It feels like we just put the Christmas decorations away a few weeks ago. Here we are pulling them back out again. We spent last Sunday afternoon putting our Christmas tree up. Other decorations in the house went up throughout the week and the outdoor stuff went up Saturday. All we lack now is the tree at Aunt Mar’s house.
A DEATH IN THE FAMILY. Pauline’s niece (through marriage), Carolyn Markham, passed away this week. Carolyn and Pauline are about the same age and Pauline considered her a best friend. They maintained their close relationship with frequent phone calls after Pauline moved here in 2003. Carolyn’s health had been failing her. Vicki and Pauline drove to Camden for the funeral yesterday morning and got back in time for church last night. Among Carolyn’s survivors are her husband, Clifford, her mother, Corrine, 3 siblings as well as 3 sons and their families.
CHILDREN’S CHOIRS. Jenna and Ben are both in children’s choirs at church. They both had rehearsals yesterday afternoon and performances last night. The preschool choir dressed in costume as a singing nativity scene. Ben was a shepherd. He really sang out and, thanks to Pauline, looked great. The children’s choir didn’t do costumes but sang well. Jenna has practiced very hard here at home and I think she enjoys singing a lot. Nate didn’t let the fact that he is too young to be in choir stop him from singing where he sat (stood, twirled, climbed, wiggled, crawled. . .you get the idea!)
A CHRISTMAS PARADE. We went to Cross Plains for their annual Christmas parade on Saturday. It was cold and drizzling rain. Now there’s one thing you have to understand about a small town parade--there’s not much to put in the parade. To make up for this you get all the emergency equipment for all the surrounding small towns to come so it’s really loud. (I’ve always wondered who would be on call to fight a fire if one broke out in Orlinda.) And, to make up for the length you either have everyone drive by at 2 MPH or have the parade circle the block and run them back through a second time (as they did in Adams last week).
To get to my point, we stayed in the van until all the fire trucks and police cars went by. While in the van someone mentioned that we would need to get outside so that people riding in the parade would throw candy to us. That’s what made Nate go up to the window and shout, “Hey, fwo candies oveh here!”
If there is an adult present Nate is good about asking if he can have some candy. (It is another story entirely if he stumbles across some candy and no one is around.) What is interesting is how he asks permission to indulge. Rather than asking “Can I have it?” like most kids he holds up the candy and says, “I wanna put it in my mouth.”
AN EMBARRASSING MOMENT. I think I have mentioned before that all the kids at Jenna’s school get to take part in leading the morning announcements on the intercom. Each child gets to do a part like the pledge to the flag, the moment of silence, etc. As they come to the mic they introduce themselves first, giving their name and homeroom teacher. Jenna goes “on the air” tomorrow so Mrs. Phillips had her and the others involved rehearse in front of the class. That’s where Jenna messed up. She started her part by saying, “Hello, my name is Mrs. Phillips...” The good thing is that she had the grace to laugh at herself along with everyone else.
A TIRED THERAPIST. Tonight Ben came up and started scratching my back. I was really enjoying it but after a while he stopped and said, “Daddy, I’m stopping now. I’m worned out.”
Joe
