You know, a week can get away from you before you turn around good, especially this time of year. I don’t think we’ve had but two evenings at home since I last wrote. If we can just survive three more weeks until school is out I think we’ll be able to make it the rest of the way through the holiday season.
On a sort of sad note, one thing that has been on my mind lately is that today marks the 40th anniversary of Dad’s death.
A GREAT THANKSGIVING. We had a really nice Thanksgiving. Will, Darice and their kids came on Thursday after spending the first part of the week in Mississippi visiting other relatives. Pauline and Vicki had all the food prepared and we all (Mom and Aunt Mar included) sat down to a wonderful meal around 6:00.
The visit was pretty typical, their boys slept at our house so all the adults (except me) could play some late night Scrabble. Friday the kids spent a lot of time playing the Game Cube and Vicki and Darice went Christmas shopping. The only damper on the whole visit was that Pauline began feeling ill Friday afternoon and Vicki took her to the hospital. By the next day she was feeling better though.Then the Jones family left and we got down to the business of decorating for Christmas. The whole visit was just so fast!
Saturday night the Yerglers stopped by for a quick visit on their way back home from spending Thanksgiving with family in Michigan.
SCOUTING. I have mentioned before that Ben has become a Cub Scout. His den meets weekly and the whole pack meets at the end of every month. He was awarded his Bobcat patch at the October pack meeting. This last pack meeting he received several beads that show his progress toward his Tiger patch. We haven’t been to the Scout store to buy his uniform yet so he has been wearing my old one, which looks band new. You can tell the style has changed a bit but it fits and gets the job done for now. It has been neat to see him wear it and participate in the Scouting activities.
CHRISTMAS PARADE. Cross Plains had their annual Christmas Parade yesterday. Since Ben is a Scout we were part of the parade this year. All the Tiger Cubs piled into my truck and chunked candy at the poor innocent spectators. We ran out of candy WAY before we got to the end of the route. I had to laugh about using my truck. I bought it exactly 13 years ago today and it now has 176,000 miles on it (and sporting a band new alternator under the hood!). They put us right behind the antique cars, so I guess I made a good segue between the old and the new.
I have joked a little about the Cross Plains parade in years past. I can’t do that this year. It was a nice long parade for a small town and I was surprised at the number of people who had turned out to see it. I think the parade was actually longer than Cross Plains itself! It has grown a lot from its humble beginnings.
CHRISTMAS SHORTS. One thing that has monopolized our schedule this week has been the Children’s Choir musical titled Christmas Shorts. We spent last Sunday afternoon helping to put up the set on the stage at church and they had rehearsals Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings. They had performances last night and this morning. I must say all the kids did really well. I was impressed will all the talent we have.
I was also a very proud father. Jenna was selected to sing with a small group of girls for one song, sang a solo part on another song, and played the character “Burna Wick.” Ben was a “Gift Rapper.” He rapped a few lines and sang when the whole choir was singing. There was also three or four numbers that involved the Preschool Choir so Nate was on stage some too. Did I say I was a proud daddy?
Vicki was one of the stage managers. Backstage can be crazy when your getting 28 kids into three costume changes and cueing them for stage entrances. (Thankfully the preschoolers sat on the front pews.) She had a blast. Everyone is looking forward to the next musical while the lady who directed this one and the previous one is just glad the show is over.
Joe
