Tubas for Christmas

Once again we made the trip to the Inner Harbor for Merry Tuba Christmas. Once again the kids were greeted by many odd Santas, given too much candy, and got too tired of standing for us to stay for the entire concert. It was cold, even though we were well bundled, even though we had bought two lovely hot chocolates to share. The music was lovely, though.
Here is Jim's best shot of the tubas here in Baltimore:








And here is Jamie with "gas-mask Santa" (sorry it is blurry, it's hard to take photos with gloves on):

This Santa asked if our kids had been bad or good, and almost immediately Jamie head-butted Jim in the stomach. Dot received a piece of candy, and Jamie received a yo-yo for his bad act... but his happiness was short lived - Santa took the yo-yo back, telling us it was broken, and poor Jamie had to be content with a piece of candy.

"Christmas Facts and Fancies"

From the book 1001 Christmas Facts and Fancies by Alfred C. Hottes:

In Silesia a baby born on Christmas will become either a lawyer or thief.

In Spain everyone is admonished to treat cows very kindly because it is believed that cattle breathed upon the Christ Child to keep Him warm.

A dog which howls on Christmas Eve will go mad within the year.

Take an onion on Christmas Eve and cut it through to form twelve cups. Put salt on each and place in a row, giving each the name of a month. The months in which the salt is found wet on the following morning will be wet, and the contrary.

Eat a raw egg before eating anything else on Christmas morning and you will be able to carry heavy weights.

Some say that he whose appetite gives out first st Christmas dies first.

In Scandinavia some families place all their shoes together, as this will cause them to live in harmony thoughout the year.

Never launder a Christmas present before presenting it, as this take out the good luck.

The perfect present for Jim

Not that it would get done anytime soon...

Find it at Etsy, but expect to pay a lot of money!

homeschool gym class in winter

One good thing about homeschool is that you can be very flexible with the curriculum, especially in gym class. It doesn't matter much what you are doing, as long as the kids are getting exercise on a normal basis. Yeah, playing in the snow counts. Wonderful, isn't it?
You'll find a few more snow photos here.

Too busy for words...

Well, not really - but almost! The holiday season has picked up speed quickly, and is threatening to leave me behind in the dust. How's it treating you?

My new word for this season, which I picked up at Dress A Day, has nothing to do with dresses. The author of that blog has a rather different job - she is also the author of Dictionary Evangelist, which more closely relates to her occupation as a lexicographer. (Yeah, just look it up already.) Anyway, here it is:

Santagnostic

On another note, we treated ourselves this year to a new tv. Our old one (older than our marriage, which is now approaching 12 years) was slowly giving up the ghost. We found a good deal on a LCD model, and we are thoroughly enjoying it. The kids love that there are more PBS stations now, one of which is broadcast in Spanish all day long. You can see the tv (and how clear the picture is!) behind Jamie, who decided that he was not too big for his Snoopy sweater after all.