It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

It just happens to be that the hap-happiest season of all is also the bus-busiest. 

We started the week with two concerts in one night.  Jon took Alyssa to her first orchestra concert while I took Natalie to play her part as a cardinal in "The Animal's Christmas Tree" program.

There's something irresistably adorable about first graders in costumes, singing their songs to their perfectly timed choreography.

Nat's concert was a lovely 25 minutes long and since the 5th graders were playing last, we were able to race across town to watch Alyssa.  We found Jon in auditorium and sat down just as the conductor was gesturing for the kids to raise their instruments.

I was anticipating a lot of squawks and squeaks but was impressed to hear real music coming from Alyssa's ginormous group of string players.  So fun to see--and hear.

Also this week was Caleb's Christmas choir concert.  My favorite part was "O Holy Night."  Not just because they did the song well, but also because they sang lyrics about Christ's birth at a school function.  I didn't know they could get away with that, but I loved it.

On Thursday, Alyssa graduated from D.A.R.E.  The kids sang some really great songs that they had written about staying drug-free.  Then they collected their certificates. (They had to stand in alphabetical order so, wouldn't you know it, she ended up behind the tallest kid in the class.  Can you see her little head in the second row?)

This is Officer Smith that taught the program to the fifth graders at our school:



The next day, Alyssa helped lead the school sing-along.  She and several of her friends took turns leading the actions on lots of fun holiday songs but on Jingle Bell Rock she took the microphone.

 

That night she worked with Tom Koll at gymnastics.  He's a celebrity of sorts in the world of Junior Olympic gymnastics.  He's the chairman of the JO committee, the creator of the compulsory routines and a judge of the highest ranking.  Tom looked at Alyssa's beam and floor routines and gave critiques on how they can be improved.

Saturday morning, Natalie and I got to spend four more hours learning from Mr. Tom's expertise as he worked with our Level 4 team.



Each of the girls on my team did one event for Tom.  Natalie did vault and even though Tom is the self-proclaimed toughest-judge-in-the-country, he gave Natalie a 9.4.  Now if she could just master that posture that he looks for on beam and floor.

Phew!  What a week.  Busy.  Very busy.  But so much fun. 

And we still have Christmas to look forward to.  A wonderful time of the year, indeed.