Christmas Halloween! Christmas Halloween!

 My little English learner sings "Christmas Halloween" (loudly) and he means "This is Halloween" from The Nightmare Before Christmas and I don't really want anyone to ever correct him, because I like it.

They were enamored by my decoration efforts (Mark's decoration efforts).  They loved the village and chided each other to not touch it.

My same English learner, who switched to belting out Feliz Navidad partway through the day,
wondered if the fluffy fake snow base was real.

I keep thinking actual winter snow is going to blow his mind when/if we get it.

I had set out my Christmas books and they immediately claimed them during silent reading time.  I have The Amazing Christmas Extravaganza and I told them Mark hates that book and would leave the room when I read it aloud when he was little.

Nothing could possibly make a book more enticing.  They wanted me to read it aloud and then all had conjectures about why Mark hates it.

Christmas needs children and I'm glad I have 27 to call my own.

Especially since my actual children are spending their energy on stuff like this:

Weekend

 We are home.  I am happy to be here and very happy that the Christmas season is upon us!

It was kind of a wild trip sleep wise and I am tired, but as trips like that are, it was worth it.

We had a kind of pikkujoulu on Friday night and decorated the Christmas tree. (I think we're going to still have a pikkujoulu 2.0.)  My favorite part was how excited QE was about the tree.  She loved to finger all the ornaments and ask questions about them.  She would tell whoever was listening that she was being VERY gentle.  She said, reverently, "I love Christmas!"

She repeatedly said, "Merry Christmas, Mom and Dad."  She is most definitely the gift that keeps giving.

Saturday we visited with Geri and Megan and then met up with the Johnsons and Jorgensens for lunch.

You can see the contents of my purse on the table next to me because I was keeping QE occupied.

When we were leaving her house, Geri handed me a sandwich bag with a few gingerbread cookies inside.  She said, "You may need these."

And I did.

They kept QE patient so her parents could visit with Dillon and his wife Haley and I could visit with my friends.

I told them that Geri was the master and I was trying to learn everything I could from her.

Stephanie agreed, "You are the padawan."

Janet and Stephanie mean the world to me.  We've been friends for over 20 years and we love each other and we love each others' children and I love that they are in the world.  They teach me about love and grit and grace under fire.

I need all the Jedi masters I can get.

We enjoyed some Thanksgiving leftovers back at Geri's before heading to the airport for our late flight.  We got home at 1:30 AM and I was happy to see my bed.

Yesterday was a very low key day.  Mark wasn't feeling well so he stayed in Provo, but Emma came and we decorated the little tree and part of the big tree.  Mark's coming over tonight to help us finish.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!