Our first letter to Santa!

Charlotte and I had a (semi) special moment today and wrote her first letter to Santa. She kept running away and singing and dancing (her default demeanor), so I had to appeal to Apple, our Elf on the Shelf, to remind her that Santa won't know what to bring her without a letter. Finally, we had a workable copy. It was kind of funny to keep reminding her what she wanted (and what's already hiding in our closet, ready for wrapping.) It's also funny to basically tell her what she's getting for Christmas, as she will have forgotten by the 25th. It took a lot of prompting to get her to include some presents for Violet.

The letter, which you can see in the picture, is almost 100% her words, which would explain some of the delusion therein. I mean, she picks Violet up about 47 times a day. For real. I helped her write her name at the end. My mom, the Kindergarten teacher, warned me about giving my child a 9 letter first name, but did I listen? No. And now I pay the price in that she won't be able to write her whole name (and 9 letter middle name, too) until she's in 5th grade. But how freakin' cute is it the "laugh and love" part? And the "fascinating" part?

Did you know that if you look it up online, you can find Santa's address? We have addressed the envelope and will mail it shortly.


In other news, Violet has croup, which has been a kick. This is the second time she's had it, and nighttime is just awful. She and I barely slept last night. We spent some time in a steam bath and she generally woke up every 20 minutes. Charlotte has been stumbling into our room in the middle of the night every night for several months. Quite honestly, we're just too lazy and exhausted to take her back to her room, so we let her stay. That King bed is getting awfully crowded. The answer to all of this is lots and lots of coffee.

Happy but snotty

Between this week and last, I have had to call a couple of hundred students, but today I only have 15 on my list, then we can steam clean our filthy, filthy carpet in preparation for Jason's show choir Christmas party tomorrow night. It's always a fun time. We are headed to Sea World on Saturday to see a former student and amazing friend in the Christmas show, then Jason has Disney's Candlelight with his kids on Sunday. Christmas shopping is almost completely finished! Woo hoo! 

Merry Christmas, everyone!