I ended up putting these pictures on here backwards for some reason....It couldn't possibly be the extremely strong, though very small, glass of wine that's keeping me company here. They'll still tell the story of a good day, though.

Honestly, it was one thing to take pictures here dumping leaves on each other in mid-November, but here it is post-mid-December with us still able to be out at the park playing! This is incredible! Every now and then I find myself thinking that after three record-setting winters with remarkable spring flooding issues that we deserve a winter starting off like this.

And then I correct myself and remember that these good things are not deserved. They are blessings.

53. Fresh, warm air to breathe after a two-week in-house isolation with coughing spasms.

54. Incredibly, record-setting warm air in which to play.

This is how the morning started. Well, no, the morning started with Mommy putting in two braids for Miss Mouse (and ringlets - she was adamant that we needed to wet her hair all down so that it turned into the ringlets of which she is so proud!) and three braids for Sunny. Yes, three. That was a battle I chose not to fight, so she did indeed have three braids for her first Christmas program.

For interest, these pictures show only about half of the children in our Sunday School hour. We are the second, and smallest, hour of Sunday School at our campus on Sundays. Wednesdays are larger. The other service on Sunday is larger. This is why our "program" consisted of this mass of children marching in and singing two songs. If anyone is interested in organizing several thousand kiddos into angels, shepherds, and wisemen, I can put you in contact with the appropriate people!

We spent Saturday evening at the church. In our pajamas.

We, as in Miss Mouse, needed to practice knowing where to stand, how her voice would sound in church, where she would walk in, where Mommy would be, where Mary (the overall leader) would be, just working out all the details. Miss Mouse was also incredibly worked-up because she feared that at the end they would be encouraged to "jump around" (apparently there was an encouragement to jump around after they carrolled at Daddy's Christmas party....Sunny and I were home enjoying each other's coughs at the time....), so once we realized that, Miss Mouse's nerves were pretty much able to be soothed.

Still, Sunny was pretty forceful about wanting to stand right by her sister. Whether that was because Sunny knew Miss Mouse needed her or because Sunny needed Miss Mouse, I'm not sure. Perhaps they just needed each other.

Plus, they matched. Why not stand together when you match?!


My sweet group of girls waiting to go into the church. We were missing one little boy, the brother of the girl in blue. He joined us from his parents' lap in church and promptly returned to their laps after we sang.

What a fun day today turned out to be! Miss Mouse asked me several times throughout the day if she could please, please sing every year?! Last night we weren't sure we were going to get ONE year out of her, but now that she's seen that singing in front comes without any directions or suprises about jumping around, she's ready to go! None of the pictures show the girls doing any actions because I switched to the video camera for that, by the way....Yep, I was definitely that mother!

Really, though, glass of wine notwithstanding, today was a good but exhausting day. For years here I've considered the two-song-Christmas-program to be far less than a "real" program. It's been something I've really mourned about being at such a large church. If someone had told me I would be sitting in the front row, video camera in hand with the other camera slung over my shoulder, grinning like a nut, crazy-proud of my two little Mice for singing two songs....I would never have believed it. Never.

I would never have believed that I would have spent Saturday evening near tears missing my parents. I miss them often, but thankfully we get together usually once a month or at least once every six weeks. But the buildup to today was tough. Way tougher than I would have imagined. See, it never occurred to me that it would be hard not to have my parents here for a program that wasn't even a Christmas program.....Until it became a Christmas program....Until Miss Mouse got nervous....Until it started to really matter to me. Once those things happened, it became very clear that my parents would miss their oldest living granddaughter's first Christmas program ever.

And my grandparents never missed one of my programs. Ever. From 1984-1998, they never missed a program.

So the four hundred miles separating my parents from this little two-song program today seemed extra empty and extra long this weekend.

Then, of course, once it became real to me that this was a program, that this was the first time I would have little girls in fancy dresses with butterflies in their tummies standing up in front of the church, then it hit me that it shouldn't be.

This should have happened two years ago with another little girl, who, I think, would have been tall with curly ringlets, too. There should have been three matching dresses up there today. But,

54. I'm thankful for the two adorable blonds in matching dresses, seriously singing their Christmas songs, holding hands.

Even while I feel the absence of the third,

55. I'm thankful for being able to do two sets of braids, pull on two sets of tights, buckle (inspect the buckling of -) two sets of black dress shoes.

And I'm thankful for my mother- and father-in-law who were here, grandparents celebrating the two-song program, enjoying the beautiful (spring?) weather, playing on park equipment.

56. Living close enough and being close enough to a set of grandparents that they can take in "first moments" like this.

Indeed, even while there are absences, permanent and temporary, that are felt so strongly at certain points, there is still so much for which to be thankful.

57. A friend in charge of our Sunday School who understands when Miss Mouse needs to escape a video-showing to go sit with Daddy in church

58. Playing fetch with the dog in the yard...even if it means stepping in doggy poo.....

59. Grandparents on park equipment. On park equipment.

60. The physical health and strength as well as the emotional ambition to take two girls ice skating by myself. I know enough people with enough difficulties to not take this for granted. What a privilege!

61. Neighbors and friends who can be called on during week-and-a-half illnesses to bring kleenex, honey, thermometers....