The long week---Part Two

Wednesday. Because all the children(remember there were six in the house) put out their shoes for St. Nick the night before, we woke at the bright hour of 6:45. Mostly to the shrieks of the child who did NOT get a mini skateboarder in his shoe. I managed to drag myself downstairs at 7:30 to semi-silence. The two year old had hidden himself in a corner with ALL the mini skateboarders. New gloves and toboggan hats were scattered all over the floor, as were broken pieces of candy cane. There is something truly indecent about stepping on a crunchy candy cane before 8 AM.

With the promise of a wonderful homeschool field trip ahead, we manged to get everyone to eat cereal, find pairs to the new gloves and get dressed warmly. The weather promised us 40 degrees and it did turn out to be a nice day. We were headed for the BEACH. Since Ohio weather prevents actual swimming during December, we were going to enjoy their Holiday Fest. For a reasonable group rate, we were able to ice skate (and yup, I went around twice without falling), a tractor driven hayride (the horses reserved for the paying customers at night,) a merry go round, paddle boat rides and the toboggan slide. Yes, that's me in the picture. I didn't realize until later that my hat was pulled up in a goofy point. None of the children pointed this out to me at the time--so I went around all day looking like something the elves kicked out of the North Pole. (No wonder the guy in the ticket booth said, no, I'll remember you, when I asked if I could go out to the car.)

We had a super good time, it stayed warm and I rushed home in time to go to the singing Christmas tree with a friend.

Thursday---Our guests were gone so we looked forward to a nice, relaxing day of schoolwork. (Some of us more than others.) We got a freak snowstorm so the boys were primed to work fast. The fact that the sun came out, melting some provided further motivation. They managed a skimpy snowman when they stopped to help Grandpa put Christmas lights on the porches.

This brings us to the annual "Lost Christmas Light Fiasco." Never, as long as I can remember have we EVER found the lights before Christmas without a search. Sometimes a long search. Sister #1 had hoped to avoid the annual repetition by buying news lights. Still, those lights were somewhere and by gum, the men in the family were going to find them. They tore up the basement going through about 50 plastic bins. The coat hall was next, then the search moved out to their domain--the garage and paper room.

We call it the paper room because about 20 years ago we use to roll newspapers in it. Now, it's crammed with everything from a piano, old bikes, bins and various cans of nails and rusty screws deemed too valuable to toss away. You can imagine their delight when one bin of Christmas lights marked "summer toys" was unearthed. The fact that only two stands of twenty worked did not diminish their pleasure. THEY WERE RIGHT and we had HIDDEN the lights.

I'm sure it's childish but I shall have my revenge. I KNOW where all the Christmas tree ornaments are!

The long week, Part 3 tomorrow. . . .