Elf Cereal

 

So apparently there's a new Elf on the Shelf themed cereal, and apparently Jingle Bell can't get enough of it, diving headfirst into the box.  We'll have to see just how good this cereal is in the coming days.  Don't worry, because I'm a breakfast monster, and just might have that cereal all gone in a week's time.

Maddie continues to open her LEGO Star Wars advent calendar, putting things together each morning, and looking for the elf wherever he shows up.  That's still the morning ritual, along with prayers and a morning photo.  Lately though, we're getting up a little later.  Or at least Maddie is.  And that's okay - we're not too rushed getting out the door, but it used to be that she would want to get there a lot earlier.  

She had her taekwondo today once more, and we were along for the ride, watching from the observation area.  Maddie is super good with her bō staff lately, twirling it about with precision and speed.  She's still learning a lot of new techniques, and that's the fun of the leadership class, watching bō staffs fly about and hearing all the laugher and calamity.  The black belt class has been fun too - Maddie is going to be doing a bit of testing soon, still progressing with her training.  It won't be long before she's testing for a second degree black belt, which is amazing to think of.  That's about a year and a half away, so let's slow down there.  The point is, she's moving forward, completely committed and having a great time along the way.

We were doing a good bit of work today, towards the Christmas production, and towards KidPak too.  We've been using the fireplace a lot lately, watching some Christmas specials like "Once Upon a Mickey" and "Phineas and Ferb."  I'm using the treadmill a lot lately too, marching along and listening to Christmas podcasts about odd seasonal traditions and the history of songs like "Jingle Bells."  I also got to hear an old radio show "Tarzan" with a Christmas theme to it, which was fun.  

It's difficult in the house with Nana.  We've had to turn down a lot of invitations.  She just wants to be sad all the time, and there's not much we can do about it.  Every morning it's taxing on Mom, who does all she can to keep her distracted and busy.  Nana keeps muttering over and over again about not wanting to be here and so on, and if you don't pay attention to her right now, that gets worse.  It's still a team effort getting her to eat, with all this theater about the wonders of food, and even then the eating comes reluctantly after everyone is pretty worn out and tired of promoting the idea of actually putting food in your mouth, chewing it, and swallowing it.  She's lost.  She follows Mom around everywhere, and makes it impossible for Mom to get anything done during daylight hours.  The end result is that Mom is up doing housework and work on this Christmas play from 10pm to around 3am.  Forget the idea of Mom and I spending time together, because the moment I want to say much to Mom, Nana walks out muttering.  We've lost a lot this year.  2021 has certainly given us more coal in our stocking than candy canes.

It was a school day, and a work day too of course - the Christmas production is inching closer, and we're dealing with leotards, Wise Men shoes, donkey rentals, dancers choreography, lighting and set design - all kinds of things.  It's been frantic, but we're inching towards the finish line, and somewhere around December 13th, we can slow down a bit.

We said our prayers tonight, and we read from our book again.  I think we've just passed page 400 or so, so it's a longer one, but Maddie's right there in the story, usually asking for one more chapter once I wrapped up reading one.  Anyway, we were off to bed after that.  We have another busy day tomorrow.  December is here and we're just racing through it.