  It came at just about the right time - we were decorating the tree and watched a few Christmas movies, including "Christmas in Connecticut," and then this one here.  Sometimes you start these movies thinking this is the last time, and in certain cases it is.  In fact, there's a later version of "Christmas in Connecticut" that is just dreadful.  Stick with the 1945 version, folks.  Anyway, this one was surprising fun.  It's really low-budget, but it's a fun seasonal movie that had Nana and Mom laughing out loud a few times.  Me too!  I do miss Grumpy Cat though...

It was a busy day with church work at the office getting costumes together and collecting props and so forth for tomorrow, and for the upcoming Christmas production as well.  I did some writing for the production too, which I have pasted below - it's just the rough draft, and it seemed a little too dramatic, but those I'm writing for seem to like it, so who knows.  It's early in the process, and I'm super flexible about this - no hurt feelings here.

The weather has been colder outside, something you'd expect from winter.  There was even snow in places further north, which of course makes you long for it, but we temper those expectations somewhat.  And yet... if the Braves could win, then maybe we can get ourselves a huge winter for snow.  Right?  

Maddie had Team Edge practice today, and they're getting closer to the day when they actually have to perform.  They've been working super hard on the performance, and it's looking great.  Maddie is just fantastic with a bo staff.  I mean, wow.  She has come a long ways with that, and handles it with such ease.  She's incredible.

We'll post pictures of the main Christmas tree when we finish putting on the ornaments - it's a longer process because it's such a big tree.  I remember wanting a big tree because we had a large area to put it in at our old house.  But the ceiling in the living room at our house here is immense too.  These trees are really nice, and this one is pretty big.  I remember going to see "Santa Clause 2" right after picking up this tree, so I know we've had it for nineteen years now.  It looks real, and it's a great looking tree, even all these years later.  We've saved so much not getting a live tree year after year.  This is the one we had to begin with, and then we added one for Maddie, and then we added one in the piano room, and then there's the Star Wars tree upstairs... we have four trees in our house each year, plus all the nutcrackers, and then the additional lights and decorations.  There's a lot to put up each November!

We read tonight, and we said our prayers.  We have to get to bed early, because tomorrow is going to be a pretty big day at KidPak, then home, and then FCY later on.  Before leaving, here's the promised wording I wrote up for the Christmas production intro.  Again - it's just a rough draft!

     Since the beginning, through the countless centuries in darkness, all of creation waited eagerly with a growing hope blazing deep within.

     And throughout the ages, this hope could not dim, as men and women of God saw brief glimpses of the divine, their spirits lifted by an unrelenting expectation of something magnificent that was yet to come.

     They wrote of a star that would come forth from Jacob, (Numbers 24:7), for unto us a child is born, the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).  He shall be called Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14), and his throne would be established forever (2 Samuel 7:16).

     The long-awaited savior is here.  Imagine now what it felt like as the celestial curtain was pulled aside, with angels singing and radiant beams of God’s love cascading downward.  It is something more than anything anyone could ever hope, or even dream.  The arrival of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, is truly …spectacular.