Christmas

We decided to attend the 11P service Xmas Eve. Before leaving, Zachary thought he better move the fireplace screen so Santa could easily get in.

Notice the screen moved to the left

On the way home, he was very concerned about Santa skipping our house since we were still awake. I told him not to worry. We got him to bed and John and I were up for a few more minutes. He came out while we were preparing for Christmas morning and said, "Santa won't come if you don't come to bed too." He also told Lauren he would rather be in bed than in church. I think that was because of Santa, but it sounded funnier than he knew.

I slept restless all night. I guess I was excited for Zachary. I got up to go to the bathroom, and Zachary was off. There was no stopping him, nor time to prepare a camera. And John was no help, he was asleep. I ran out to interrupt, and stopped him until everyone got up.

Typical Xmas with tearing through packages, but he did actually pass out presents, and show a high level of excitement. It really was fun! He was actually funny! He got his Mario 64 game first, and headed to his room. That was all he needed to be happy. We had to call him back to finish.

I made a new casserole for breakfast, and it was surprisingly tasty. We had nice late lunch, and settled down for a double-hitter of Diary of a Wimpy Kid and puzzles for the evening. We enjoyed light snacks for dinner and leftovers. I did some cooking the day before, so I was not in the kitchen the whole day. That really made it nice.

We had a wonderful Xmas and I think everyone got a few things they wanted! Now, we are just resting before we head back to school. I can't believe we will be done with elementary in five months. Also, this is our first vacation together without therapy. It's been so nice!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

A fun December weekend

I like to do something extra special and fun with Zachary each December. This year, we went to see The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. They had a performance for young audiences, so I figured that would be a good way to work on sitting for a show. Without popcorn, he tends to lose focus.

Anyway, I figured we better read the book before we went, as that would help him follow the story line. The overall story is about a relatively mean family of children that infiltrate the church Xmas pageant. In the book, they are a bit mouthy, and often say "oh my god". We do our best not to say OMG, so one morning when we got in the car, Zack said, "Mom, I can't go see that play. They say bad things." I had already bought the tickets, so we went anyway, but at least maybe he is applying what he is learning in Bible class at school.

Next we went for a burger which is always a plus for Zachary. And then we decided to grab a cupcake from a new place my girlfriends have talked about. The door sign said, please keep door closed to keep cupcakes fresh. I thought they must be good. We bought six cupcakes from Sprinkles. Zachary loved his. I thought they were good, but not enough to make a special trip to Uptown Houston. John figured they should taste like a Hostess cupcake. I told him he could have saved us some money if that was what he wanted.

And last, a trip to Discovery Green to ice skate. Zachary said he did not want to skate, so I thought it would be fun just to eat our cake and people watch. There were plenty of other things to do and see. After about 5 minutes, he wanted to skate. And after one time around, he said he was done. I made him skate longer, especially since he did not want me skating with him or getting any skates at all (figured I could aid).

He stayed on the wall a lot. I'm not sure why because he knows how to skate, but I guess the thin blade can be a little intimidating.

To finish off our day, that evening the Pasadena Fire Department brought Santa around on the fire truck. It's always exciting to see Santa, no matter what age you are. Zachary asked the fireman passing out candy canes if he was going to fight a fire. Of course, he looked at Zachary like he was a little strange, but graciously said no, and offered him another candy cane. I think that was Zachary's intent all along. :-)

Then, on Sunday, Zachary's church group went to a home for adults with a variety of challenges. They sang Xmas carols, passed out cookies and soda, and gave a gift to all the residence. I was of proud of him for doing his part.

Merry Christmas! Two more days.

Sweet comments

Every once in a while Zachary says something unexpected and lately it has not been too bad.

The other day I had come to the kitchen after getting ready one morning for school. Zachary was so sweet to say, "You look pretty, Mom," and then give me a big hug. I know it was his comment because John was not home. And I only wondered for half a second what he had done that he was trying to cover. I discovered nothing but the sweetness of my child.

Then a few days later I was going out to dinner with two girlfriends. And when I hugged him goodbye, it rolled right off his tongue with little effort. "Have a good time." I did a double take because he was playing with his DSi, and often it takes effort to call his attention away from such a captivating device. He looked up and smiled.

And last just Wednesday, we went out to eat to a restaurant that has the free ice cream. Zachary asked if he could go get his. And as he was leaving said, "What can I get you?" I passed and then he asked John the same thing. It was so kind, and very unexpected.

Lately, the unexpected have lead to discipline...much of the fifth grader attitude moved in this Fall. But sometimes, the unexpected are sweet enough to share.

Israel

Well, I have been off from blogging for a bit due to the trip of a lifetime to Israel. It was the longest I've ever been away from Zachary, and with John. We had a fantastic time, and saw some fantastic places.

I thought I would share several pictures because several have asked on Facebook, and I'm just going to direct them here.

The first night, we stayed in Tel Aviv, the capital of Israel. I think this was the nicest hotel. John decided to try these things we decided where part of cow we couldn't identify. and no less, he got two of them. I encouraged him to stick to one when he was "trying" something. We had many memorable moments.

Here we go with the photos...

Mosaic from one of Herod's palaces outside of Caesarea

Columns from his palace still standing today - cool!

A amphitheater, being used today, just to the side of his palace

Mt. Carmel, overlooking the Valley of Jezreel (excuse the crazy hair, it had been raining)

We were remembering our baptisms at the Jordan, near the site where Jesus was baptized.

An unearthed boat found in the Sea of Galilee during a drought. It was dated back to Jesus' days.

This little church memorialized Jesus fixing the fish and loaves for the disciples after His resurrection.

Me and John sitting on a rock at the foot of the Sea of Galilee

This was one of the first synagogues in Capernaum, and right next to it was Peter's family home.

This is the Basilica of the Annunciation -the traditional site where Gabriel announced to Mary she would have a son.

All around this church, they had many various countries interpretation of Mary and the baby Jesus. This is America's. I think we need a re-do.

This is a civilization found at Megiddo. It had some 30 civilizations here at various times.

At the top of the Megiddo civilization, this was the view. It is an alternate view of the Valley of Jezreel where the final battle will be fought.

We took the Via del Rosa, and this is one of the stations of the cross where traditionalist believe the cross would have been placed when Jesus was crucified.

And within that same church, this is one of the sites where Jesus may have been buried. This is all part of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

This was Herod's highway, which would have been a market place and a major road Jesus would have traveled on.

This was the Western Wall or the Wailing Wall. This is he only part of the Temple left after the Romans destroyed the temple in 70 A.D.

And next up, one of my favorite parts of the trip...The Garden Tomb

This is believed to be the Skull of Golgotha, and Jesus would have been hung on the cross about 300 yards from there.

Very near the 2nd suggested place of Jesus' burial is this very large wine press. They felt this pointed to a rich man's property - sounds like Joseph of Arimathea to me. There was also a huge cistern found which is believed to have been used to water the vineyard and then press the grapes in this area.

And then, this is the tomb believed to have been used by Jesus. And personally speaking, this place felt right to me. It was so moving. And really, just plain awesome!

This was a church that traditionally is believed to be where Mary's home would have been. It had the most beautiful acoustics. We sang several hymns here.

This is the pool of Bethesda, where Jesus healed the paralytic. I guess it doesn't have any water since the city has proper plumbing now. We did find one area when we climbed down in there that had some standing water.

This is the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount. The Muslim's built a mosque here after the Jewish Temple was torn down. We were standing in the Gentile court, at least that is what it would have been if it was the Temple

This is believed to be the place where Jesus taught the disciples the Lord's Prayer. They had it every language you could think of. My picture of the ruins did not turn out to look like much.

This is from the top of the Mount of Olives. You can see the Kidron Valley and much of the old city.

The happy tourist.

My second favorite part, and another very moving place. This is at the Church of Nations, where the church is surrounded by Olive Trees and the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus would have prayed before he was handed over to the soldiers.

This is that same church, only a view from across the road.

Off to Bethlehem, where they have this area set-up to signify the cave of Jesus' birth. You can actually touch the earth through that little hole. It is really hard. I thought it would be like sand or something.

This is the community that was discovered and likely Jesus or John the Baptist visited here. This was at Qumran, where they found the Dead Sea Scrolls.

And that little hole is where they found one of the clay jars that had a scroll in it. The jars contained some of the oldest known portions of the Hebrew Bible.

This is the view from the top of Masada. Now I want to see the movie.

The Dead Sea shore - not as dirty as I imagined, and ouch the rocks hurt to walk on.

Some random man floating effortlessly in the Dead Sea.

Not too much to see, but a sycamore tree like the one Zacchaeus would have climbed. We saw it while we were in Jericho.

I got to ride this camel. John couldn't get the camera to work, but I'm waiting on pictures from others. That was some crazy getting up and down.

Again, the picture of the tomb didn't turn out very good. It was really small down there, and it just looked like walls. But it was cool to check it out.

John being a goof. Best smile of the trip!

This picture made me sad, but was indicative of much of Jerusalem, and actually a lot of the country was like this. Trash everywhere, but in the trash can.

This is a great view of the Kidron Valley, Mount of Olives, and the Temple Mount.

Overall we had several favorites, as mentioned above. I think those were John's too. A few things that bothered me was the trash and the sense of hate in Jerusalem. I was saddened for the Jews that prayed at the wall, and even more so by the call to pray multiple times a day on the loud speaker for the Muslims.

We made some new friends, learned a ton (my brain was on overload many days), and made some lasting memories. I actually would like to go back now that I have some of it settled in my head. Maybe one day, but not anytime soon. I have not gotten over the food selection and 16 hour flight back.