Day 2302. Today was no ordinary Sunday, and there was no time to sleep. I had set my alarm for just before 9 am. Randy and the kids were having breakfast when I got up but it was time to start moving. The kids all put their Christmas pj's of this year on, while Randy and I just put the tops on. I did Tammy's hair and made sandwiches for Tammy and Emmy and had a bite to eat. At 9:30 am we all left the house.
We took the subway downtown, then walked to the music school. Sammy had been talking about seeing Santa Claus today for days. He was very excited. I was surprised that the music school was still closed, and they actually opened a few minutes after 10 am. The girl who is in the class with them was also there waiting to get in. Emmy went to the entrance and started singing Bells. Suddenly one of the staff members came to the door and opened it up. He should have started singing earlier!
We went inside. The kids were quick to take their coats and shoes off and ran to the classrooms where the fun activities were. Emmy first went to the room where they had musical chairs going. I got Tammy to join him but then she went to the crafts room after all. I then went to get Sammy and took him to the crafts room as well as his own teacher was the one in charge there. I put Sammy next to her, and she helped him with his artwork. Then I went back to the room where Emmy was playing music chairs and actually watched him win.
I returned to the crafts room where Randy was helping Sammy. I left them there and went on to find Emmy in the next room where he had to pin Rudolph's nose on him without seeing anything. I then left again and found Sammy in the musical chairs room. They also had pins set up there. Sammy sat down on the ground and threw the ball at the pins and made them fall over. He had fun doing that. Then I left and found Tammy pinning the nose on Rudolph.
The kids had done everything, and I decided to go to the big room where the main part of the festivities was gonna happen. I grabbed two foam cubes for Randy and I to sit on and carried them to the room. I put them against the wall in the back as that allowed me to stand and film without blocking anyone. The kids continued going from room to room and doing activites over and over, winning candy when they won. Sammy and Randy then soon joined me in the big room. Sammy was still talking about Santa soon coming. We still had to wait in that room for a while. There were cookies and drinks nearby that we were enjoying.
And then everyone was finally filling up the room. Emmy and Tammy were sitting nearby at first but then Emmy went to the front. The director greeted everyone then handed the mic to Sammy's teacher who was leading through the program. She started calling up kids, one by one, and most of them played either the easy or the hard version of Jingle Bells. And then Emmy was called up. He was able to play the hard version pretty well but not perfectly which was why he didn't want to play it - even though another kid had played it a lot worse than he would. He played the easy version and made a mistake right in the beginnig but rectified it and played the rest perfectly.
After a few other kids it was Tammy's turn. The seat was a little too far for her (as it had been for the others) so she ended up playing standing up which was a bit funny. She made a mistake in the middle where she had always been insecure.
After all the kids had played, Sammy's teacher did a Colombian song. They handed out bells to everyone to play along. Sammy's excitement was rising, knowing that Santa was coming soon. The teachers had been saying that the kids had to sing as loud as possible to make Santa come and Sammy had been repeating that. That was the time. They started another song, and then Santa climbed through the window into the room. Sammy looked a little scared and grabbed my arm and held on to it tight. But he wasn't as scared as in the past. Santa said a few words, then he opened his sack and started pulling gifts out and calling out the names written on them. The kids would then come to the front and take their gifts, then had a picture taken with Santa before leaving. One kid after another was called up but not our kids. I felt for them. Tammy and Emmy were sitting way up front.
Nearly all the gifts had been given out when Emmy's name was finally called. He went up there and got his gift and posed with Santa, then stepped down. Soon Tammy was called up, and I think Sammy was the very last one. Randy had already made his way half-way to the front with Sammy and then walked all the way up to Santa and put Sammy in his lap for the picture. Sammy looked a little scared but was brimming from ear to ear. Then Randy carried him back to the back with his gifts where he opened it. Emmy had already opened it and was overjoyed as he'd been asking me for this mazeball for months. Sammy was also very excited when he saw th Mickey Mouse memory game. Tammy hadn't opened hers yet but did it right then. It was a white box so she didn't really know what was inside. I then asked her not to get it all out but showed her a picture on my phone. It was a glowing drawing board that you could draw on and then wipe back off. Perfect for our little artist.
Everyone sang "We wish you a Merry Christmas" even though many people were not paying attention anymore, including our kids, and they were moving out the door. We joined the crowd. It was noon, and we had to get going. Tammy and Emmy changed into their regular clothes, we packed everything up, and then we left. We walked to the subway and got on. Sammy and I got off at our stop while Randy and the others continued on. They had their maths club at 1 pm, so they ate their sandwiches on the way there. And they got there on time.
Sammy was impatient to start playing his game so I opened it up for him. He was playing while I was cooking. He was having so much fun! As for me, I was very tired and glad once the food was in the pot and cooking by itself. A few minutes later Randy returned - just before 1:30 pm. Both boys were hungry, and as Randy had to leave again at 2 pm to pick up Tammy and Emmy, I gave them their food a little earlier than I would have otherwise so the potatoes were still a little crunchy. After Randy was done eating, he left. Sammy continued playing - the game, and with his tablet and my door, and with me, while I was trying to work on pictures and reports.
Around 3 pm Randy returned with the kids. Emmy wanted to show me how his maze worked, and I tried it out. As for Tammy, I set up her lit-up drawing board for her, and she started drawing. It looked beautiful. After a while we all went downstairs for piano practice while Randy was carrying bikes and the like to our basement so we'd have room for the Christmas tree.
Piano practice was not going so well today, with either kid. They were grumpy and didn't want to play again what I asked them. Both quit before they were done. Then they continued playing downstairs while I went upstairs to work on the computer.
It was around 5:30 pm when they all came upstairs, and I went to the kitchen to make their dinner. They ate, then they went into the bathtub. Back out, it was time for advent calendars and the two advent books we read every night. Sunday is the only day that I don't teach at 8 pm so I didn't have to watch the clock. There are sometimes puzzles or things like that on the online advent calendar or in the books, and we make a competition out of them. One book had had a sheet of nice stickers in it, and the winner gets to choose a sticker. However, Emmy is extremely competitive and cannot lose. He has outbursts of anger and cries. Tonight it took them a long time to find the solution to the puzzle but in the end Emmy won. He was very excited. Thankfully Tammy is okay with losing.
But she was very tired, and it was already 8:15 pm. They both went straight to bed, and Tammy was asleep quickly. Sammy was already sleeping. Just Emmy needed longer to fall asleep.
It would have been the night for me to eat salad but I was way too tired so I made soup instead. After having eaten, I went back to work. Now it's after 1 am, and I've got the reports done though there's still a lot of work ahead for me when it comes to the pictures.
