Holiday Hoopla

There have been all sorts of holiday activities since the last post. First, the Kindergarten kids put on a Thanksgiving play, which was actually pretty cute. Half the kids were pilgrims and the other half were Native Americans. Each kid was assigned a line. Abbie was a Native American and her line was, " We will show you the plants that are good to eat." Afterwards there was a Thanksgiving feast. All the parents stood around watching the kids eat, and then when the kids were done, all the hungry parents couldn't help but gobble up their kid's leftovers. It was kind of funny to watch, actually.

The kids had a week off from school at Thanksgiving, but are now back in class and preparing for  Christmas. Yesterday was the tree cutting field trip, which was kinda of lame. Due to the drought, most of the local trees have died and the tree farms have had to ship in trees from other areas, so before the kids arrived yesterday, the tree farm owners propped up a few imported pine trees in the middle of this mostly barren field so that the kids could run around and choose one to "cut down" for their classroom. It was amazing to me that the kids didn't see right through this subterfuge. Regardless, there were plenty of other activities planned, such as relay races, and roasting marshmallows for S'mores.  

All in all it was a good time. At home, we have already decorated the house, and begun the Christmas shopping. Yesterday, after school, I took Abbie shopping so that she could pick out a gift for Emily. We decided on a pillow pet (shhh, don't tell), but there was also a lot of "Why aren't we buying anything for me?" going on. Sigh.

Also, our friendly scout elf, Frisbee, is back this year and Abbie has been enjoying waking up every morning to find Frisbee's latest hiding spot. For those of you who need an elf refresher, see: http://www.elfontheshelf.com/#/home. Emily is also really interested in the elf, which is cute to watch. Of course, Abbie is deathly afraid that Emily will touch the elf (which causes the elf to lose its magic), so she has been pretty protective over her little friend.