Whew, Thanksgiving was hardly in the can before the Christmas stuff came barreling in. Considering that the holiday has been making its presence known in stores since October, it was quite a feat to keep it at bay for so long.
We were lucky that Brian’s parents were still here on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, which is our traditional day to get all the holiday decorations up. (If we don’t do it then, it will never happen at all.)
I had purchased a whole bunch of new “unbreakable” ornament sets at 90%-off after last year’s Christmas, and had . . . kind of forgotten about them. So it was a delightful surprise to find all these shiny new things to put on the tree. Many thanks to patient grandparents who helped stick ornament hooks in the darn things.
Each ornament set came with a few garlands of red tinsel. I’m not a big tinsel fan, so I let the kids choose something else in the house to decorate. They chose the fence around the front yard. Right now, there’s scads of red tinsel woven in, out and around the white picket slats. Very festive.
Meanwhile, Eleanor has written out her Christmas wish list. I found it stuffed under the covers of my bed one evening.
She later explained that this was an either/or list. She’d like a “watch with hands,” but if that’s not possible, then a charm bracelet, and under the dire circumstances that that isn’t possible, she’ll gladly settle for everyone to just have a good time. I’m happy to hear that she has such an easygoing Plan C.
This weekend, the children were in a Nativity pageant as part of the church Christmas party. William is in the yellow-orange headpiece on the right hand side of the front row.
Eleanor is not there, because she was singing with the Seattle Children’s Chorus that morning. Jeffrey’s not there, because he had asked to be the “stage crew,” and operate lights and curtains. Seriously, as soon as he got wind of the pageant, he walked up to the Primary president and specifically asked for that job. They made sure to have a special curtain call just for him.
Santa was also there. (According to photo evidence. I was at the choir concert with Eleanor.)
Eleanor was miffed about missing the pageant and Santa, but then took heart: Santa was also at the neighborhood tree-lighting that same evening. (He arrived on a fire truck! Niiiiice.) So, all was well. “I got to ask him for a watch with hands!” she later reported. Plan A is set to go!
Casa Camisas 