end of christmas

Sunday we wrapped up the Christmas show for the year. I was sadder than usual about it - I was bummed my dad couldn't make it to a performance, plus two of my kids are aging out of the children's chorus and they were both really sad. One was my first stage kid and the other was my stage kid this year.

The latter kid was excellent when I started crying during circle (someone told a sappy story, I'm a sucker, what can I say) and was dabbing at my eyes with my scarf. Rather than getting all sympathetic, which would have made the crying worse, he was like, hey, stop using your costume for that. And when I kept doing it, he was like, no, stop, you're going to get makeup on it. Thanks, fifth-grade boy! You scored much higher on that test than the average adult.

Having stage kids is the best. Unlike real kids, they don't require feeding or driving around. They pretty much just show up at circle and on stage, love you, and have other people who take care of their actual needs.

cousins on facebook

One of the unexpected bonuses of Facebook: reconnecting with distant family members. My cousin (actually my dad's cousin's kid, so whatever that makes her to me) M.Dav lives in Kansas, which means I see her once every, oh, 5 to 20 years. But we're buddies on Facebook, so she let me know she was coming to town for a conference, and today we got together for brunch 'n' scrabble. (Actual, real-life scrabble, rather than the usual scrabulous.)

I had what I think was my best scrabble game of all time. Not only did I play all my tiles twice, I also played a wide range of other outstanding plays. End score was Towwas, 483; M.Dav, 225. If only I could've made 15 more points, it would have been truly awesome. (I had two points in my hand when I went out.) This is M.Dav pretending to look depressed over the final board:


We also went shoe shopping at a comfort shoe store in My Little Town (which is the kind of little town that has independently-run comfort shoe stores that also stock a lot of local-made jewelry and guatemalan handcrafts) and, because M.Dav has the same family foot issues I do, she was able to recommend some excellent shoes. My feet are very excited.

merry merry christmas

My parents came over today - for about 12 hours - for many activities, like opening presents (theme: let's give Towwas kitchen stuff), eating, napping, and hanging things:

Here, my dad prepares to use one of the presents he got me - a drill. Power tools! Woo!! I gave him Persepolis, then read the whole thing myself before they left. My mom gave me some Maryland maple syrup, which we compared to the stuff I had from Trader Joe's, and she was right - the Maryland stuff is better. Of course, it also costs twice as much, but it's much tastier.

What was your awesomest present? I guess mine was the drill (with laser guides!), although I am also looking forward to using all the kitchen stuff.