Geographist

Christmas is full of so many wonderful things, but with no school this week I'm not entirely sure the blog title is applicable.  Oh well, we're going with it anyway!  Sunday - For the final Sunday before Christmas, our family lit the church advent candle.  The girls did all the work, with Girly praying, Curly reading Scripture, and Whirly lighting the candles.  These kids are awesome!  After the worship service, Mrs. Geographist went to be with her family to begin planning for her grandmother's funeral while I taught our 5th grade Bible study class.  The girls and I joined them in the afternoon, and some sweet family friends provided a meal for us all.  Monday - After being off for a week, it was time to get back to work.  I spent quite a bit of time answering requests at home while Mrs. Geo returned to help finalize plans with the funeral home and cemetery.  I also took a trip with Girly to the DPS to finally take that pesky learner's permit...

We've reached exam week, so everything on the schedule has been getting topsy-turvy right as we gear up for the much-anticipated Christmas break.  It wasn't just the schedule that was in upheaval, however, as we had a few emotionally tough times.  But we were also treated to several end-of-semester special events, helping to make this a memorable time for good reasons as well. Sunday - We kicked off the week exactly how we finished the prior one: playing a Christmas concert.  Well, actually two of them (for two different services), and the second one gave me the chance to play the same solo that Girly had handled so well on Saturday night.  Would you believe my parents stuck around in a nearby hotel just to catch both solos?  After church was over, we had a nice lunch with Mrs. Geographist's side of the family but had to discuss the health of the family matriarch - Mrs. Geo's grandmother had a heart attack the prior night and was taken from her memory care facil...

 As school begins to wind down, Christmas starts to heat up.  And in Texas, that's not always a figure of speech - it's actually quite warm on most days!  Sunday - It was a strange church service for this dad, as all my girls went to sit with friends during church.  Girly has been doing this for a while now, but Curly spotted a pair of girls from her class whose parents typically sit along the same pew, and asked if she could sit with them.  That was fine by me, but then Whirly piped up and wanted to sit with one of the girls' little brother.  It was a bit of a stretch, but I went along with it to see how everyone would handle themselves.  It wasn't awful, but I think the youngest kiddo has a few more wiggles before we try that experiment again (or at least a longer attention span).  Mrs. Geographist took the teaching reins for our 5th grade class, and it was nice to sit back and watch her do her thing.  I think the kids enjoyed the change of...

Thanksgiving is over and December is upon us.  I hope everyone is overdosing on Bing Crosby, Amy Grant, Michael Bublé, Josh Groban, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, or Wham!  Whatever gets you into the spirit of things, do that. Sunday - It was a pretty significant day at church, as our hymnals finally returned.  The songbooks had been removed from our sanctuary when the campus closed months ago, but it was great to see them back in the pew racks this week.  After lunch at Fuddrucker's, which may be our last as the company seems destined to liquidate soon, we headed home to relax.  Once the sun went down we turned on Christmas Chronicles, which we hadn't seen before, and began decorating our new tree so the inside could look as festive as our front yard (which is currently sporting our new nativity and a few lights we'd picked up at the Christmas store a few weeks ago).  It's a tall, skinny thing but it fits nicely in its little niche and should serve its purpose ...