Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Then There's This

Not sure any commentary is needed . . . .

Tis the Season

It has been a busy couple of weeks from Thanksgiving till now as we count down the days of December. The weekend after Turkey Day we went to Tucson for a night to get away and go to one of JP’s Cyclocross races. It was a fun jaunt and I’ll share some pictures of the quick trip when I get a chance. The rest of our days have been filled with wrapping up soccer and shuttling Pickle to rehearsal for her Nutcracker performance which finally culminated this past weekend. She had a run through on Friday night, dress rehearsal Saturday morning, a performance Saturday night and then finally the matinee on Sunday. I think she had a lot of fun and did a great job as a Mouse battling the toy soldiers.

I volunteered to help on Saturday night backstage which meant I spent over 3 hours in a tiny room with 25 ballerinas aged 4 to 8 helping get them dressed – undressed – and redressed. We also had to keep them quiet and entertained when they were not on stage.

Luckily my friend Cathy joined me and she brought her magic box of crafts. The girls made cards which definitely kept them entertained but also made a huge mess. As stressful and exhausting as it was, I was excited to be a part of that night for Pickle. The family attended her performance on Sunday afternoon and it was a very well done production and the mice were fantastic! She was not able to come back out in costume at the end of the show Sunday, but I did snap this quick one before she went on stage Saturday night.

Also this month Pickle participated in a Holiday Concert at school. We got to attend and listen to a short program of holiday themed songs. She was really, really excited about it but I think had a bit of stage fright as she looked scared and quiet up there. Unfortunately I did not get great pictures during the presentation but we did get some cute ones at the end. These are her buddies from Kindergarten.

We found time to decorate our tree this past Sunday night. We put out a fun snack dinner to eat while we decorated and I had everyone put on Christmas pajamas from last year so they would look cute in pictures. However, we failed to take pictures. Oh well, the tree looks great and I finally have somewhere to put the presents that have been piling up already!

And finally we worked in a trip to see Santa this afternoon after school. Most of the holiday cards are in the mail, almost all presents have been shipped to Louisiana, and we just have a few presents left to buy (I like saving some shopping to do with my mother-in-law in the festive days before Christmas). We are in good shape and getting to enjoy most evenings snuggled up to drink eggnog and watch Christmas specials on TV.

Otis Arrived

Otis made a very timely appearance this year arriving for December 1st while we were out of town. We had taken a short one-night trip to Tucson for a bike race and when we got home on Sunday morning Otis was waiting and watching. He brought along several new Christmas books and an empty box with a nice note to the kids instructing them to gather some of their toys to donate to other children.

The girls were excited about this task and wasted no time in filling the box with items, but the Boy was not as generous. I think he may have some hoarding tendencies passed down from his Dad or just too sentimental about things. We will have to work on him.