Cheaters

We have a tradition in the Brace family which is that we start listening to Christmas music every year on November 15 - my Dad's birthday. For those of you who don't know me or my family that well, Christmas is a HUGE deal. There is no better time of the year. And of course, with Calleigh being much more aware of things this year as compared to last, Christmas takes on an even more exciting aura. I've been counting down the days until the 15th when the season "officially" starts and we can begin playing out music. So imagine my surprise yesterday when I got a call from my dad telling me that he had already listened to some music. Couldn't resist - - the local radio station was already playing it 24/7. I think it may have been just a one time deal on his part but who am I to judge since Duncan, Calleigh and I went to the mall tonight to welcome Santa. There were a bunch of kids performing dances from the Nutcracker before Santa appeared. Calleigh enjoyed watching them. We also saw some mean on stilts and someone dressed up like a cow from Chik Fillet (sp?). Calleigh would only get so close to the cow. She seemed a little suspicious. When Santa appeared out of a large box, Calleigh barely batted an eyelash so that was good. No tears or anything - - of course, she wasn't that close. Her favorite thing of the evening seemed to be the giant Christmas tree that they lit up. It was about 40 feet tall with tons of ornaments. Christmas trees obviously made an impact on her. When we went into JcPenney a few minutes later, she ran up to the Christmas trees on display, said "Christmas trees!" and then said "Oh my!" as she reached out to touch them.

She didn't call Santa Noah when he appeared but we did see a Noah none the less. When we were in the shoe section at Sears, an older gentleman with a big shaggy white beard was walking down the aisle towards us. Calleigh took one look at him and exclaimed "Noah!"

Right now we're sitting here with Toni, Terry, and Shannon watching the Bucket List. Rather, some are watching the Bucket List and some of us are on our computers. Meanwhile, my stomach is feeling very upset. I haven't been throwing up at all but I sure do feel like it right now.

Yesterday Calleigh and I went to the playground that has all the sand. The weather has warmed back up to the high 70's/low 80's so it has been lovely out. This time I took all of our beach toys with us so she would have something to play with. The toys attracted the attention of at least one little girl who came over to play. I did make one little miscalculation. Calleigh was wearing little pants that roll up. When we got home, I noticed all of this sand that was suddenly appearing on the couch. Sure enough, it had all collected in the rolls of her pants and was spilling out.

The last few days Calleigh has taken a big interest in the moon. It has been appearing in the late afternoons, while it's still light out. So now she always wants to go outside to see it. Specifically, she wants to bring her little pink chair outside and sit on it and look at the moon. She wants to do this whether it's day or night. So, we let her trot the chair out and moon-watch.




Finally, the countdown to Sabbath was over and Calleigh could go to Sabbath School today. First, we had a great sermon from Pastor Morris called "Amazing Grace." He had a gentleman, who is about Duncan's age, give his testimony about how he went to jail at age 16 for 10 years but found the Lord while he was there. It was quite a story. If you want to check it out, go to forestlakechurch.org and find the sermon archives. I got to hear the story because Duncan was on Calleigh duty this week. She started crying during the sermon and that was that. But I did play that part of the sermon for these guys tonight.

Sabbath School was going well until Calleigh spotted a walker that was sitting in the corner of the room. Of course, she wanted to sit in it. And she did NOT want to get out. Her little legs were all bent up because the walker is for like an 8-month old but she didn't mind a bit. She insisted on sitting in it for the rest of the program. I pray that the thing has disappeared by next week.

That's all the news for now. Good night!