I knew it had been a while but I was surprised to see I am two weeks behind. School is out for the holidays and the kids are glad to be home. Nate, most of all, is glad to have his brother and best friend home to play with him all day. And so we find ourselves on the final approach to Christmas.
CHOIR MUSICAL. Last Saturday night and Sunday morning the church choir performed a Christmas musical titled Experience Something New This Christmas. The musical told the Christmas story from the point of view of the Biblical character Simeon.
Everyone did a superb job with their acting and singing—including the children’s choirs. The set looked great and all who were on stage were in First Century costume which made the performance all the more powerful. (I was the only one in the family in modern day dress.)
OTHER HOLIDAY HAPPENINGS. We have not had any lack of other Christmas activities in the last two weeks. Several Sunday school classes got together for a combined party last weekend. Rather than play “Dirty Santa” we auctioned off our Christmas gifts with play money. The first grade class had the PTO program this month so Ben was among those singing Christmas songs at school Tuesday before last. The Cub Scouts had their pack meeting/Christmas party Monday night. The Mother’s Day Out program had a Christmas program of their own Wednesday which Nate was part of. Vicki had a YMCA party, and my office had two events, a pot luck lunch last week and a breakfast Tuesday. Whew!
GOLLUM? We all went over to Pauline’s for lunch today. After eating we took care of our present exchange with her. Pauline included a small bag of quarters in her gifts to each of the kids. Nate opened his and was so thrilled he held the bag of coins to his chest and unabashedly shouted, “My precious! My precious money!” over and over again. We were all in shock for a moment before cracking up. I don’t know where it came from but it was a great impression of Tolkien’s character Sméagol from The Lord of the Rings coming from a four year old.
HEALING. I reported a month ago that Jake, our dog, was hit by a car breaking a leg and possible his pelvis. I am happy to report that he is recovering nicely and even felt good enough to shred our newspaper this morning. He still favors his back legs some but is right with any of us whenever we walk to Pauline’s house.
Jake is pretty vocal about his affection. Sometimes when I come out the door in the morning or come home from work he is so excited he barks. Then I bark back and we start this whole conversation. I have no idea what we talk about, but he seems to enjoy it and if I rub behind his ears so much the better.
Vicki is convinced he really spoke to her. She and Jenna were coming in from basketball practice last week and Jake was right there to greet them. Vicki bent down to talk to him in a voice sort of like one she’d use to talk to a baby. In her discourse she kept repeating the question, “Who’s the best do in the whole wide world?” She then said, “Say me!” Jake, who had remained silent up till now, immediately mimmicked her with and extended, “Meeee!” Vicki and Jenna were wide-eyed and tickled with the conversation.
A CHRISTMAS CARD MOMENT. We never could get this on the video camera but what the kids have done this year will live in our memory for years to come. Jenna has been taking piano lessons for about a year and a half now and her repertoire includes several Christmas carols and songs. What is so precious is that Jenna will be practicing (Up on the Housetop seems to be a favorite) and Ben or Nate will come over to the piano and begin to sing. It is both comical and sweet. Jenna can’t quite keep up with them as they sing but they all have a good time singing together anyway.
So with this picture in mind I will close hoping you have a very merry Christmas.
Joe
