Magical Musical Christmas Weekend

Playing with Daddy after church.

She was so proud of her dress with dogs on it.

She put the hat on herself.

What a wonderful weekend we've been having! We started it off with a visit to the mall Friday night to see a free concert by an area adult band. It wasn't spectacular, but it was fun. Miss Mouse thoroughly enjoyed it! The minute we arrived at the mall, while we were still unbuckling from the car, she started saying "blub, blub, blub, blub" which is her sound for "fish". Naturally, we had to stroll all the way to the other side of the mall to see the giant fish tank! She was so excited to hear the music and see the fish. I think it capped off her week beautifully!

Yesterday morning, I taught a Stephen Ministry class from 8-noon, so Daddy and the Mouse had some individual bonding time. It doesn't happen very often (okay, that's an understatement); they seemed to have had a marvelous time without me! He's been teaching her the "got your nose" gag, so the minute I walked in the door, Miss Mouse bounded over to me with her hand in a fist, pointed at my nose, yelling "nose! nose!". Pretty fun stuff.

Yesterday evening we took off to Enderlin for a community Christmas concert. We were really unsure of how it would go since Miss Mouse threw a 20-minute fit before we left. It started as a protest against changing out of her everyday clothes into her pretty (and soft and comfy) outfit for the Christmas concert. It then degenerated into an out-of-control-not-sure-what-I-want type of fit. Poor thing had refused all snacks after her 1.5 hour nap (that's 30-60 minutes shorter than she usually needs to feel refreshed), so I'm sure she was just completely out-of-sorts. Regardless, I didn't give in to her demands to wear her blue pants, green jacket, and purple socks to the concert, and she wasn't happy about it. Daddy found us sitting on the couch, Miss Mouse screaming, me just sitting waiting for it to pass. Eventually, we were able to calm her down with the promise of Christmas music and crackers in the car. However, we were pretty nervous about whether or not that fit was going to set the tone for the evening! I actually hoped she would nap on the way to the concert.

Instead of napping all the way, Miss Mouse ate crackers...and vastly improved in mood. Funny what a little blood-sugar boost will do, eh? We arrived at the concert and soup supper and were greeted by many friends. It is always sort of like a family reunion going back there; the leaving is the hard part. Anyway, Miss Mouse enjoyed her bowl of chili and more crackers like an absolute, perfect little lady! We sat and visited with friends for about an hour before the concert started. Once Miss Mouse heard the brass warming up, she started bouncing up and down on my lap (she had sat in her booster seat for supper but then was out free for the concert) asking for "more".

The concert was just amazing. In a town of 900 people, there were 49 performers part of the concert, only a couple of whom were not from the immediate area! Pretty cool that over 5% of the town is musical enough to actually get up and perform and that they are also willing to commit to the practices and to being up on stage to do that! There was a band, complete with a brass section, woodwinds, even an oboe. They played some selections themselves and then also accompanied many of the solo performers (which is a pretty cool thing, again, for a soloist to have the opportunity to sing with a full band rather than just a one-instrument accompaniment!). There was also a men's choir which included about three or four high school age boys and several young men from the area. A women's barbershop group (sweet adeline, I guess is the term for the women's version of this style) that I sang with 2.5 years ago also performed. It was exciting to see that it has actually grown in membership and, I think, declined in average age! That is so atypical of small-town community groups! They all sounded great! The entire performance was directed and coordinated by a friend of ours, so that made it even more fun.

Miss Mouse was absolutely perfect through the entire concert. I was sure that at some point, I would need to dig out our bag of toys with some books or crayons or something to amuse her. I was especially sure of this when I realized that the concert was long enough to need an intermission. But....I was wrong. So wrong! She sat on my lap or Daddy's lap, sometimes being a bit of a goofball by throwing herself backwards onto friends' laps (being that these friends "adopted" us into their families when we lived there, they didn't mind one bit!). She's never been much of a clapper, but after every selection, she enthusiastically clapped and asked for "more!". As she got more comfortable, she stood on the floor by our table and 'danced' to the music. By the end of the show, she was 'singing' with the songs. I started to try to shush her, but our friends stopped me, saying that she was just singing and that it was sweet. It's not like it was loud, but I suppose a few people heard it. It didn't appear that anyone minded. I just could not believe how much she enjoyed that concert and how comfortable she was there. She normally doesn't talk in public, but she responded to questions, sang, danced, clapped, laughed....It was terribly fun and very meaningful for me to see. The people down there were family for us...through a lot...and I've been so sad that they don't have as close a role in Miss Mouse's life as I had planned on or hoped for...last night reminded me that it doesn't necessarily matter that she doesn't see them all the time, that simply because her Mommy and Daddy are loved there, she must somehow sense how much she is loved. Even after nearly 2 years away. What a Mouse. What a family. We are blessed.

We stood around visiting for about an hour after the concert ended, so we didn't end up leaving until around 9:30. Surely, we thought, Miss Mouse will fall asleep in the car on the way home. I even got her ready for bed, into her bedtime diaper, etc. Nope, she was much too happy and excited to sleep. She pointed out every large vehicle we met with "bus! bus!", pointed out all the colors of lights we saw, pointed out the green road signs along side of the roads, got really excited about the country church we pass, and didn't really seem tired until we were just about home. Thankfully by that point she was able to stay awake until we reached our house! What a crazy evening it was. She was asleep the minute she closed her eyes....perhaps dreaming of band music?