Yee-haw!

Chick-Fil-A apparently sponsored this morning's herd - you can see Jingle Bell's round-up in front of the new Chick-Fil-A calendar here for a morning surprise.  Each morning, Madison has been looking under the tree this month, and finding a little something in addition to the elf surprise.  This morning's booklet was a huge hit, a collection of those fortune-telling origami things that Madison loves so much.

It was a good day today, real productive for Mommy and Daddy, who are 85% with wrapping for the year.  That's a big deal.  We sat, wrapping and wrapping in our own little assembly line - we'll have to wait and see what Santa brings, but Mommy and Daddy's presents are nearly all done.  We watched a couple of Christmas movies, "Christmas in Connecticut" and "White Christmas," while plugging away at the big pile, wrapping and taking inventory.  We even saw a short movie we hadn't seen before, one we didn't notice on the "Christmas in Connecticut" DVD before.  The movie was called, "A Star in the Night," and it was really good if you're into Christmas movies.  We both enjoyed it a lot, an old movie from 1945.

This morning before school, Daddy drove Madison in so that he could help carry her Paul Revere project in.  Other parents in 3rd grade were doing the same, and Madison's teacher commented that it was like Christmas.  It warmed Daddy's heart to hear the other children in the classroom flocking to her project, telling her how great it looked, that it was "the best in the classroom."  The jury's still out on that, of course.  But the point not to be missed is the encouraging atmosphere in the classroom.  Can't beat that.

Tonight's homework involved some more fluency readings, where Madison sees how much she can read from a particular page in exactly one minute's time.  These are great, because she's really improving with her reading skills, and boy, you should see some of the words she has to cover.  No joke:  one word for this third grader was entrepreneurship.  Imagine having difficulty with speech and trying to get that one out.  Imagine not having difficulty with speech and trying to get that one out!  Seriously, that's a mouthful.  And yet, she's gotten good at saying it, due to the repetition.

We had ballet tonight, and grocery shopping on top of that, so our time was limited after the homework and piano got done.  They did get done, so together we sat down for a Christmas short, "Shrek the Halls," and then it was off to bed to start our newest book, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn."  Madison is already pretty into it.  We'll keep reading that one a bit - Daddy does all the voices, and we just have a great time each night before bed.

And so it was late again.  Mommy and Daddy didn't have that much energy for anything, so we were in bed not long after Madison.  But it was a pretty productive day, so no complaints here!

St. Nicolas Day

St. Nicolas Day is here, and although there was probably some commotion down the street, Krampus did not come visit our house.  Madison was excited to see that inside the boots she left by the fireplace was a whole lot of candy!  Madison got up earlier and just couldn't get back to sleep because she was so excited to see that she got something.  But she wasn't alone - Mommy found her slippers by the fireplace, and a little treasure inside them as well.

Mommy must have been good this year - it's an edible Scrabble game.  All chocolate!

Afterwards, it was another great morning at KidPak, where we continued "A Very Merry Tribes Christmas" with a great service about making room for Jesus.  Part two of our Tribes cartoon continued the story, where our heroes met a Mecha-Santa bent on pelting everyone with bursts of coal, inspiration courtesy of "The Santa Clause 2" and "Merry Madagascar."  The kids just loved it, and are really looking forward to the next two parts leading up to Christmas.

We got home, ate lunch, and though we had plans to do a few different things today, there was one thing we did pretty much, and here it is:

This in fact took longer to do than Paul Revere's actual midnight ride!  Madison wrote a five-paragraph essay on Paul Revere, and pretty much has everything you need to know about the man memorized.  She knows his horse, his friends, his birthday, his occupation, his history - a lot more than we knew about Paul Revere ourselves.  We got all those books from the library for research, and a few more in fact - including that Rush Revere book that she enjoyed quite a bit.  She wrote the paper on Friday, and we went through the revising and editing, and finalized it today.  Then, it was time to work on the creative bit, the poster board and the drawing part.  Mommy was enormously helpful here, though Daddy helped with the lettering up top and finding the pictures Madison needed.  It was very much a team effort, with Madison at the lead.  And it took quite a long time, but we all stuck with it until the end, quite satisfied with the end product.

We finished "Tom Sawyer" tonight, which was something Madison really liked a lot.  So much so that tomorrow night we'll be hitting "Huckleberry Finn" to see what happens next.  Daddy had forgotten all that happened in "Tom Sawyer," so it was a pleasure reading it himself, and Mommy was always nearby to hear it herself.  We last saw these two in "Big River," a few years ago, but Madison wasn't quite old enough to enjoy it yet.  She would today, that's for sure.

So anyway, it was a good day - although a pretty long one!  Mommy and Daddy started watching "The Bishop's Wife" tonight, but almost didn't make it through!  Not because it isn't a good movie - it is - but because we were so tired from the weekend's events.  It was a pretty full one, and it will keep getting more full as we get closer to Christmas.  'Tis the season - but it's a good one!

Ugly Christmas Sweater Day

This morning, Jingle Bell surprised Madison with a little book that let you design your own ugly Christmas sweater, and perhaps to give her a bit of inspiration, he had one on himself!

It was a pretty full day today, one with a bit of work and a bit of piano and a bit of revising a Paul Revere paper as well.  But the biggest event of the day was no doubt another trip to "The Nutcracker." We went to see the Gainesville Ballet's version of the famous production, and enjoyed it very much as always.  It was down at Brenau's Pierce Auditorium, which took us a surprisingly long time to get to because of what we assume is just naturally Christmas traffic this time of year.

Anyway, it was a very enjoyable performance as always, and we were right up there at the front of the balcony in our usual place to see all of it.  The dance just at the end of Act I with all the snowflakes coming down is always a favorite part, which just gets everyone once again in that Christmas spirit.

It's been great watching some of these kids grow over the years, and perform so incredibly well.  Madison really enjoys it too, which is something wonderful to see as well.  And now there's all kinds of themes from "The Nutcracker" playing in our heads, where they'll remain for the rest of this season.  But that's okay - the music has always been so timeless and simply fantastic.

So we got home, and after dinner it was just about time for us to settle down.  We squeezed in some piano practice, and a bit of revising for the Paul Revere paper (as we said above). But after that, we plugged in "The Santa Clause 3," which was an okay sequel to two really good movies before it.  It was still enjoyable, especially the Canada bits and the Yosemite story.  Madison loved the bloopers too.

We read tonight, and once again Injun Joe was foiled once more.  Although we don't know what will become of him, we know that thanks to Huckleberry Finn, old Widow Douglas will be okay.  We'll find out soon enough about the treasure that Huck and Tom were after, that's for sure.  Only a few more chapters of "Tom Sawyer" remain, and Madison is enjoying it mightily, that's for sure.  We'll start on "Huckleberry Finn" next, probably at Madison's insistence.   These are abridged versions of the classics, and the way she's reacting to this one makes us want to go out and get a few more.

And so it's time for bed.  Tonight is the night that St. Nicolas comes to certain parts of Eastern Europe.  And along with St. Nicolas, there's Krampus, who has a major motion picture out this weekend.  We've been marveling at Krampus for a few years now, and how such a hideous monster could have any place whatsoever in the magic of Christmas.  But there he is, right alongside St. Nicolas.  Krampus won't be visiting our house tonight, because Madison has been exceptionally good this year.

Before bedtime, Madison put her boots out in front of the fireplace.  We'll see if St. Nicolas comes by to fill them with candy and goodies.  Also, as a bonus, Daddy put Mommy's slippers in front of the fireplace... maybe she'll get a little something as well!  She's been very good this year!

Chef Elf

It appears as if we'll be making a gingerbread house again soon, this time a festive one that goes with the Christmas holidays (versus the October one we did two months ago).  No matter, as both are tremendous amounts of fun to do together.  Jingle Bell brought this kit, and it looks like he was ready to do some more cooking too by all appearances.

Tonight, we watched "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," and we made those cookies.  There's always so much to do in this Christmas season, isn't there?  Between Nutcracker performances and Nativity Festivals, there's a lot to choose from, and the December calendar can get pretty crowded, pretty fast.  We seriously sit there early in November and pencil in when to do this or that, because there are so many options.  We don't necessarily make it to everything, but that's okay - we just like to know what we can do if we're up for it.  Tonight, it was best to stay home and watch Christmas specials - that's another thing that you need to do this time of year!

Of course, there's school too.  And Christmas plays.  It's a most wonderful time of year.

At least, for us it is.  This is quite a turn in the conversation here, but that's the phrase that really fits:  "quite a turn."  Uncle Dave's condition is deteriorating rapidly.  It's odd how quickly a person can go from healthy to extreme danger.  Systems shut down, and willpower begins to fade.  Uncle Dave is fading, and it is a complicated thing.  His family is hanging in the balance, and no doubt this Christmas is the most challenging one for them yet.  The financial miracles that have taken place have been immensely helpful, of course.  But the source of the problem persists:  cancer.  We just trust God, who knows what He is doing obviously, even when we don't.  We could never possibly understand the Big Plan, and there are pains along the way.  Mommy had cancer too, and with God's help, she beat it.  She beat it while thinking of the hope of adopting Madison some day.  She beat it while dreaming of walking with her little girl.  Yet Dave is not beating it, and things are looking bleak.  We don't talk to Madison much about this, but obviously she'll be a small part of that story soon enough.

Nativity!

This morning started out with a theme of the Nativity, as Jingle Bell had Madison's old set all put into place under the tree, and as you can see above, a spot for him over the stable as the star itself.  This was the theme of the day, in fact, as later on tonight we returned to the Festival of the Nativity here in Gainesville.  

This time around, we brought along Nana and Ye-Ye, who enjoyed it just as much as we did.  There are hundreds of Nativity sets here, each one on display on all those tables you see behind the family above.

There were nice ones, elaborate ones, expensive-looking ones, lavish ones... and then there were others like this one below:

We actually loved this one.  I mean seriously, a garden gnome Nativity set?  Yes, please!  It's fantastic.  But that was just one part of the variety of the night, where you have so many, and from all over the world, too.

These above, you can see are from Russia (in the middle), a small one from Puerto Rico, and there's one from Chile as well.  We spotted them from all the Eastern European countries, one from Hong Kong, and plenty from the different countries in Africa.  Some Nativity Sets actually had giraffes and lions.  And then there were some that just had cats.

This was actually Madison's favorite Nativity Set of the night - it's all cats, which given the play we just saw, might be a theme for the week now.  One of Daddy's favorites was this one below:

The one on top is from Scandinavia (I can't remember which country), and there in front you can see a Native American version.  There were several of those.  They came in all different sizes, and as you can see below, a variety of shapes.

Madison was really into it, reading all the Christmas scriptures loudly and charming all the other visitors as she tends to do.  She had a great time, as did all of us.  Here's one that got her happy:

A Peanuts Christmas indeed!  Anyway, we all enjoyed it, and then the snacks afterwards and the other rooms at the church on top of that.  It's such a pleasant experience, and we were quite happy to drop by once again, as were the grandparents.

The rest of the day was school for Madison, and an allergy shot for Daddy, along with a bit of Christmas shopping for Mommy and Daddy too.  There's a Toy Drive we're having at KidPak, so we picked up a few items for that.

One thing we spent a lot of time on was Madison's Paul Revere project.  We got the rough draft done, and on Saturday we'll revise and edit.  Madison did some piano practice as well, and cleaned her room up somewhat - she was really productive this afternoon!

Then it was time to head out to see the Nativity Sets.  We picked up Nana and Ye-Ye at their house - they're decorating tonight - and then we drove down Green Street here in Gainesville to see the nicely decorated houses.  There's a contest each year, and the decorations are all done very well - nothing terribly gaudy.  Not that we don't like the gaudy stuff, but Green Street is always a bit more stately, and an enjoyable drive that we slow down for.

And that was our day.  Everyone's pretty tired tonight though, so it's off to bed - we're anxious to see what Jingle Bell is up to for tomorrow morning!

Elf Twister

Madison has put "Twister" on Santa's list this year.  The letter has officially been written and sent off to the North Pole - but we don't think this is the version of Twister that she had in mind!  Still, it was a pleasant surprise this morning under the tree, and the sock monkey seems to be having a great time!

Today was Wednesday, which is always a big day driving to and fro.  At KidPak tonight, we were talking about the candy cane, about the symbolism behind the red and white stripes, the shepherd's crook, and the fact that when you turn a candy cane upside down, it becomes a "J."  It was a simple message, combined with our Wisenheimer invention that showed kids what ideal present was perfect for them this Christmas (examples were handerpants and bacon-flavored toothpaste, items of course not quite on the top of Santa's list).

  

It's a busy season, isn't it?  We've got events coming up, things to do and people to see.  So much happens in December and it's all fun.  But meanwhile, there's work to be done - can you believe Daddy is still writing for January?  Today was a lot of deadlines for Daddy, but things turned out good in the evening at least.

Meanwhile, Madison and Mommy were at ballet.  Classes were scarcely populated due to the fact that many of the girls were involved in practice for the upcoming Nutcracker performance.  Madison will more than likely be involved with that next year.  Her instructor, Mrs. Jocelyn, thinks she'll be a great "littlest angel" next year, which would be sweet to see.  Of course, it will be time consuming with all the additional practices, but it will be nice to see her get involved a step further than the typical recitals.  It's just a matter of balancing all the things we have on the calendar in the weeks that lead up to Christmas.  Way back in October, every weekend usually has an opportunity to go and do something seasonal and fun, and we have so many traditions that are fun together as a family.  And yes, there's always the possibility of a new Christmas play at the church, with lots of practices.  The reason we didn't focus on the Nutcracker this year was because we thought we might have a Christmas play at the church, and that would be too much to go to all those practices.  After a month of planning for it, there was a change of direction, and no Christmas play this year.  So we could have done the Nutcracker after all!  And suddenly, we find ourselves with no practices whatsoever for either.  And that's okay - this is the time of year where we can always find plenty of fun things to do.  For example, this weekend we have the Festival of the Nativity and of course the Nutcracker, and KidPak as always.  There's more we can do as well, just because there is so much seasonal festivity going on.  It's the greatest time of year, isn't it?  

Back to ballet:  it was a smaller, and more personal class today.  Madison and her friend were the only ones there, and Mrs. Jocelyn allowed the two to create their own choreography for a dance.  This they did, after a lot of work together.  Both did the performance at the end of the class, and it was creative and beautiful.  Madison, the choreographer!

Jingle Bell's Back in Town!

Yes, he's back!  This morning was like Christmas morning in a way.  We heard Madison's footsteps loudly tromping down the hall, following a trail of candy canes.  They led her down the stairs, and yes, right to Jingle Bell!  He was down there, riding upon a new reindeer friend that we'll apparently be seeing a lot of in the coming days.  What a way to start December, with a bit of magic under the Christmas tree!

Today was rainy.  Go figure.  Lots of rain, and flooding too.  Sound familiar?  This is one of those seasons where we really celebrate those dry and sunny days.  We had piano class once again this afternoon, where Madison is learning a few classical pieces that will sound impressive when she gets them mastered.  That's practice the next few weeks.  We had a bit of work to do when getting home - we're working on Madison's big first project for school, a report on Paul Revere.  There's a lot of research going on - last week, Madison got a bunch of books from the local library, plus movies, plus even some comic books.  This will be an ongoing event this week, our prepping for the big presentation in the class - we'll put the finished project here, of course.  She knows so much about Paul Revere and William Dawes right now, about that fateful night and the midnight ride.  And also about the Boston Tea Party.  It's great watching her learn and absorb so much!

Afterwards, Mommy, Daddy and Madison all gathered together for a board game:  the DVD Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Game!  This is one of those games that rewards you with chips for answering the right questions after DVD clips, or playing games on the DVD.  The first round Madison won easily.  Madison went first and was able to move to the appropriate squares with no problem, and no threat from the Abominable Snowman.  She rolled so well each time that she literally finished the game in four moves.  I know this because Daddy rolled three times, each time rolling a one.  So for the entire game, Daddy moved a total of three spaces, landing on nothing.  This was probably not what the designers of this game envisioned.  It was still fun though.  We played another round, and everyone got to interact with the DVD, and in the end, nobody won:  Bumbles did, by collecting the misfit toys first.

We went to bed early tonight, reading from a new book, "Tom Sawyer."  Daddy found a couple classics that are abridged, and he'll be reading these to Madison the next few weeks, starting with both "Tom Sawyer" and "Huckleberry Finn."  It'll be great for Madison to know those stories, and "Swiss Family Robinson" as well.  These are all great books in preparation for the next trip to the Magic Kingdom, right?

Anyway, after reading from the devotional, it was time for bed.  Mommy and Daddy watched an unexpected episode of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," and were off to bed soon after themselves, wondering just what that elf would do next?