Caroling

The other night, the local Girl Scout troupe came down our street caroling.

(I had been forewarned that they would be coming - the leader is a friend of mine. And I asked if I could hand out hot apple cider to the singers, and was told that would be a very nice touch.)

So after supper, while Ken took Skip out to a "performance Kung Fu seminar" (think David Carradine meets Steven Segal, and then imagine a room full of kids having a HOOT doing prat-falls, and pretending to kick the lights out of each other), Kelly and I buzzed around making the place look more "Christmassy".

I lit a candle by the front door...

Oh, it smelled GREAT! My new favourite scent. It's something called "winter", and was a gift from Nate's teacher (she also gave me soap and lotion in the same scent! Magnificent!) And it reflected so wonderfully in my fave snow-globe.

*edit* Ooh! I just checked on the maker of the "Winter" scented candle and soap/lotion, and it's Bath and Body Works! Whee! I hope they discontinue it right after Christmas so I can pick up a TON of the stuff on clearance. That is such a great scent!

And then, while I was aimlessly cleaning up the place, I came across several strings of outdoor lights that I'd not gotten around to hanging, so I went outside, and made the front porch just a little more glow-in-the-dark.

Psychedelic, even. Especially when seen through the (sorry, my northern friends) palm fronds...

And then I heard the commotion in the street, and the hordes arrived. They'd collected an entourage, sort of like a living holiday Katamari Ball. What started off as a dozen Brownies, had morphed into nearly 40 people. Don't stalk these people, I'm really posting this photo so you can see my fun chili pepper Christmas lights in the olive tree.

(missing from this photo are the 3 boys in the front row who didn't know it was a GIRL scout event, and had followed along, singing lustily, with an eye for what free goodies they might get at each house)

Fortunately, I'd filled the crock pot by the front door to OVERFLOWING with cider that had been simmering since school was out, and there was enough for everyone. Even the parents went away with full mugs of cider (hooray for my earlier "Hmm... maybe I *should* get the jumbo pack of insulated cups, and not just the stack of 12" moment at Safeway.)

The next morning, Nate had his turn at the "Performance Kung Fu" seminar. I really am KICKING myself for not taking video of his fight scene. He was paired with this giant Black Belt adult who coached him, and man, that guy could ACT! I thought Nate really hit him a couple of times. And Nate LOVED it! He was SO getting into it, and my photos are all kind of blurry as a result.

But here you can see him doing a flying side kick that brought Goliath down like a stone. And all the kids in the audience cheered.

Yikes. Look at how high he is off the ground! Both boys are wondering when they can do that again. And next time, I *WILL* use the camera in 'video mode'.