I'm Bored!

"I'm Bored!" 

The whine reaches my left ear as read languidly.  I smile, a slow dangerous smile.  The offending one looks a little nervous.  "Only boring people get bored."  I reply my pat answer for such rubbish. 

"What can I do?  And DON'T say clean something again."

Though normally these are fighting words, I've been waiting, longing for these words. Why?  Because I want to spend a certain type of time with my kids, and I want it to be their idea. 

Take down the Christmas Tree
Scour the toilet
Write Thank You notes
Make bananna bread?
Learn a new skill?
Would any of these work for you?

The day together flies by.

We feed the birds.

They learn to chain stitch

To mend their own clothes

To make a pillow case

Bored kids make good moms.  I hope they get bored tomorrow.  Maybe they'll learn Latin?  

Programs

One of the many versions of Jingle Bells

They came... the three Christmas programs I was responsible for.  Some classes did well, others shone, and others didn't quite reach their potential.  Still, it is over... and I am left with these debilitating chronic illnesses.  Was it worth it to push myself?  I don't know the answer to that yet.  I have the next several months to think it out.  I do know that I love being a part of my childrens' education, that I love touching young minds, that I both wish I had more interaction with my students and less.  My favorite program was the one in which my own children performed.  Probably because I had the most say in what happened.  I particularly loved watching them interact with their parents and grandparents at the end as they taught them the Zemmer Atic, an Iraeli folk dance.

Learning the Zemmer Atic

I loved seeing them laugh together and share in their educational experience.  Sadly, I had to leave just as it really got going as my next program (a play about the Christmas Train) was about to begin.  Celebrating together is one of the great joys of Christmas.

Live Nativity

Every year I drive by the church advertising the live nativity, three shows a night for 2 weeks.  This is the year.  We'll try it out early in the season. 

First we meet at Jodi's for a cookie and hot cocoa bar. 

Outdoors, under a shelter, we sit on prickly hay bales, stuffed like cattle in a milking stall.  The back half is standing room only.  This must be really good, we think as we wait.

The young adult ward offers this nativity as it's gift to the community each year.  They have a small choir, actors, narrators, and several musical numbers.  The first musical number begins.  The gangling young man and the two young women screech their harmonies and I am embarrassed for them.  How can they bear to sing like that in front of so many people?  The play continues on the same note.  Three earnest wise men, bespectacled, plump, and in towels, TOWELS for crying out loud reverently make their way to see the doll.  This is without a doubt the WORST nativity I have ever seen and that includes all those years of sheeted childhood wonder.  So, why am I crying? 

This humble and honest offering made from over one hundred individuals offering their very best was enough.  The spirit of Christmas was not missing, it was strong, and we smiled as we swam through the crowd to the car.  What I have to offer this season is enough.  It is always enough. 

Little Mother is studying the middle ages.  She chose to do a report on physicians.  She was to create a 3-D showcase of her profession.  She decided she was 3-D and created this lovely outfit. 

We learned that the Beak like thing was stuffed with oils and herbs to keep the physician from becoming ill.  The full length coat, hat, and mask served the same purpose.  Their little glass vase they carried was for urine.  Sadly, the test was performed by the doctor himself who tasted it to give his diagnosis.  Oh the useful facts we gather!