Happy 14th Birthday, Lily!
We’ve had a very interesting evening at
Lily’s birthday party; but before I go there; let’s start with the rest of the
daily update – starting with some morning Christmas fun.
Before even getting around to Tai Chi,
Ethan, Ehlana, and I found out that an Elf on the Shelf and three reindeer Elf
Pets arrived overnight and were waiting for us on the kitchen table. Michael was with us by the time we named our
Elf ‘Sparkle’; since that is very important if you want your Elf to get her –
or his – magic and be able to fly to the North Pole every night and check in
with Santa. I named my reindeer ‘Winter’;
and Ethan and Ehlana went with ‘Snowball’ and ‘Snowflake’ for theirs. While our Elf could lose her magic if we
touch her; our reindeer need lots of love, cuddles, and kisses to save up
Christmas magic in their pendants; so we get to play with them all of the time.
Three Magi Master kids have a lot of magic
to give our Elf Pets too! ;^)
I took my new little reindeer buddy to
school with me, and while Winter and I got razzed about doing that; she was
very popular with the younger kids today – especially when they found out that
Winter is happy to get hugs and kisses from every kid she meets. That helped to make our music practices today
more entertaining; and even getting razzed by Tim and some of the other guys
was fun too. There were elves and
reindeer arriving at other family homes this morning too, and while Zack and Leah
probably had fun with that; Caleb and Sebastian are a bit young to appreciate
the new additions to their Christmas traditions quite yet. I haven’t had a chance to meet the other
elves in the family yet; but I did get a quick report on how that went for
everyone else while I was home between the end of school and the start of Lily’s
party.
Lily’s birthday was the biggest story in
our class today; though the boys were all over the college football action from
the weekend too. The conference
championship games were dissected; and the bowl game decisions were debated –
particularly the new playoff format for the top four teams. While the new format for choosing the college
football champion has changed, the semi-final playoff format hasn’t resolved
every problem; so the teams that were excluded and shunted to less-important
bowl games still have issues with how fair the system is for them.
I don’t really want to write about football
tonight, though, so let’s just move along and leave all of that to the people
who really care about it.
While we did do some school work today too,
the highlights for my day were the music time with the kids and the little
birthday party we had for Lily at lunchtime.
As I mentioned, I was home long enough after school to get the daily
report from Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana – and to get changed and ready for Lily’s
party before Michael picked me up for the walk over to her house. The elf stories were the most entertaining,
but they had a good day too – playing or working at the lab; and having lunch
with Aunt Grace, Uncle Mark, and Caleb to do a little business meeting that was
mostly just to keep Aunt Grace in the loop for what was going on at the lab. I’ll be very surprised if she isn’t stopping
in to do some work there on a regular basis by early January.
That walk, by the way, was a change from
Lily’s party day last year when we had snow; it was colder; and Mom gave us a
ride to her house. Today it was sunny
and close to fifty at party time; though it cooled off quite a bit by the time
we came home tonight.
Pretty much everything at Lily’s party
tonight was teen-normal for around here; though there was some weirdness too
with her new, eighth-grade boyfriend, Reid, making his first party appearance
with our gang of niners. The guys didn’t
get too goofy about that because it is Lily’s birthday – and her parents were
in the house too; but now that I’ve spent a few hours around them outside of
school; I think that Lily and Reid are a pretty good match. Her parents certainly like him; so that’s a
bonus.
The pre-dinner social hour included music
and video gaming in the family room or living room; since we needed to spread
out to have room for everyone – including her family dinner guests. Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I spent about half
of that time together; and the boys were off playing video games for the rest
of the time while Rowen and I chatted with the other girls. Dinner was teen-approved finger foods; with
pizza, wings, and battered fish or chicken strips the main options along with
lots of salads and veggie sides. We
needed to be spread out for that too, and Michael and I were not part of the
group with Lily in the dining room; but we did all gather there when it was
time to do the birthday song; have Lily open her gifts; and then move on again
to have dessert.
It was play time after that, and while
video gaming was still the top entertainment for the guys; there was a bit of
dancing going on in the living room while that was chat-central for the girls –
and couples when the boys weren’t taking a turn with the gaming. I really like Lily, and consider her as much
of a friend as the rest of my non-best-friend classmates; but we’re also
different enough that I doubt we’ll ever run in the same daily friends
circles. That’s okay, and that isn’t
really possible to do with everyone anyway – even in a small town. It’s tough enough trying to find time when
Michael and I can hang out with Rowen and Tim sometimes; and trying to do that
with twenty-five or thirty friends every week would be impossible – even if we
did have places big enough to hang out together around here.
I’m getting side-tracked, though; so let’s
get back to the story. What’s most
important here is that Lily has had a really good day; and everyone at her
party seemed to be happy and having fun too.
My party highlights included a couple of dances with Michael; some
cuddle time with Michael; and sharing a few kisses with Michael here and
there. Are you sensing a pattern here?
;^)
The hang-out time with Lily, Reid, Rowen,
Tim, and the rest of our friends was pretty good too; and it didn’t even seem
like we’d been there all that long before it was time to head home again. It’s a school night; and a fourteenth
birthday milestone did not earn curfew extension for anyone. Add to that the fact that we all had homework
to get done before morning too; and the teen exodus from Lily’s house went
smoothly without any major delays – or at least none that we saw before leaving
somewhere in the middle of the pack.
Michael walked me home, and we shared a
lengthy goodnight hug and kisses on my front porch; but he didn’t come in; and
we’d decided on the walk home to just do our own homework instead of doing that
together. I couldn’t get to that right
away because Mom did my Magi lesson shortly after I got home – while Ethan and
Ehlana were busy writing one of their final exams and Dad was busy with his
homework. I followed that up with some
bedtime fun with my brother and sister; and then came up to my room for some
Jacuzzi and study time multi-tasking.
Since I’m still working ahead to get ready for the Christmas break; that
was more than four and a half hours ago; and I’m predicting that I’ll be doing
another round of self-healing in the morning – which will be in about an hour
and forty-five minutes.
That is pretty much everything I have for
tonight, though; so let’s wrap this up with the Christmas music video thing and
call it a night.
I love some of the music that Pentatonix is
doing, so here’s a second Christmas video from them for my Christmas favorites
this year!
May the Magi Force be with you!
