The Hills Are Alive

There’s a right of passage every parent must go through…the glorious children's concerts. At our daycare, they like to fancy it up by calling it the Winter Gala – which I have to say I appreciate because it does make the whole thing feel pretty special.

First up was Dean. I have no pics or video because it was pretty chaotic, plus he kept trying to hit the other kids with his sparkly red top hat. I know this sounds pretty awesome but I felt too ashamed to record it.

So next up came Cha. I only included his grand entrance, which cracked me up because he just lit up when he saw me (it’s not often that I feel this appreciated).

Then the grand finale. Cole channeled his inner Von Trappe child and belted it out for his fans. I’ll spare you the whole song – it feels like it goes on longer than the actual Sound of Music movie - but here’s a little snippet to whet your whistle.

The good news – they all performed much better than years past when we were pretty much boo’d out of the room for our unruly children. And since I didn’t fess up to the crowd that Dean was mine, no one pointed a finger at the mom with the hat-hitting-kid.

Score one for motherhood.

Fa La La La La

On Saturday we hopped on the West Chester Railroad Christmas Train. They have guys playing banjos and everyone sings Christmas carols, then the big man himself makes an appearance.


I'm pretty sure Phil took this picture, although you'd think that it was one of the boys based on the composition (he cut the head off poor Santa).

The train goes to the Glen Mills station and back - once you get to the station everyone lines up to sit with Santa. Cole asked for a truck, Ry played shy, Dean slept, and Charlie fa-reaked out.

The next day we went to cut down our Christmas tree. Ironically, the Christmas Train drove by right when we got to the farm.

Here's our tree in its natural habitat (with Charlie semi-mooning the camera)...

Here Ryan and Phil cut it down...

...and here she sits all lit up in the house.

The idea of decorating the tree played out much more romantically in my head than it happened in real life.

In my head there were carols playing softly in the background as I explained the significance of each ornament to a captive audience. In real life, Cole broke glass all over the floor, Ry got the lights tangled up, and Charlie splashed in the tree stand water.

'Tis the season to be jolly!