A Charlie Brown Christmas Tree -

You can't really see it from this angle, but our sad little tree leans.  A LOT.  When we lived in the North...and had real trees...they always seemed to lean too.  I really don't understand it.  Over the years we have tried every tree stand known to man...from our very first Christmas tree when we lived in Colorado and I cut down a tree.  Myself.  And dragged it to the house.  And then realized we didn't have (and couldn't even afford!) a stand, so I propped my little tree in a pot of water and leaned it against a wall....to the gorgeous trees we've bought over the years and the expensive stands...they always seem to end up leaning.  Sometimes they would start out straight and a curious dog or cat would "investigate" and cause the tree to lean.  Sometimes, we could never really figure out WHY it was leaning.  The moral of this long, boring story?  We've never had a problem with leaning trees with the fabulous, pre-lit, fake artificial tree.  Which also does not drop needles.  Just saying!

Paige was invited to attend a performance of The Nutcracker this morning by another friend from Ballet. She had a great time watching for a change, and ran into one of her friends from the Florida Ballet, which was nice!  I spent a lovely morning ALL ALONE.  Running errands, etc.  Clay has had several quizzes and tests in various subjects this week.  In my opinion, he wasn't doing enough studying and when I would ask him, he would just tell me he "was ready".   Naturally, that wasn't good enough for me and I admit to a bit of motherly nagging.  He had a French quiz today.  Long time readers may remember that French was his nemesis last year, so I was very concerned.  I expressed this NORMAL, TYPICAL concern in my usual way:  I nagged him the entire way to school this morning.  "Clay, you just need to start putting more effort in.  You're never going to get into a good college with this type of attitude"  Blah Blah Blah.  So, when I picked him up from school this afternoon I noticed a bit of a smirk on his face.  And a very smug expression.  He informed me as he got into the car that he got a 106 on his French quiz.  When I congratulated him, he muttered under his breath, "I told you I knew it."  He had a pop-quiz in Honors English today and he got a 94 on that.  His AP Human Geography quiz earlier this week?  A 90.   WOOOOO HOOOOO!!!!!!!  Obviously, my nagging is working and I should definitely keep it up.  Right?

STILL exhausted...

...and a teeny, tiny bit "Nutcrackered" out!  So....not too much to say...I'll let the photos do the talking!

Top photo - Nutcracker party scene.  Paige is in the dark green dress on the right.

Middle photo - Just LOOK at those adorable sausage curls!  Did we do an awesome job with the hair, or what?

Bottom photo - Backstage.  So that's what they are doing back there!

Exhausted!

This morning we got up and curled Paige's hair.  Actually, we curled her hair a couple of times...because her hair is very fine, and does not really hold a curl.  So it took TWO tries (and a lot of hairspray) to get those adorable sausage curls.  Some of the girls have hairpieces that go over their buns, but Paige has such gorgeous long hair - I felt sure we could make those curls work!!  We had to be at a local elementary school by 8:15 to perform excerpts from the Nutcracker.  Twice.  Tomorrow she will do two performances at two schools.  The entire day will be Nutcracker.

These aren't the best photos...the top one is her waiting in the cafeteria in between performances....

The middle photo is really bad...poor lighting....but I love how her skirt is twirling out.  When I was a little girl, I LOVED big, full, twirly skirts.

That's all the news from here.  I'm waiting for our Christmas cards to arrive from Snapfish so I can get going on those.  Nasty, rainy weather for this afternoon.  I think when I pick Clay up this afternoon we will put the car in the garage and BE DONE for the day!!

Christmas Trivia

I confess - I am copying my friend Suzette here.  She did this on her blog, and I thought it was a cute idea.  Plus, I couldn't think of anything else to blog about.

Best Childhood gift from Santa:  Baby Tender Love!!  I can't remember if I was 7 or 8, but I remember wanting a Baby Tender Love sooooo muuuch!!!!!  I loved that doll.  I wonder what ever happened to her?

For giggles, I though I'd put a photo of Tim's favorite gift.  OK, I don't really know if the machine gun was his favorite, I'm just guessing.  I sure heard a lot of stories about that thing though!

Christmas Cookie:  Yes, please.  Just kidding...I don't really know if I have a favorite.  I think I'll stick with classic Toll House Chocolate Chip - they can't be beat!

Icky Christmas Memory:  4th Grade. I had a terrible ear infection and felt terrible.  I woke up and went looking for my mom because my ear was hurting so badly, and found - SANTA!!  I mean, my MOM!!  MY MOM WAS SANTA!!!  OK, I was in the 4th grade, so I DID sort of suspect - but I still was terribly shocked and disappointed.  Sigh.

Church:  Christmas Eve candlelight service.

Pet Peeve:  Christmas letters.  Oh, don't get me wrong - I love getting them and love hearing about what's going on.  I'm talking about the ones that give you a daily update for the past year.  C'mon people, a BRIEF synopsis please!!

Real or Fake:  Both.  When we've lived in cooler climates, it was real all the way baby!  The first Christmas after we moved to Florida we bought a real tree...which did NOT last until Christmas, pine needles everywhere, ugh.  So, we have since discovered the joys of a pre-lit fake tree and pine scented spray. Although, this year we are doing a real REAL tree (the previously mentioned several times Norfolk Island Pine/Charlie Brown Christmas Tree).

CD:  Tim and I love Trans-Siberian Orchestra...but still, The Nutcracker is a classic.  I also love Josh Grobin.

Now it's your turn...tell me about your Christmas memories and trivia!!

It's beginning to look a bit like Christmas....

I haven't gotten all of the decorations out....but here are a few of my Santas from my Santa Claus collection, and a few nutcrackers from the NC collection....I'm still working on our little Charlie Brown tree.  AKA the Norfolk Island Pine that is substituting for our usual Christmas tree this year.  I ran up to Publix the other day just to buy a small strand of lights.  Unfortunately, I bought icicle lights which, well, don't work so great on a tree.

I felt so much better on Thanksgiving that I thought I was finally getting over this cold.  Not.  I have been terribly congested the past couple of days and suffering from a sinus headache.  I hate colds.

Yesterday the kids went downtown with Ging Ging (my mother).  She got a hotel room and they had a little party to watch the boat parade and the fireworks.  My great Aunt Helen and cousins all came and brought a ton of food (according to Clay, who we all know is RULED by his stomach these days!)  Hopefully, they got some great photos which we will be able to post later...

Tim and I enjoyed the peace and quiet, got Chinese takeout from Ming Moon, and went to bed early.  Pathetic, aren't we?