Miscellany, with Pictures

Greetings, Gentle Reader(s). Got some pictures, some chat, and some what-have-you this evening.

David left yesterday afternoon. Got e-mail today and he's arrived safely. Before he left, we decorated the tree. Trees.

One main tree (pre-lit and artificial) decorated to the nines by all of us, two little trees (also faux) decked out by the kids, and one pink tree dressed by Lily. They're all clustered in the playroom, with the nativity on the mantel.

We went The Way of the Fake Tree this year because I wanted to put it up while David was still here, but strangely, I wanted a tree that still had needles at Christmas. Now, me, I am not so good with the watering and care of cut trees. Additionally, taking out the real tree after Christmas is a two-person job. I'm burning piney candles, and pretending...

On Tuesday evening, Lily was one of four angels in the school Nativity pageant, which is the Big Annual Event for the Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 classes (pre-K, K, and first grade in the US). Here's a pre-performance shot. She was lovely, of course, very serious and focused. There were also many innkeepers, multitudes of animals, and the Holy Family. My favorite line? "You'll wike the bye-bee" by Mary, who has quite the Norfolk accent. [You'll wake the baby...]

On Wednesday morning, the costume got a repeat wearing when Lily and I woke up early so she could put a green "leafy" crown on and carry coffee and pastries by candlelight to the others in the house for St. Lucia Day.

This is a tradition in Scandinavian countries and I have foggy memories of doing it as a child with my own mom, who was Swedish. The holiday is really on the 13th, but because Dadster was leaving the 13th, we pushed it forward a morning.

D. left on Thursday. We dropped the kids to school, he said goodbye, and I drove him to the terminal. We were able to have lunch together because the plane was delayed coming in.

Then it was back home to collect the kids and head down to the unit's Christmas party. Babysitting was provided, the kids had a great time, and the grownups (that would be me) had a wonderful time. It was a good way to distract ourselves from the farewell.

Today, Lily woke up with a fever so she stayed home with me so as not to contaminate the classmates. Now that the kidlets are in bed, I'm going to read The Ipcress File, by Len Deighton, a golden oldie. A few months back, I watched the movie version, and found it really interesting. Very early Michael Caine.