Merry Christmas 2020
Merry Christmas to all!
Xavier has led the Christmas Joy wagon most of the month. We started decorating shortly after Thanksgiving at his request. Every morning since the Christmas tree was up, one of the first things Xavier did in the mornings was plug it in.
Xavier wanted to build a gingerbread town. We bought a kit and used it to decorate the mantle. Several of the housed lost their some gumdrops do to Xavier eating them when he grew hungry.
Last night, Christmas Eve, he announced he wanted to go to bed early. Wow, you could have knocked either parent over with a feather after that statement.
Rebecca and I got up this morning before Xavier and went about a few things. Just as I made the statement to Rebecca, "When Kathy and I were kids, we were up before six on Christmas", Xavier's door opened.
Out walked Xavier somewhat lackluster about being up. After morning hugs and a cuddle with Mom on the couch, he and his wild hair warmed to opening stockings.
Santa had left two other gifts under the tree and Xavier moved on to those. They were "Operation" and the board game "Sorry".
Rebecca began fixing a breakfast while Xavier and I played a game of Sorry. After Xavier beat me at Sorry, we ate, then got Grandma Penny on the phone. They were camping today, so Xavier opened his gifts from her audio-only.
Grandma Penny gave Xavier two puzzles: one a 500 piece table puzzle and one a four-foot floor puzzle. Later in the day, Xavier and Aunt Chelle started the 500 piece puzzle on the kitchen table.
Shortly after Grandma Penny, we called Aunt Kathy. After our yearly technology struggle, we managed to get audio and video working for the call.
Aunt Kathy gave Xavier an electromagnetic experiment kit. We loaded it up with batteries and Xavier build the electromagnet. He played with it for quite a while, and pieces of the kit are still laying about the floor.
We then phoned up Grandpa Danny and found the right technology stack for video and audio for that call.
During that call we had a mystery solved. A gift for Xavier had come in the mail. It was addressed to him, but the return address was the company that shipped the item. Inside, there was only a note signed "From Santa". We were stumped at who sent the gift, and we had several thoughts.
Turns out, it was Grandpa Danny who sent it: a fire engine Christmas tree ornament.
We took a break from opening packages to wait for Aunt Chelle to arrive. Rebecca went back to the kitchen and Xavier to his electromagnetic kit.
After a while, Xavier's desire to open some of the other presents piqued. The Holiday meal preparations were at a place we could pause, so we decided to open the family gifts.
Xavier opened Rebecca's gift to him. It was a working Stirling engine. We have yet to fully unpack it and get it working. Xavier saw the engine in operation on a YouTube video and thought it cool. "I want that!" he announced.
One of Xavier's frequent statements over the last several months has been "I am obsessed with electricity." So, Dad's gift to him was an age-appropriate electronics board with several experiments to build. Xavier's favorite being floating a ping-pong ball on a jet of air.
Aunt Chelle arrived and brought Xavier a Chinese Checker board. We played a couple of games before dinner. It has been so long since any of us played the game, we had to read the instructions.
Merry Christmas! Christ is Born!
Remote Learning
Greetings to all.
Xavier started fully remote learning the Thursday before Thanksgiving Break.
That Thursday and Friday, we got him set up with an account on a laptop, and bookmarked most of the links he needed.
His school had already prepared Xavier for knowing his way around the virtual classroom. They practiced him while still at school.
Today was the first day of fully remote learning. It's a full seven and a half hours of school starting at 8:00 AM with a Zoom meeting that lasts the whole day.
Of course, there are breaks, the longest one for lunch.
Xavier goes in and out of meetings throughout the day. He even gets in PE, doing exercises with his class via Zoom.
The school is doing a fine job with the situation (the aforementioned PE curriculum is designed to make sure the children are not sitting sedentary all day). However, it does require a parent full-time to proctor the school day from home, keep Xavier organized and focused, not to mention IT support.
Though nice in a pinch, I hope, as does Xavier, schools return to in-person after the Christmas break.
Happy Halloween 2020
Happy Halloween to you all.
This year, Xavier dressed as a chicken. Mom made a felt body, bought some white sweat pants and started sewing on feathers.
Xavier informed Rebecca after two rows of feathers that was all he wanted. Less work for Mom.
As for his pumpkins, he sold all but three. So, we had the three we kept plus three more to carve.
We carved our first one Thursday after school. The rest we carved today.
Or, perhaps, Dad carved four of the five remaining today. Xavier had the neighbor kids over to play just after we sat down to carve the first pumpkin.
Xavier really wanted to have one pumpkin eating another. This was the one we carved on Thursday.
With one notable exception, we decided to keep the carving to simple, more traditional faces.
With so many pumpkins to carve and an impatient seven year old, it was a real sanity saver.
Rebecca took some of the meat from one of the pumpkins (the spider's legs, thorax and abdomen) and made pumpkin soup for supper.
The neighbor kids came over and Xavier and Rebecca joined them in making the neighborhood rounds. Not many houses participated, but Xavier still had a full bag, including a "Vote for Trump" box of chocolates.