Today was supposed to be our little before and after school care Christmas performance. I pulled together a bunch of sweet Christmas poems and five Christmas carols and the kids have been practicing and decorating the stage (where our child care is conveniently located) and yesterday things got a little tense as we all realized that we were only one day away from the play and we still hadn't made it all the way through a rehearsal without a stop. I was nervous because we weren't able to get a microphone from the school, and while the kids seemed excited about doing the play, when it actually became a reality their nerves were getting the best of them and I could barely hear their soft little voices over the hum of the gym air conditioning and buzzing of the fluorescent lights. My directorial patience was tried as I tried to keep practices going when the lure of Legos and markers was only inches away, and I felt a little swell of pride when we made it all the way through an acapella version of Silent Night.
Then, this morning I woke up and logged onto the school report website to discover that school had been canceled in our district because of snow. On the one hand, I feel a little sense of relief. There is a pretty high degree of possibility that the show would have been an absolute catastrophe--I honestly had no idea there were so many verses to learn in Up on the Housetop for one thing--but the kids have been talking about a Christmas performance since Thanksgiving and it makes me sad that I wasn't able to deliver on it. And quite frankly, I think the world was looking forward to my directorial debut!
Of course, all of those thoughts ran through my head in the five minutes it took me to dry my hair after the shower I'd already taken and then crawl back into bed to sleep for another four hours. Since then I've done a bit of homework--all I have left is one paper before I finish my third class and then have two weeks off for the holidays--cleaned the kitchen, and watched Love, Actually and Britney caroling on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Quite frankly, as much as I hate the snow itself (that actually turned to rain around 10 am), I could get used to this whole snow day thing.
And if you're wanting to see a little snow, here are some pictures from our very cold and snowy (but beautiful!!) day in Leavenworth. I don't think my feet have ever been as frozen as they were when we got back in the car to go home. I was seriously worried about frostbite for about ten minutes there.
Just a pretty farm house we passed on the way. I thought it looked like it should be on a Christmas card.
Colby made fun of my umbrella until I explained to him that snow is just frozen rain, justifying the use of an umbrella. Then he still made fun of me.
The prettiest Santa I've ever seen. I told him he was lovely because I thought that sounded more masculine. Colby laughed at me. Noticing a trend?
Did I mention that it was cold? And that I almost fell down about nineteen times?
Warming up with peppermint tea and a hot buttered rum. I really wanted to like the hot buttered rum, but I wasn't totally won over.
Baked goods and hot chocolate are just more my style.
And the main event--the town lighting. It was a beautiful lighting ceremony, complete with Christmas carols and a big countdown, and despite the fact that I couldn't feel any of my toes, I really did enjoy our snowy day in Leavenworth.
Oh, and Colby was there too!
