Table Scraps: 3 day, 3 photos.

The snow is continuing....everthing is blanketed in a thick garb of fresh white. I would guess that there is 2 feet sitting on the top of our grill on the deck, and you can barely see the trees and bushes outside. I'm glad I didn't waste time putting up all the Christmas lights this year!

Only 3 more days! The excitement here is definitely building, but there is also a sense of calm and peace. 2 weeks off together. Most of the gifts--except stocking stuffers--purchased and many of them wrapped. It is a much different feel than those years we are frantically trying to finish our shopping on Christmas Eve...and it feels really good! I remember the year when I was late for the Christmas Eve service at church (I was singing!) because Matt was standing in line buying last-minute gifts. Oh, I hope those memories (and stress) are long in the past. As I grow older, peace and quiet and the whole "Silent Night" part of Christmas are what I treasure.

In honor of there being only 3 days until Christmas, I thought I would share 3 photos of the past week. The first one is our trip to the Live Nativity at the Critter Barn on Thursday night. It is a perfect place to take kids, because they have lots of hands-on opportunities to hold baby chicks and ducks, to play with bunnies, to pet and feed cows and goats, and (though this is NOT my favorite part of the barn) to go into the cat room and play with cats of all sizes. At Christmas, they stage a live nativity, and we have gone several times over the years with the kids. While I am sure this barn is much cleaner and warmer than the original stable-cave where Jesus was bornin Bethlethem, it at least gives you perspective on how things might have looked and smelled and felt.

Last night, we braved the elements to go downtown to the Devos Performance Hall for closing night of the Nutcracker. It was a suberb dance and musical performance, and Kennedy was mesmerized. After, we picked out a Nutcracker to commemorate her first time at the ballet, and we decided to start a new mother-daughter tradition of coming to the Nutcracker each year and adding a new nutcracker to a collection. I have always thought nutcrackers were rather mean and ugly looking, and I just learned why. In Germany, a woodcarver made a nutcracker to give to his young son, and he made it look fierce and frightening (with teeth) to signify protection from harm. Hmmmmm, OK, so I guess they aren't so bad after all. This one is a Christmas nutcracker and look really festive on our mantel.