Christmas

Christmas has come and gone again. This year was probably the most relaxed that we have had considering the stress everyone is under. No one fought, and everyone was in a good mood. We went to the riverwalk, to the mall to see Santa, and to elictricritters at the zoo. Christmas Eve was spent at Chris' winter wonderland house again. He really outdid himself this year. Check his facebook page if you haven't seen the pictures of his house. I am not sure whether the kids really believe in Santa or they are just pretending to but they aren't ready to give it up yet. In some ways it will be easier when they don't but then that just means they are growing up that much faster. Jessie loves everything about Christmas and I think she is afraid that will take some of the wonder out of it. Brandon worries about too much already and he isn't ready to give up that piece of childhood yet although I am pretty sure he is just going along with it. I made an advent calendar this year with little boxes with items inside that they can use every year and I asked them what each thing made them think of when they saw it and Brandon's answer was Jesus for everything even if it was a snowman. He told me that he didn't need presents this year just being with his family was enough. He still got presents though. It was a little rough without Rachel this year but Chris seemed to get through it fine. This was supposed to be our year and it wasn't but I am grateful that we still have a roof over our heads and were able to give the kids a good Christmas. I know there are many people that couldn't do that. Some day my hope is that we are well enough off that we can do more for the people who don't have much and give more. May next year be blessed and better for everyone.

                                   Jessie got a purple unicorn and a flutterbye fairy from Santa, Brandon has become a master at catching the fairy

                                 Brandon got a rescue helicopter and a antique firetruck

                          The annual Jesus birthday cake

Jessie

Brandon and Jessie were arguing over what the highest mountain in the world was. Brandon thought it was Mt Everest and Jessie thought it was Mt Kilimanjaro. I told Jessie she just likes saying the name and she said no they learned about it school, at least she thought they did. She said, "those darn teachers keep cramming information in my head and I can't keep it all in, I think some is starting to leak out."

Brandon's Scrooge play

Brandon was Marley in their fifth grade Scrooge play. He was very good. He didn't even get flustered when Scrooge forgot her lines. I was very proud of him. I didn't know he could get his voice so low. The only problem was that for almost his whole scene there was a podium in his way and no one could see him until he moved over. I wish the music teacher would think of these kinds of things during plays. Oh well. Here are some pics of him. They has him in black light to make it look more spooky.