Christmastide

In Which: Since Forever is Actually 17 Days

I haven't posted since forever.

Narnia on Tuesday. It was a Christmas present from the Gamgees, which we enjoyed very very very much. I could go on about the movie, but most of the blog readers have already heard my thoughts on it. (in summary: Aslan was insignificant, the Witch wasn't right (read the book if you want to know what I mean), the ugly things were overemphasized and out-of-place, action scenes were added where there were none, and the wolves had American accents.) However, let me say again that the movie as a whole was excellently rendered: ALL the children, the Professor, just fit right into character (the last place I saw Jim Broadbent was as Wackford Squeers in Nicholas Nickleby, but except for the name you'd never know). The movie stuck to the essential plot very well.

Of course, the thing on all our minds right now is CHRISTMAS!!!

Perhaps I'd best give you an idea of what this means in our house...

So.

Because of Christmas,

~Pervinca flees into the pantry with bundles of grocery bags, and into the guest bedroom with the wrapping paper.

~Mama spent hours this morning compiling a family newsletter, plus pictures. No, I haven't read it.

~The mail-box starts exploding. Today we had five letters, including a poem from the Vanderzees (2005-Still Alive), in which Mr. Vanderzee (in a manner quite remarkable) relates all the family news in a poetical and witty fashion (as he has done for decades, it seems); and also including a picture of my new second-cousin once-removed (his father is my second cousin... ?), Colin. If I used simpler terms, I would say that Papa's first cousin is now a grandmother!

~Handel's Messiah, Manheim Steamroller, Edgar Cruz, Brandenburg Concertos, and Vienna Boys Choir carol cheerfully from the living-room stereo (sometimes shuffled all at once).

~Papa reads the gospels and prophets at night.

~We have an advent wreath.

~And for once, we appreciate our large and ugly mantelpiece, because it holds everyone's stockings (if Papa and Mama share one). No, we don't believe that Santa Claus fits through our little stove-pipe.

~Mama sends us on a goodie-baking spree! (If you want to be our friend, we'll send you some. :o)

cinnamon and peppermint taffy (Pervinca)
fudge with walnuts (Pearl)
raspberry macaroons (Brother2)
lemon bars (ME)
hidden mint cookies, complete with special avant-garde frosting selections in pale plum, dark gray, and bright orange o_O (Brother1)
snickerdoodles (Frac)
acorn and candy-cane cookies (Ruby)
butter cookies (Fric)

Except for that last item, these treats have already been made and placed with care in the pantry. Brothers 1 and 2, Fric, and Frac all had considerable help from Perv, me, Pearl, and Mama (respectively). Ruby had a lot of help because her cookies were the most interesting, but she does very well on her own.

~I have lots of time on my hands, but no time on the computer. Hehehee.

~We sing Christmas carols together after supper.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Should I cram everything into one post?

Ah, well. Why not?

I've been using the holidays to catch up my reading. I'm working through Edith Hamilton's Mythology, because I don't know any of it, and it will be on my NLE, and besides, it appears in so many other contexts that I might as well.

Bach's going ok, too. I have one more page before the recap starts. Then I'm done with the first movement (which goes to page 8 of my 11-page score).

Papa brought home yet another encyclopedia of world animals for Frac. He already has one two-inch-thick volume that Mama found somewhere. Now he has a two-volume, glossy-paged, alphabetized version that Papa picked up in a used bookstore. Speaking of parents who know how to give good gifts to children...

Frac sits on the sofa with his big book and usually a big sister too. And he starts talking. Just to talk. "WHATS THAT ONE CALLED? I LIKE HIS EYES! HM-HM-HM! ITS AN ORCA! OH LOOK A BABY ONE... POSSUMS LOOK UGLY. *turns pages* WE SAW ONE OF THOSE ONCE AT THE ZOO" in that twittery little Frac-voice.

This morning I installed Autodesk Inventor 10. It's tremendously huge and complicated-looking. Takes 4 GB to run (not kidding). In essence, it's a computer program that lets you sketch, design, and view in third dimension mechanical parts and machines. The easy part of it works like Microsoft Paint. (I hear condescending laughter, no?) The hard part I don't even know how to find!!!

Thankfully it comes with lots of tutorials and HELP menu options...

Speaking of technical progeny... MP, pastor's youngest daughter, aged four years, makes web-sites. She uses a large ball of yarn and strings it in random directions from end to end of the house. It makes a nifty obstacle course for even the nimblest passer-by.

I have a sore toe. But who wants to hear about that???!

Sono Harris has a good P.E. curriculum. I used the music tape when I was little, but now they have a cd.

Yesterday I put on my Irish dance shoes, and Frac remarked (all of his own) that they were good for playing Swordfish, because they made your foot nice and pointy.

Indeed.

Only in a Home School: Mama brought home two new folding tables from Lowe's. The tables were draped with old vinyl tablecloths in the kitchen for extra counters. The cardboard protective slips were spirited away by a pair of brothers whose Beanie Babies need fortress walls. The rubbery-adhesive label (a picture of a table with accompanying words) was hung on our bedroom wall by a certain Fric, who thought our bedroom wall needed more pictures. And now there's nothing left!

Mama put our Indian Corn out for the squirrels. Brothers 1 and 2 found it, made a makeshift squirrel trap.

COMMERCIAL BREAK

We rented Cats, the musical, from Hastings last weekend. Our opinion was this: Our friends aren't fans of Cats because they watched the movie before they bought the soundtrack. (Personal opinion--The movie doesn't even have Growltiger's Last Stand--It CAN'T be that good! :o)

The movie's not great. And the music in the movie isn't that great, because they re-recorded it. The old soundtrack is brilliant. Regardless. The lyrics are almost 100% T.S. Eliot, from poems he wrote for children which were later compiled in Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Andrew Lloyd Webber just makes it MORE fun and MORE artistic--he doesn't detract anything from the poems he uses. So. Find a used soundtrack or something. It's the best EVER. Especially if you've ever met any real cats.

Also. Kate Rusby: Live from Leeds is lots of fun. We own it, if you want to see it. The instrumentalists shine, the songs are all first-rate Kate specials, and we wasted a whole Saturday afternoon watching them all! The special features include a tour-diary, three (good) interviews, and studio sessions.

I'm really really sorry I've not been posting. More has happened in the past two weeks than in most other weeks. Now, I've just given you all overload, in a very random fashion. Pardon. The computer's been off and I've been happier that way. Except that I've not been able to keep up with friends, whom I love dearly, one and all.

Fifteen minutes til Robotics. I'm in grubby cookie-baking clothes (aprons don't keep my pant-legs clean, so I don't bother wearing them at all).. Also, we're having vegetable soup for dinner, with garlic toast. It smells marvelous.

See you all in Heaven, if nowhere else...

Annie Laurie, aka Pippin, aka Mari, aka Mad Scientist 2...

Oh, and did you hear that we cleaned the Mad Scientists' 1 and 4's bedroom on Monday after chem lab? Hmm? It was a JOB with all caps, and to ice the cake, Mad Scientist 4's Christmas Candy went M-I-A shortly thereafter... But we all had tea and hot chocolate and corn chips with dip for snack afterward and enjoyed the beautiful clean room and played Bible trivia. (which was rather pointedly dispensational and out-of-date... hehe...) The only real disappointment is that Mrs. Gamgee didn't faint at the sight of a floor and a closet that would actually open. :o) Then on Wednesday, we performed a similar operation on our bedroom, which I'd been strenuously avoiding for a week or two... but now it's lovely lovely.

Good night!