Signs of the Season

Even without snow on the ground, there's a lot going on at home to keep up my Christmas spirits.

Sure they're old video tapes, but Charlotte doesn't care about clarity. She just likes Snoopy and Mickey. A Charlie Brown Christmas special is right at Charlotte's speed, in fact, you'd be hard pressed to find anything on TV with a slower pace. And every time Donald pulls his sled uphill, Charlotte laughs and asks me, "What's that duck doing, Dad?" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLfTr7DKEBk

Char went to her first Good Time Gang class, and she made a craft all by herself. It's too bad she dropped it before she got home, but I still think her reindeer antler hands are cool.

Daphne does 99.9 percent of our decorating. My one contribution is framing my favorite Xmas record and hanging it up in my room. 

Recorded in 1959, The Surfers' Christmas From Hawaii is full of traditional Christmas songs, great harmonies, and bongos. I found the LP on a mp3 on a "sharity" site back in 2008, and I liked it so much I went out searching for my own copy. I checked Ebay, and fairly clean copies were going for $100. I did a "save search", and an affordable copy came up for sale in May of 2009. 

Yes, you can now buy the Surfer's mp3s at Amazon for a whole lot less, but you won't have anything to hang on your wall. I really like "Here Comes Santa in a Red Canoe" (http://www.amazon.com/Here-Comes-Santa-Claus-Canoe/dp/B001HDYY24), and I'm not the only one.

Charlotte wasn't alive when those kids were singing at their mall, but we did take her to the "Tuba Christmas" performance at our Merle Hay Mall's food court:

Our other "kids" are also represented. Both Maggie's and Brody's stockings are hung by the chimney with care.

But they won't be the star of our show. Come Christmas Eve, the headliner will be wearing red and white - size 4T.

I thought Santa was real the last time Christmas was this much fun.