Christmas Parties / Oliver / Christmas Visits / "The Nutcracker" ballet / Symphony / Build-A-Bear / more
Lots of doctors visits and holiday parties this month!
Wednesday 1st - First holiday party of the season for us. Melinda has been waiting to dress little kids up in Christmas clothes for years! Of course that means the first picture with Santa!
Thursday 2nd - First playdate over to the house. Oliver has become X's best friend at school and we have been trying to get him over for a visit. It was a very big deal for X to show off :his room and house. They had a blast - lots of running in circles and screaming wildly.
Saturday 4th - Jack's robotics tournament (he hosted and his kids participated in the second largest qualifying tournament in Texas). The kids enjoyed a drop off daycare for several hours, but also came up to dance and sing with Radio Disney, play with Hexbugs (mini robots) and meet all of Jack's students.
Monday 6th - A & X to their first symphony (O.K., it was just a junior high school holiday orchestra concert where Jack teaches). They did very well, but Anthony really started getting antsy the last 5 minutes. We also had cookies and lemonade after the concert.
Tuesday 7th - A & X (courtesy of the Rickels) got to build a stuffed animal at "Build-A-Bear." If you have not seen this done, basically, you select the shape and hand it off to the technician who pumps the level of stuffing into it that you want. Before sewing it up, you get to select what "heart" it has, sounds it makes, etc. After it is made, you select from a HUGE variety of clothes designed specifically for the stuffed animal, then type up and print out a special "birth certificate." It is a whole experience and very cute. X made the Abominable Snowman (from the old Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer clay animation from the 50's or 60's). A chose Rudoph himself. Both really got into it and played with them for quite awhile.
Right after we did the Build-A-Bear, X and A rode a little "train" around the outdoor shopping mall (Firewheel Station here in Richardson area).
Friday 10th - A & X went on a school field trip (Melinda chaperoning again) to Santa's Village, a very cute little set up here in Richardson. 2nd opportunity for Santa visit / pictures!
Saturday 11th - We all went to the Covenant Kids' Christmas party. Some nice food and a chance to meet "you know who... Santa! (and his wife, Mrs. Claus) and get a third photo with him.
Tuesday 14th - Another playdate with X's buddy, Oliver. More screaming fun!
Thursday 16th - ECI Christmas party - you guessed it, Santa and Mrs. Claus was there. This party had lots of little projects for the kids to do including making gingerbread cookies.
Friday 17th - school Christmas party in the class (but NO Santa for this one).
Saturday 18th - since we have not seen Santa since Thursday... Breakfast with Santa in Nacogdoches for A, X, Melinda and Nanny. Yummy breakfast and yes, more pictures with Santa.
Thursday 23rd - We all go to see "The Nutcracker" performed by the premiere north Texas ballet, Texas Ballet Theater. A lasted for about 15 minutes and then Melinda had to take him to the lobby. X was memorized for the first 45 minutes and even lasted the final 50 minutes after the intermission. During intermission they got to take pictures with the Nutcracker and two rats (all dancers from the ballet). Sorry, no Santa here! Mental note for next year, "take X, not A!"
Friday 24th - Christmas Eve service at church.
Saturday 25th - Early morning Christmas presents at our home with "proof" of Santa's visit (half eaten cookies and milk) with missing reindeer food (hay) and even Santa's dinosaur ate the broccoli that X insisted that we leave! We also had big ash-covered bootprints in the chimney where Santa landed. Big gifts were a bike and other ridding toys.
Later that morning, we went to Grandma and Papa's house for Christmas with them. It was good to see Alex and Erich (my biological sons who are 20 and 23). Alex's gifts were huge hits - a very cool remote-controlled train engine that is very fast and easy enough for a two-year-old to operate. It was used extensively bashing into furniture. Both Erich and especially Alex played well with the A and X. Alex mainly spent time with X and a plastic train set that Grandma had gotten X.
Sunday 26th was the "Burgess" Christmas with Nanny and the Rickels (Kiki (Christi), Corey, Chance and Courtney). Lots of gifts, great food and fun to go around.
Wednesday the 29th and Thursday the 30th we returned to The Farm to spend more time (since we only got about 4 hours on Christmas day). Lots of rides on the golf cart, visiting the ducks, checking out the cows, etc.
What a fun-filled month with lots of visitors and, as you can read, lots of Santas!
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