Advent Week 4

It was a lovely week filled with festivities and service. 

Saturday ~ Anne had the opportunity to dress up as Marie and attend a viewing of last year's performance of The Nutcracker and The Mouse King. It was shown at an outside venue in our area that has a large movie screen. It was exciting for her to see herself on the big screen. I sat in front of her and her best friend. It was a joy to hear their teen laughter as they laughed at themselves and their tiny mistakes that no one else could see. This event raised a good amount of money for the dance studio.

Anne in the center in the doll dance.

The Nutcracker and a Candy Dancer

Anne is in the center wearing a red cape.

Anne as Marie and JoJo as Fritz

Sunday ~ We celebrated Los Posadas with the breaking of a pinata. It was a great stress releaser to beat the pinata, and the kids loved getting a bit of candy.

Monday ~ We celebrated the Winter Solstice by feeding the birds in our yard. We spread an entire bag of seed in feeders and on the ground for them. We also went to the top of a parking garage downtown to see the convergence of Jupiter and Saturn, also known as the Christmas Star. It was beautiful and very cool to see something that hasn't been seen in 800 years. 

Tuesday ~ On Tuesday we made a bunch of homeless kits and put them in front of tents and on park benches downtown. The need is really great this year. We have always had a high population of homeless people due to our very high cost of living, but I have never seen so many downtown before. This town has its fair share of the working poor and they are really suffering right now. 

Wednesday ~ We enjoyed another drive-thru light show. This one had a more old fashioned vibe and was on a lake. The reflection of the lights on the lake was delightful. 

Thursday ~ Christmas Eve! We had hoped to celebrate Christmas with grandma (my mom) in the carport Christmas afternoon, but forecasters are predicting extremely cold weather and snow. We decided to postpone Christmas with her for a few days. However, I wanted to do something for her now. So we told her we were bringing her dinner with pizzazz. That translated into her favorite pizza with balloons and a confetti cannon attack. She sure was surprised!

We also had pizza and played our newest game, 13 Dead End Drive. It was great fun. Then we watched The Nutcracker followed by watching our church's Christmas Eve service online.

All the Rest ~  It was an art week around here. Elijah started creating flags for all of his friends to wear on their belts when Belegarth activities return. He cut them out of canvas, hemmed them by hand and painted them with acrylics. The first one is shown below.

Tim made me this beautiful beaded ornament. 

Anne entered a pointe shoe artwork contest at the local dance store and won first prize. She painted her pointe shoe with acrylics. The first prize was $200 worth of dance products. She loves the costume bag the best, which looks like a duffle bag and zips out flat with tons of pockets.

The prizes

It looks like we are going to have a white Christmas. A rare treat on Christmas here in the South. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Blessings, Dawn