The Holiday Showcase!

| December 18, 2015

Today was Sam’s kindergarten showcase. The kids have been working so hard with the music teacher learning all their Christmas songs. Sam told me a lot of them were new songs she did not learn in preschool and she liked that she was doing something new. We all came out to see her — Mark and I, Grandmom and Poppy and Pop Pop. She loves that we all show up for her important things.

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The kids sang their little hearts out. Sam was not as expressive with her hand and arm motions as some of the kids, but she did do the motions. If she hadn’t have been in the front row we never would have seen it though! I was happy that she sang every song.

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In this one they are singing the Dreidel song and she is showing the “made it out of clay” part.

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A few days before the show, Sam asked me if I ever sang Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer in school. When I told her I did, she asked me if I sang the extra parts. I didn’t know what she meant and she explained it to me:

Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer
(reindeer)
Had a very shiny nose
(like a light bulb)
And if you ever saw it
(saw it)
You would even say it glows
(like a flash light)
All of the other reindeer
(reindeer)
Used to laugh and call him names
(like Pinnochio)
They never let poor Rudolph
(Rudolph)
Play in any reindeer games
(like Monopoly)

I said, oh, I know what you mean, but no, I don’t think we sang that part in school. She then told me, “Well, we are going to do that….Ooohhhh. I think Miss Cipolloni said don’t tell our parents so it will be a surprise and I just told you, so…..” It was so cute. She knew she blew it. I assured her that it was good she told me so that when they started singing Rudolph I would pay extra close attention so as not to miss it.

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She was most happy to always tell me about the songs they were going to do with the bells. She is light blue bells (not dark blue!) and when her teacher holds up cards with colored dots on them, they ring their bells. When she first told me about it I said it must be confusing that there are two different colored blue bells and she was very quick to assure me that it is NOT confusing AT ALL! They are professional bell ringers, I suppose….

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The music teacher said to be sure to watch their faces and I could see why. Every kid was concentrating so hard to make sure they rang at the right time.

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There is Miss Cipolloni with her cards. Such stern little faces they all had!

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My little girl, always making hearts for me. 🙂

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It was such a great show. The kids all did so well and looked so adorable in their holiday finest. Sam was in the front and I guess looked so darn cute, they even grabbed her (and a boy) to give the flowers to the music teacher. I asked Sam after if she knew she was going to do that, and she said no. Yeah, well, my kid is cute, what can I say!

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Her whole concert can be found online here, although I will say the video is a little buggy!

Santa Kitties

| December 15, 2015

Oh, these poor kittens! But they do look cute. We can’t help but harass them, just a little. 🙂

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Dear Santa,

| December 14, 2015

Sam wrote her annual letter to Santa asking for the things she wants most. This year, she wrote it on special Peanuts stationary we found at the post office. She also included one of her photos with Santa. She thought he might like it since there are so many photos taken with him and she doesn’t know if he gets to keep any. I had to help her spell everything, but she wrote it herself. She thoughtfully told Santa she’s leave him juice and an apple this year, instead of the traditional cookies and 9 carrots, one for each reindeer. Here it is! I hope she gets everything on her list!

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Tastes like Christmas

| December 14, 2015

I bought some special edition Hershey kisses at Target that have wrappers on them that look like Santa hats. Of course, Sam tries to eat a million a day. Today she asked me if she could have a few and I told her she could. A few minutes later she came to me and said, “Mommy, these don’t taste like Hershey Kisses.” I was just getting ready to flip out because she always has crazy issues with food in some way when she said, with a big smile, “They taste like Christmas!” Love that kid.

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Light Show!

| December 13, 2015

This year my mom and I took Sam on our annual Macy’s light show excursion. Sam was looking forward to it for weeks! She kept asking me when we were going and when the day finally arrived she was thrilled. The light show only runs once every two hours now so we plan it perfectly so we arrive for the first show at 10:00 a.m. We got there early and had a little time to shop and to pose with Snoopy!

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We finally decided we’d better find a spot to sit because it was filling up. Sam passed the time happily by coloring.

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When the show finally started, it was hard to watch. Seeing her face it much more entertaining.

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It’s the same old light show, every year. And I mean that in the most wonderfully affectionate way. If it changed, I’d be heartbroken!

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Sam took most of the pictures this year. She loves taking photos. It’s no wonder she asked Santa for a camera!

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After the light show, we went upstairs to see the Dickens Village. We posed for our annual portrait…

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…then waited in a long line to get into Dickens Village. It was a new set up this year in terms of how they moved the crowd and it seemed to take forever. We finally were about the third family from the entrance and Sam was bursting at the seams. We waited probably 20-30 minutes or so at that point. Then, disaster struck. The fire alarm sounded and they evacuated THE ENTIRE BUILDING. I am sure it was a false alarm, someone leaning on a fire door or something, but the point is, we had to leave, Sam did not really understand what was going on, and she was so upset that she couldn’t see the “puppets” that she almost started to cry. I assured her that the firemen would come and sort it out and that we would come back. So, off we went to an earlier than planned lunch. She was fine when we got there as long as I promised we’d go back to the store later.

Here’s Sammy and her Grandmom at lunch.

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And a fabulous picture of me and my mom that Sam took.

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Thankfully, it was a false alarm and we made it back to the Dickens Village. There was a much shorter line this time since the next light show was going on and we raced right on through the line.  Sam loves these little doors that are “Sam sized.”

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I don’t know why she is so fascinated by this display, but she really does love it.

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Not much scares her, not even the ghosts.

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Watching her gaze in every window is really a pleasure. It makes all the driving into town and the waiting in lines worth every minute.

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One final picture before we go! Bye, eagle! See you next year!

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