CHRISTMAS IS COMING

Since this is a public diary of sorts, you can now understand why most of my journals are half full. It's been about a month since my last post and the days just fly by, helped along by the fact that there are only a few hours of real daylight. When the sun sets at 3:30 in the afternoon, the day feels like it's winding to a close and I can't seem to get myself out of that mentality. I still do things in the dark with the kids in the house, but it feels like the before and after dinner things that you do instead of afternoon things. Let's see, a lot has happened since my last post. First off, we had a lovely Thanksgiving with many friends in attendance (thanks to Kate Ellis who organized the whole shabang). I made my first turkey for it and Joe was kind enough to overlook it being a little dry on top and a little pink on the bottom. But I was happy it looked fine and tasted pretty good and (shock) fit in my tiny oven. Let me tell you how hard it is to get an 18 pound turkey into a mini oven. I had to redo the aluminum foil because it wouldn't go in with the foil sticking over the sides of the pan at all. All the food at the 'American' Thanksgiving in Scotland was delicious. There was a gaggle of kids running up and down the stairs playing and wherever you looked, little pockets of theologians sat down to chew over food and thoughts.
On to the next. I was excited for the parties in December but the night before the AWF Christmas cookie exchange/white elephant party was to be at my house, my children both decided that barfing the whole night was their m.o. So, I spent all Sunday night holding sick children and throwing most every piece of bedding in the house into the laundry. Monday found me continuing the clean and having to email the ladies to switch the party elsewhere (which Christy graciously did). I stayed home with the kiddos and we watched movies all day. Actually they watched movies all day. I did laundry and walked around the house with a bottle of disinfectant and a sharp eye for any surface I might have missed. By Tuesday I felt like I had gotten the flu in my lower back, which ached, but I was hoping to skip the actual flu. Then Wednesday came and Adam got it. Joy. So, another round of sterilization but Wednesday night was really fun because we had our first felt night. Felt is the new everything. Ha. I'm totally hooked on it because you can make things without sewing or waiting for things to dry for hours. All you need is a glue gun and a dream. I will post pictures of the stockings I've done for the family so you can see how crazy I'm getting. I joke that my house is creeping with felt because I've also made felt ornaments and felt decorations for the kids room.
It's now mid-December and yesterday Mercy and I got to go down to Calvin's school to hear his play of "Whoops-A-Daisy Angel". Calvin is so tall here that he was in the back row looking like a child I barely recognize. When did I suddenly have a 7 year old who looks like this? Where's my toddler whom I thought would always look toddlerish? Even so, I can hear him singing because he doesn't think it's not cool to sing and so he does. Loud. I love it and remind him to smile when he looks at me. You'll see from the pictures. He's having a great time but he concentrates and therefore there's a little furrowed brow going on. Mercy loved the performance. She stood in the aisle and waved to him and twirled when the children sang their songs.
Also, it's been lovely walking down to school most mornings. The light is a strange morning light that is very different from the light in California. It's almost like a winter light in the morning that lasts as long as the daylight lasts. Since the sun rises and drifts over the sky without going over your head, it never gets that warm midday feeling. If you watched the sun here on a time-lapse you would see it rise a little ways and then go straight horizontally across the sky and then sink down again. We're too high for it to go overhead. Strange.
Christmas is coming. We got a package in the mail yesterday from Mema and Baba Nigh. It was so much fun for the kids. A huge box arrived filled with stockings and wrapped presents. As the kids are putting the presents under the tree, we notice one says we can open it right now! They tear it open and it's 'The Night Before Christmas' but it's special. Each page is read out loud by Mema or Baba! They've recorded them and when you turn the page, they read along with you. It is so much fun and the kids have listened to the story at least 5 times each since last night. It brings home closer and we like that around here.
Also, at least once a week, and sometimes twice, my mother sends us a package of books and coloring books and mazes and piano music. I've already got a comparable Agatha Christie collection here and the kids have enough coloring and dot to dots to last them through the next year. We love this too because, not only is it things to do and read, but it lets us know how much Grandma and Papa are thinking of us too. It's nice to get that constant connect with home. Grandma is coming to visit in January because it's just too much time for her to wait till the spring when Papa is coming out too. So, she's coming mid January and we're all excited and preparing her room. We wish Papa could come too, but the fact that he'll be here soon
makes it okay. We're also hosting a former MVCS'er for a few days while he's on vacation from his studies in Spain. So world, you see that it can be done--come visit us! Before you know it we'll be gone and you'll wish you had made the trip. It's hard to spend money on coming to Europe but we're a great excuse. You can start off with Scotland and a free place to stay and then go from there. Go to Dublin, go to London, go to Paris. There's plenty of amazing things to see and do here. All right, I'll stop pestering you all. Will write again soon but until then have a wonderful December.