I didn’t want to jinx things by writing about it last night,
but it snowed today!
That’s the good news.
The bad is that it won’t stay cold enough between now and Christmas to
keep what we did get around. Most
everyone would probably say that the bad news was actually the fact that we had
freezing rain ahead of the snow, and the roads were a mess all day; but I don’t
drive, and sliding around everywhere you go is a fun, awesome adventure when
you’re a kid. Though this snow won’t
last through the weekend, now that we’ve had some, I’ll risk messing things up
by hoping that the forecast is right for us getting several more inches of snow
on Christmas Day.
I’m (still) dreaming of a white Christmas!
Next up, I’d like to defend myself by pointing out that
Rowen and I were defending ourselves this morning – first from Michael and
Patrick; and later from Michael and Tim.
Yes, I did knock Michael flat into the snow, and landed on top of him,
but he was about to bean Rowen with a snowball, and I had to stop him
somehow. The snow down his back was just
instinct kicking in; and the rest of the ongoing snowball fight we had while
walking to school was just normal kid stuff – not the big deal Aunt Leanne
tried to make it out to be. She should
have just been happy that the girls won and left the rest of it alone.
Aunt Leanne should seriously stop dreaming of getting
Michael Stone and me together for Christmas – especially since he already has
Lisa hoping that he’ll be her boyfriend by then!
Just in case anyone thinks I’m skipping the bad parts of the
day, I actually loved shoveling and salting the porches, sidewalks, and
driveway. Mom and I needed to skip Tai
Chi so I’d have time for that, but getting enough exercise wasn’t a problem today. The weather did slow things down a bit,
though, and the school buses were delayed by up to two hours. Principal Jacobs may have considered
cancelling them, but, as they say, the Christmas show must go on – and it did.
Some of the country kids were driven in by parents while
others waited for the buses to make the rounds, and that made for an even
easier morning for everyone at school with as little as half of the students in
every class. Mrs. Warren put our class
to work helping out in the gym, since so many teens weren’t around to help out
with setting up chairs and the rest of the work to have everything ready for
the show. I know, it sounds like I did
more work than anything else this morning, but setting up the gym really was
fun too.
At the risk of future teasing after Aunt Leanne reads this
some day; my favorite parts of the concert were when Michael was playing guitar
for the songs that some of the younger classes were performing for their
moments to shine during the Christmas show.
He accompanied a couple of special acts too; and there’s a good chance
that he’s the best guitarist in our school.
Yeah, go ahead and tease me, Aunt Leanne, but you were there; and you
know that he really was one of the stars of the show – even if he didn’t do any
solos; and wasn’t trying to show off.
I fell in love today too.
No, not with Michael, though I do love him because he and
Rebecca were my first friends in Witch Falls.
I fell in love with the piano this afternoon – as much as I love the
saxophone. I don’t know what it was that
made that happen – it’s not like I haven’t heard pianos and organs regularly
every week of my entire life; but today I was just captivated and charmed by
the music. I have no idea how I’m going
to fit it into my schedule, but learning to play the piano is definitely
getting added to my to-do list for the New Year.
The Christmas show was a blast, and the gymnasium was full
of fired up kids and teens; proud parents and relatives; and enthusiastic
friends and neighbors. Mom, Aunt Leanne,
and Claire were there with Ethan and Ehlana; along with Miranda, Patricia, and
one of both of the rest of the parents in their usual group of friends. Rowen and I ended up with Ethan and Ehlana
for about half of the show; and they added to the entertainment for all of the
kids around us.
Getting through every ‘class’ act and the solos, duets,
groups, band, and theatre troupe performances took over two hours. That was followed by drinks and Christmas
treats in the cafeteria; and then we were all set free for the day. For me, freedom meant going home and getting
to work on the family business until dinnertime while Rowen was busy at the
computer store.
Mom did an easy-dinner night, we had a little chat with Dad
while cleaning up, and then we met up with Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne and
headed over to the Inn for the last game night
of the year. I’m sure that you can guess
that Miranda was fired up to have Mom as her partner tonight, and she did at
least get the last game night championship win of the year checked off of her
Christmas wish list. I was happy that
she and Mom got the win, but not quite so thrilled to have her help Aunt Leanne
with the teasing after finding out about the snow incident from this morning –
especially since Lisa was there too; and didn’t appreciate overhearing any of
those jokes. Michael looked like he
wasn’t sure if he wanted to go home and hide until the New Year or march me
outside for a snowball fight re-match. I
made sure that a snowball fight on the way home wasn’t an option by getting
Rowen to leave early with me; and I walked her home before continuing on to my
house. I had coffee and hot chocolate
ready by the time Mom, Aunt Leanne, and Uncle Adam got back with the twins; and
we did our bedtime snack and story together before Mom was on her own with us
for the rest of the night.
We did the full bed and bath time with Ethan and Ehlana, and
then Mom and I both headed for our Jacuzzis for some down time. I worked on my computer while in the tub too,
but didn’t really get much done until after climbing in bed with Mandy. I’ve been working for nearly two and a half
hours since then, but I’ve finished everything I wanted to get done before the
holidays plus some extra archive work; and I read one book on playing the piano
just to get a head start on next year.
That’s all I have to report, and I’m somewhere in the
general neighborhood of exhausted, so...
...say ‘goodnight, Cassie’.
“Goodnight, Cassie.”
