Our usual Saturday routine these days includes swim lessons for both kids at UVAC/Splash Park (ok, not very christmasy), lunch in Lebanon somewhere (usually Korean or Mexican if the kids get to pick), and guitar lessons for Aiden. While Aiden was learning "Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer" on the guitar, I took Haley to her first Nutcracker Ballet on Saturday. It was a production called "Clara's Dream" at the Lebanon Opera House- was really well done, and I was so glad that Haley loved it! There were about a billion little girls in the audience and every one of them was rapt. Haley did whisper to me, "Mama, is the nutcracker going to crack the princess's nuts?!" but then the ballerinas started twirling and she was lost in the world of sugar plum fairies and soldier battles under the Christmas tree. They have a tea party you can go to before the production also- it was sold out by the time I bought tickets, but next year I will try to get us tickets to that too.
On Sunday, Aiden and I headed up to Bethlehem, NH, in the White Mountains, to the Rocks Estate Christmas Tree Farm for a day of volunteering. The Rocks Estate is owned by the Forest Society, so staff are encouraged to come up for a busy pre-xmas weekend day and help with the Christmas tree sales. Aiden's and my jobs included keeping the 'smores fire pit full of wood, helping re-stock christmas trees on the selling racks, carting xmas trees to the customer pick-up location, and assisting customers in which trees were balsams and which were fraser firs. It was a busy, chilly day, but there was enough down time for Aiden to eat two bacon-wrapped hot dogs and a basket of fries for lunch, roast his own smores, and go on a horse-drawn wagon ride around the estate. At the end of the day, Aiden found an old potato sack and cut eye and arm holes in it. Then he decorated it with drawings of french fries (?) on the front and "Merry Christmas from the Rocks Estate" on the back and went around waving at customers like he was some crazy ghost of Christmas mascot. Most people laughed, and I think everyone was slightly confused, but he got a kick out of it. Another successful "bring your kid to work" day with Aiden. He and I both look forward to these days now.
We also cut our xmas tree at Elephant Rock, carted it home, and decorated it. It's always fun to unwrap all our old ornaments, some strange and many with their own storied tales to pass on to the kids. Haley was an active participant in the decoration this year, and had about 20 ornaments on one branch before we realized it was scraping the ground and taught her how to spread them around a bit! The house smells like fir tree now, and the kids are well into their advent calendars and scouting for the elf every morning. Feliz Navidad!
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