The kids did not wake up magically cured of pink eye. We did not get to go see William the Defender speak first in a social hall and then pose for photos at an honest-to-goodness castle. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth this morning.
I also realized there had been much gnashing of teeth during the night… as I had a migraine and jaw pain clearly triggered by grinding my teeth in my sleep. Bleah.
So I was an impatient and imperfect mommy today. The kids did gleefully open their advent calendars and our holiday book of the day: Jingle Bell Mice. BabyGirl’s favorite holiday song so far is “Jingle Bells,” and Jingle Bell Mice is simply the lyrics to the song, illustrated with drawings of field mice dashing through the snow in a sleigh pulled by a squirrel. The kids enjoyed it and we sang through it three or four times in succession. Then we made jingle bell bracelets and necklaces by stringing jingle bells on red yarn. I tried to make some on beading elastic but found it impossible to tie a knot that would stay put - even after following the careful stay-put-knot instructions on the back of the package. Anyone have any advice?
We listened to Bing Crosby’s “Jingle Bells” again (on the White Christmas cd) and then we put in our brand new holiday cd: Holiday Spirits by Straight No Chaser, the delightful and now reunited a capella group who performed this wonderful version of the 12 Days of Christmas:
That wasn’t as boring as a typical version, now was it? My favorite sections are the 11th day of Christmas sung to “Carol of the Bells” and the 12th day of Christmas which turns in to “Africa” by Toto. I can’t hear that song - in any version - without laughing out loud. It has one of my all-time favorite misheard lyrics: “I left some brains down in Africa” - thanks to one of my all-time favorite friends, the kids’ Aunt T.
JediBoy read a bit of The Story of the World on his own while I was resting, and the kids both stretched out on the floor to read!
Later, we watched a segment of Math U See Gamma and did a few student pages from Lesson 7. Then I pulled a planned activity from later in the month up to today: How the Grinch Stole Christmas! First I read the book to the kids - and delighted in having two attentive kids snuggled in my lap, laughing out loud at my funny Grinch voice. It was a sublimely happy moment to share this book with my kids.
Then we pulled out the dvd of the classic animated version and watched that together. This time, I was mis-singing lyrics to “Welcome Christmas.” While the Whos are singing their nonsense syllables (da-hoo-do-res) I can only hear the name of one of my Dad’s long-ago colleagues: Karl Voorhees. My parents both used to sing his name to this tune, and I always find myself singing it too.
It was a great relief to me that PisecoDad was able to use a few hours of personal time and come home a bit early. He brought some food for the neglected kids and an air of peace to the unraveling house. We went out after a bit and did a little holiday shopping, and then came home and made shiny cardboard-and-foil ornaments.
We traced a cream cheese lid several times onto cardboard, cut out the circles, covered them with aluminum foil and painted designs on them using corn syrup mixed with food coloring. It was a nice family holiday activity that helped me feel grounded tonight.
