Little Drummer Boy

Matty singing his most favorite Christmas carol: "Little Drummer Boy."

Or as he likes to call it, "Rum Pum Pum Pum."

(He sort of sounds like the falsetto child from "Overboard.")

A Christmas Tradition

Who doesn't remember toning down the wild anticipation of Christmas Eve with the peaceful, easy tunes of "The Nutcracker" ballet? Well I do. Something about the heart-pounding excitement of that glorious last day of waiting, knowing that Santa was finally just hours away. Then when the sun went down, and the house was lit with candles and crackling fires, and tummies were full, the symphony played on the old reel-to-reel the wordless melodies which rang home the Christmas traditions of family, love and togetherness...Well, at least that's how I remember it. Jennifer took ballet growing up and would try to teach me the right toe points and twirls she did on the local stage. I still remember a photo of her in her costume on the table in Momma and Daddy's bedroom. We girls got new nutcrackers every year for so many years, which adorn my living room now, and with which our son plays each December.

So when Little Mimi and Amanda asked if we wanted to take Matty and Ansley to the Fox Theater to see "The Nutcracker," I was really excited to see it again through his eyes. The children were so charming in their theatre attire this past Sunday. Matty loved the colorful lights in front of the Fox and the enchanting night sky ceiling of the Fox was not missed either. When the lights dimmed and the crowd hushed, Matty and Ansley were all eyes on the stage wondering what was going to happen! Then the dancers, the colors, the music, the effects really seemed to dazzle him as much as I'd hoped. I only wish I had a picture of their little faces. Especially when the snow started to fall on us from above!


I'd been worried that theatre etiquette would be lost on Matty, but he really was so good. The ballet was about twice as long as his attention span I'd say, but he clearly enjoyed it, and as we walked out said, "I really loved the Nutcracker!" At one point during his restlessness I whispered to him if he stayed still and quiet when we got home he could have 2 cookies. So when we got in the car I asked what he wanted to do when we got home, and he replied quite matter-of-factly: "Cookie, Mommy. 2 cookies."

Found a Peanut

"Found a peanut,

found a peanut,

found a peanut just now!

I just now found a peanut…

or, more like 15 thou!"

Happiness Is...

You may remember the Charlie Brown series of books and movies from years ago: "Happiness is…A Warm Puppy," or a Warm Blanket, or Snow Days. Or in our case, Happiness is a sweet little boy watching Snoopy for the first time and giggling his little head off.

Watching "A Charlie Brown Christmas" the other night, Matty cracked up at Snoopy hopping on his grumpy owner's bald head so much we rewound it 3 times. This was the 3rd viewing so his laughter is a bit diluted but it makes me smile all the same.

Need a little Christmas?

Well we did, so this weekend we headed to the Lenny Hunt Christmas Tree lot over by our old house for the 6th year in a row to pick out our special tree. Matty had a grand time playing hide-and-seek in the trees! Unfortunately the lot is on a busy corner and his parents were afraid he was coming a little too close to having to dodge the oncoming traffic, so we did end up spoiling some of his fun.

But if you get the happy pictures, isn't that all that matters?

Texas Turkeys

That was us this Thanksgiving! A bunch of fat and happy birds, strutting around without a care in the world! A holiday in Austin is really the best vacation of all. Fun and family, lots of eating and drinking, sleeping and playing. The ultimate battery recharge and chance to reconnect as a family. Patsy cooked for weeks leading up to our arrival so there was little slaving to be done in the kitchen, but we ate like kings nevertheless! She has the holiday-hosting thing down pat and I plan to follow her lead myself at future holidays (as only an amateur kitchen-comedianne can).

But eating was not the only thing we did. We had lots of chances for play. On Wednesday of course after our arrival, it was off to "Oh My Goodness" house for blocks, bubbles and Patsy's childhood organ. And her backyard is the perfect playground for a small child, his dinosaurs and his imagination! But the most fun feature to the backyard is a "pogo-swing" you might remember from our Christmas card last year. Last year all Matty could do was barely hold on and not fall, but not this year! He was flung around that backyard like a flying frisbee and loved every second of it! In fact it looked so fun, Randi and I were not to be counted out in the fun and managed to hike ourselves up there and get in touch with our own inner children!

Thursday morning, Patsy and I took Matty to the playground for a bit of energy-burning. But my favorite part of the outing was the long nature walk from the car down by the creek. Matty stopped to observe every rock and stick, and as a typical boy all but refused to walk on the path, and braved the rough terrain instead. Along the way we spotted a family Patsy knew down in the creek with all kids and their dog. They were picking up litter on the gorgeous Thanksgiving morning. They said, "for Thanksgiving we are giving back to the earth." I loved that! They also managed to find a dead snake, which they also gave back to the earth!

Then on the the way back to the car, there was an all-too-perfect old live oak that inspired me for a quick photo shoot. I love this picture of our sweet bouncing little boy, dangling from the wise and steady oak.

Friday brought even more fun with a trip to Barton creek, a great playground with an open-air train that rides around for about 30 minutes, complete with Zippy the clown! Poor Matty waited in line for about a half hour to get his dinosaur balloon animal, when our train arrived and we had to go. Bless his heart, he was next in line! But it was fun to watch Zippy not-so-zippily making balloon animals, flowers and swords for other people's children!

Matty also loved a flock of people-friendly pigeons in front of the park's concession stand. There must have been dozens of birds, performing for food. They were so comfortable with all the kids and commotion, one little boy was picking them up, and he let Matty give him a pat on the head.

As you can see there was no shortage of fun. The rest of the time we snuggled, read books, watched the Longhorns conquer the Aggies for maybe the last time. Life was good.