Sunday

Baked all weekend. I certainly hope it is enough to fill all the tins, as I am heartily tired of making sweets.

The kids had what was supposed to be their last practice before the pageant next week. They looked darling, particularly Katie as Mary, but their performance leaves quite a bit to be desired. None of the children seem able to remember what they are supposed to be doing as various parts of the story are read. So we are going to get to church extra early next week get in one more last good practice.
Aside from the cuteness of my kids, there was one other nice thing about the pageant practice. The children are all supposed to sing "What Can I Give Him, Poor as I Am?" They went through it once, and our music director asked if they wanted to sing it through twice for the performance. All of them said "no" except for one girl. This particular girl is enthusiastic but truly can not carry a tune. At all. Her singing makes me wince, and I am not particularly musical. However, the choir director immediately asked her if she would like to do a solo, and then have the other children join her the second time through. She was So Pleased. This is one of the reasons I love our church. There is a wonderful spirit of caring community, which puts a little girl's happiness far ahead of a polished performance (and allows my own sometimes klutzy children to participate in the service as acolytes and even regularly receive sincere sounding compliments for their efforts).

Katie went to a Christmas Tea today at the home of one of our book group members. The mom who hosted the party is wonderfully organized (and has a beautiful home!), and the girls made cookies, played games, drank tea (decaf), and then went to the Christmas parade. They all dressed up in their prettiest Christmas dresses, and looked just as cute as could be. Katie felt very grown up going to this special, girls-only party on her own, and she brought home cookies and candy to Travis.