My Christmas Baby

I have been having so much fun with this girl, who is almost four.  She charms me.  She is a total ham, a tad mischievous, and has the heart of an older soul. (When asked what she wants for Christmas or her birthday she responds "Whatever you want to give me, I am sure I will love it.")

I have to admit that a lot of days, after I pick her up from preschool, the temptation (while Bronwen naps) is to turn on TV for her, so I can "get things done." I give in to this fake babysitter more often than I care to admit in writing. It's hard to resist the siren song of TV, especially when Madelyn asks for it.

But I have been trying, really trying, not to do this as often.  

This week we've been enjoying mild weather. We've been making up games like "Twirly Hugs" and we finished the Christmas decorating together.

Madelyn was excited when we pulled out this book:

She thought it was stories.  (We're doing the Christmas-book-a-night thing again this year.) I explained that it was Christmas music and that we could go to the piano where I would try to play while she sang.

 Well, be still my beating heart.  She was so into it. I think this will be the highlight of my week.

We sat together for half an hour or so, playing, singing, making mistakes, listening, starting over, and giggling. She loved "Angels We Have Heard on High" (we did it twice), "Once in Royal David's City" (also twice), and "Silent Night" (all three verses at least three times). We both had a blast.

In this book I found an accompaniment for "Away in a Manger" (Madelyn's favorite) that was easy enough for me to play with minimal goof ups. I really, really, really wish I had captured the audio somehow. This was the only carol Madelyn would sing as a solo, and her sweet little voice, perfectly in tune, made my heart melt.

I thought of sitting at the same piano with my mom when I was a girl, doing the same thing. And I know my mother did the same with my grandmother.

All this to say, it pays to turn the TV off. 

And this: to raise the kids in the house with a beautiful piano right here, and leaving it silent, would be a waste of beauty.

So I checked a book out of the library on easy piano lessons for kids.  If the kids won't let me try to teach them, I've got a line on a teacher who will come to the house instead. 

It's going to happen.

My Evening Elf

Bronwen woke up from her afternoon nap ready and raring to go. While her sisters rode bikes and scooters with the neighbors, she explored the front stoop, making it very clear she wanted to do it her way. No sweat, kiddo, I'll sit back and watch.

Almost lost her balance!

 "I'm safe!"

 "Oh, hi Mama! I think I want to go in now."

 "Stay back, stay back! I've got this under control."

"Okay. That was fun. Now I want uppies!"

The Tree

This year we went back to the same tree farm we visited last year.  The first order of business was making sure Bronwen was wearing this outfit:

Because it was the same outfit Jillson wore in 2007, when I dragged my parents out to a tree farm near Hilton Head to get a tree the day after Thanksgiving when The Gutsy Dad was away.  So that's Bronwen above in 2012, and Jillson below in 2007.

Jillson was far more willing to pose with the little trees and spent a lot of time running around, if I remember correctly.  

 Bronwen was not so easily coaxed.

She did not want to pose with her sisters near a little tree.

She did not want to pose with her sisters near the chosen tree.  She only wanted to be held by the photographer.

Phew.  That's better.

When we got home, we realized the tree was about a foot too tall, so the Gutsy Dad had to remove branches from the bottom and chop the trunk again.  Which reminds me I need to use the greens from those branches on our advent wreath...

FYI, the tree fell over shortly after this photo was taken.  No one knocked it over; it just went.  We  broke a lot of ornaments, most of which were basically expendable.  But I was sad to lose our art deco one from Vienna.  Oh well.  The tree is now secure.