Happy Holiday Vacation Week....

I wish the whole week could be as peaceful as the first few hours of Sunday morning were. Kids still blissfully asleep. Dogs napping after an early morning snack. Sun rising, Coffee freshly brewed... No mess, No fuss, No noise...

As the 2011 holiday season draws to a close and 2012 fast approaches, here's wishing everyone finds a few peaceful moments this week.

Up to my Eyeballs in Christmas Cookies... Happy Christmas Eve-Eve!

Christmas Magic.

On the drive to the bus stop this morning, my 16-year-old smiles and lets out a sigh., obviously looking for my attention.

"What's up, honey?"

"You know, Mom... I don't believe in Santa anymore," he starts, giving me that sideways glance that all teens seem to perfect.

"Ye-e-e-ah..." I have no idea where he's going with this.

"Well..." There's a long pause as he looks out the window, away from me, before he turns back in my direction. "It just seems to me, that even if there's no Santa Claus, and even if there isn't any snow this week, there's still an awful lot of magic in the air at Christmas time."

I smile. "You're right," I tell him. "There really is."

And that was that. He turned up the volume on the car radio and we listened to Bing Crosby singing about a white Christmas for the rest of the ride. I have no idea where that thought process came from, but I was still smiling on the drive home. Because there is magic in the air at Christmas, and I'm glad he can feel it, too.

Signs of Christmas on Cape Cod...

Holiday Party Time

My mom held her holiday party last Sunday in her new home. Well, they've been there almost a year now, but this is her first Christmas there. As she hasn't been feeling all that energetic lately, she asked us all to pitch in. Of course we all said yes. She picked a date, sent invitations, counted the rsvps, and then got the news from her doctor that he was scheduling her surgery for that Monday.

"But," she said, "He told me I can do anything I want until midnight." So the party went on as planned.

My culinary school sister came down from Vermont to make appetizers and my daughter helped in the kitchen and later served them on silver trays. She also offered coffee and tea as she's in LOVE with my mom's new Keurig.

My sons both dressed up to greet guests and take coats at the door. I set up the bar and played bartender all night. My youngest sister floated around helping out and chatting with the neighbors. The guests all had a wonderful time, and so did my parents.

 And Monday morning, she went to the hospital for surgery. Which went well. And she's doing fine. Yesterday when I was visiting her, I ran into one of the party guests who volunteers at the hospital.

"We were talking about how absolutely wonderful your mom's party was," Tricia told me, "And how none of us can have holiday parties this year, because now we can't compete with that!"

I told her to go visit my mom, and let her know.

Signs of Winter

You know it's really and truly Winter when the Fall sports finally have their Awards Night... okay, maybe this only works with parents of high school athletes, but it was great to finally put a big punctuation mark at the end of the Soccer Season.

My son joined the rest of the Varsity team on stage as their proud coach handed out letters and awards to everyone who played on the Varsity team, whether they had enough game time or not. He said the team performed as a Team and everyone deserved to be honored. Five of the starters were nominated to the All-League team, and one to the All-State team. They had a great season, ending as League champions with an overall record of 17-4, losing in the State Division 1 Semi-Finals to BC High. Not bad for a little team from Cape Cod.

Now we're on to Basketball, with the first game of the season scheduled for next week, and the second game slated for the day before Christmas break.

Definitely Winter.

You Know You're Having a Bad Day When...

A poem for Saturday...

The following acrostic poem was written by my daughter for her 6th grade Health class. I'm not sure if she got the point of the lesson, but it made me laugh...


Responsibility.
Everyone deserves respect.
Stop bullying.
People deserve what you deserve.
Easy way to make friends: Respect them.
Caring, or pretending to anyway.
Treat other like you want to be treated.


What are you laughing about this weekend?

My Girl Scouts Hit the Airwaves...

My Cadette Troop is learning about Media this year, and as part of the journey, we scheduled a visit to our local cable television station - Channel 18 in Harwich. Station Director Jill Mason welcomed them to her control room, and explained how some of the dials and gadgets work, and how some of the "magic" happens... and then...
 

 ...she took them into her Studio, to show them where most of the local access shows are taped, including "Community Journal."

The girls had fun seeing themselves on the live feed in front of the green screen as the director scrolled through a few background photos. They loved sitting behind the Anchor Desk. My daughter kept pitching her voice into cheesy news-mode and saying, "This is Chet Youbetcha..." (the news anchor from Fairly Oddparents, for those of you without kids...)

Then.... she asked if the girls would like to tape a REAL segment to air on this week's Community Journal.

OF COURSE THEY DID!

 She clipped a microphone on each girl and told them to look at the camera with the red light on top. She went back to the control room, leaving me with the camera and headphones to cue the "talent" ....

The girls had a blast. After 3 takes, they did a pretty good job. They thanked the community for making their November blanket drive for the animal shelter a big success, and plugged their craft sale this Friday during the upcoming holiday stroll. They smiled. They had fun.

The segment will officially air on this week's Community Journal, Thursday at 6pm and 8pm and repeated over the weekend. The station manager already uploaded their entire segment to YouTube, including the "bloopers" that will be edited out for the cable show. Listen to all the giggling after the screen fades to black...

Tons of fun for the girls - if you have a scout group, I would definitely recommend checking out your local cable station. A star may be born ;-)

What was the highlight of your week?