Saturday, November 28, 2015

November 28 – “A Window into a Vaughan Thanksgiving”

OK.  Here goes.  Wild and furious, just like the day … Josiah was back after his bout with a bug.  He explained the whole thing to me: “See, DadDad, I was sick.  101 per cent.  But then I was barely even sick – just 99 per cent.”  Got it.  And welcome back.  We missed your considerable addendums to our chronicle of festivities.

Finally it was time to trim the Christmas tree.  Kel crawled up into the attic and passed down box after box of ornaments, lights, and festive displays.  As the tree finally began to make its appearance, The Beach Boys Christmas Album followed by Christmas with the Chipmunks, all played on what is apparently now an antique contraption called a CD player.  All a part of our family tradition for decorating Nani and DadDad’s tree.  Chris and I added a little surprise to the festive atmosphere.  We showed off a few of the swing dancing moves to showcase our considerable skill set in that arena.  Rumor has it that a video has made its way onto FaceBook. 

The kiddos attacked putting up the tree this year with a vengeance.  Especially Kel, which was an unexpected delight.  He’s usually just a little bit Scrooge-y when it comes to tree decorating here.  Maybe the secret is doing ours before they do theirs.  That way he isn’t already burnt out.  Ah, but such sweet memories of Christmases past.  Soft music.  Two-year-old Noa singing along with her own melody and words.  Beautiful.  At one point Noa picked up a ball of lit tree lights and exclaimed, “I love this.”  Quite the serene and idyllic scenario … until I turned on the wet-dry vac to pick up the few thousand errant tree needles strewn about the floor.  Josh was doing his best with the broom, but that vacuum, loud as it was, made quick of the mess.  It just kind of overwhelmed the mood.  Oh, and then our last strand of Christmas lights shorted out.  Could have been a catastrophe, but Kel and Christina picked up a replacement on their afternoon shopping extravaganza.  Nathan and April snuck away as well to get in some shopping of their own.  Afternoon grandparent duty … check.

Now onto afternoon fun.  Uncle Josh organized a BB gun contest over in 40 Steps.  I know … “Your gonna shoot your eye out.”  Let me say up front that all eyes came through intact.
 Came down to Zak and Micah in the finals.  Zak took the most cans hit.  Micah took the award for most hits to Barbie’s head.  Well, to the picture of her head on the Barbie box.  What’s that?  Oh.  I found an old box for the guys to shoot at.  It just so happened that it happened to be the one that Barbie Hook’s replacement clone came in.  They pretty much ignored the cans after the first round, though.  Hey, it was a bunch of boys, right?  Christi and Luke watched from our driveway.  Something about a safer environment.  Meanwhile Cailyn and Noa organized the kids’ kitchen out in the back yard.  Nani and Luke joined them for some bird watching and swinging. 

We went over to Kel and Christina’s for supper.  Caleb rode with us.  When we pulled up he hopped out of the car and said, “Well, let’s go meet this house … literally.”  (It was the first time they have been to their cousins’ new house).  But as he approached the garage door he became a little confused.  “How do you meet a house with no door?” After a brief search he located the front door and we all went inside.  The experience was a fun one organized strictly for the kiddos.  We didn’t even turn on the football game until almost 7:30.  Of course we had checked in and found out that the game had been postponed because of lightning, but that certainly had nothing to do with our brave decision to forego football in favor of Minecraft for the kids.  Christina ordered some pizza.  They played hide and seek outside and then in the house.  They switched to video games.  Caleb was especially interested in this aspect of the evening entertainment, because he had been told that “Jachin and Micah have a real X-Box 360.”  On the drive over that was all he could talk about (before he started dozing off, that is).  Once, when he took a breath, Nani asked him just how was X-Box 360 different from plain old X-Box.  He had an answer right away.  “That’s easy.  It is considerably more technologically advanced.”  He is six.

James 4:17 says, “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.”


Father, thank you for technological advancements and the six-year-old operations manuals that come with them.  Amen.

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