It was rainy and Stuart had to work the first few days of the winter break, so the boys and I just hung out together.  We mostly stayed home preparing for Christmas.  We baked cookies, decorated ornaments and made some crafts.  I got an idea online; I had the boys paint their hands on an ornament and decorate them into snowmen.  Logan did well drawing the details for the snowmen; he also improvised and added music notes since the snowmen were singing :)  Connor also assembled more gingerbread men that he bought from Michaels.  The boys sometimes get quite into crafts; other than what we did together, they decided to wrap a shoe box with some yarns and were determined to finish it.  I just sat with them to assist in applying glue.   We made some gingerbread cookies; the boys helped in rolling out and cutting out the shapes.  They enjoyed eating them too.

    For a half of a day, Logan spent time with a classmate and his dad.  They picked Logan up to go bowling at the brand new local Pro Shop and returned to their house to play.  Logan said he had a good time.  He claimed that he played four games of bowling with the classmate, but we felt that the number seemed large.  He did tell us that his arm was sore the next morning.  He had lunch at their house before he was dropped back off to us.  While Logan was gone, Connor and I did some grocery shopping to prepare for the grandparents visit and for Christmas.  While we were shopping, Connor wanted to get something for daddy and Logan.  We finally decided on a huge chocolate Kisses.  He insisted that he would wrap the presents on his own.  Later he also chose something while we were all out and asked Stuart to get it for me.  He wrapped that one too.  He was so excited about them that he had asked us a couple of times before Christmas if we wanted him to tell us what the presents were.

    I received sad news today that my grandma in Hong Kong had passed away.  She had been in the hospital for two weeks and had become unconscious a few days ago, therefore her passing was not unexpected but the news was still quite sad.  Yvonne and her family are currently visiting Hong Kong and had visited Grandma in the hospital.  So I was shared the details from my sister as well as from my uncle via Whatsapp.  According to Uncle, Grandma was not in too much distress and passed peacefully.  She had celebrated her 100th birthday recently, and according to my stepmom, after the big Chinese celebration a couple of days ago, Grandma was indeed 101 according to the Chinese tradition.  We all are very proud of her longevity and how strong she was.  She was not even taking any chronic medications.  In our own comfort, we are glad that we had visited Grandma in April and that the boys had a chance to meet their great grandmother.  While we were visiting, she was quite alert but very forgetful; she kept reminding me that she was 100 and that we should not wait that long to visit again.  With that, I was mentally preparing another trip in possibly three years to visit her again, but now I guess we will not be going back to her little apartment in Hong Kong.

   There was a party at the cabana club Saturday morning.  It was raining, but the party was supposed to happen rain or shine.  We all geared up and walked over to check it out.  Seeing the pool in the cold and rain definitely had a different feeling.  There were only a few families there scattering around under the coverings and the awning.  There was an art and craft table, and both boys seemed to be interested in it.  Things on the table were not too organized, but the boys managed to make a paper Christmas tree with stickers.  To our surprise, the boys wanted to keep going and move on to the next craft projects, stockings.  They had to assemble the decorations and waited for the staff to glue them down.  While they were working on this, Santa made an appearance.  We encouraged the boys to go over to meet Santa, and the boys were the first in line.  They sat with Santa, and talked with him for a little bit.  They told him what they would like for Christmas and had a fist bump with him.  Then they returned to the craft table to finish up.  When they were finally finished, Santa was about to start reading a book to the kids.  They both sat down to listen, but they lost interest halfway through.  Logan went to get a cup of cocoa and Connor wanted to decorate a cookie.  Probably due to the weather, the turnout was not too good, but the kids were happy with what they had made and Connor enjoyed the cookie too.

     Our tree was decorated last weekend and the presents underneath are slowly building up.  Connor has made some gingerbread men for ornaments and Logan hung his Elf from his class project up on our tree too.

     Last weekend, Logan suddenly brought up that we had not yet seen Elfie this year.  Coincidentally Elfie appeared the next day high up on the window sill.  Connor spotted it right away after school; he was screaming with joy to share the news with all of us.  Logan did not want Connor to tell him the location and wanted to take his time to find him.  Every morning since then, they look forward to finding him in the morning.  However Logan told us that he thinks Elfie is not real as his eyes don’t blink and his face looks stiff.
   The boys had a visit by Santa on their last day of school.  But Logan shared that the one at school was not the real Santa as he did not say Ho Ho Ho and he did not wear glasses.

    Connor’s holiday party was on Thursday where they would be decorating Gingerbread houses.  I was able to take some time off work, so I was one of the helpers.  I arrived at the classroom right when the kids were lining up to go for a recess.  All the kids looked so excited for the event. and a few kids, including Connor, said hello to me.  The room parents had kindly prepared 22 graham crackers houses ahead of time and they looked great.  The parents and I distributed the houses and supplies to each kid’s workspace.  The party began once the kids returned.  Connor wanted me to sit with him and pulled a chair over. The kids all listened well to the instruction and started frosting their houses.  They did a great job trying to cover every spot of the house.  The next exciting part was when they put the candies all over the house.  I was surprised how focus all the kids were and none of the kids asked to eat the candies until when the task was close to finish.  Afterward, each kid had their picture taken with their well decorated houses, then the snack time began.  They were given some holiday cookies to enjoy.  The party ended right before the end of the day.  I walked Connor out to line up with other CDC kids, and I said goodbye to return to work.  The party was a success; the kids were well behaved and they all had a blast.

    Logan’s party was on Friday, the last day of school before the holiday break.  It was a Pajama and Santa hat day; both boys were dressed for the cozy day.  I was not able to volunteer for Logan’s party, but I saw a few pictures online from one of the moms.  Logan said they had a good time and they decorated an ice cream cone which he brought home at the end of the day.  Now we are almost ready for Christmas as the holiday break has begun.

     The boys had their concerts on Monday.  Logan’s one was first at 9am and Connor’s at 10:30am.  After drop off, Stuart and I headed over to the auditorium (Superdome).  There were many people sitting down already, so we just headed to the back and found seats in the back row.  The four 2nd grade classes marched in right at the start time.  Logan spotted us and waved to us.  Before long, the concert began.  The kids did a great job singing and moving to 8 songs.  I was standing in the back row enjoying the show and video taping it, but my phone went out of memory two third into the concert.  When the show was over, we went up to say hi to Logan and followed the class out for some group pictures.  Afterward, the class headed back to their classroom to resume the school day while Stuart and I returned to the Superdome for the next show.  Connor had told me where he would stand for the performance, so we sat down on the 2nd row behind the reserved seats for the teachers.  We had some time to kill and we were using the time trying to clear out some video space on my phone. 

     Finally it was time for the kinders to march in.  Connor had a big smile as he walked in and saw us.  After the kids were lined up, we discovered that the kid in front of Connor was quite tall and covering most of our view of Connor.  The kinders sang 7 songs and they did a fantastic job as well.  I was using Stuart’s small video camera to film throughout the show.  Unfortunately, with the teacher in my way and with the boy covering Connor, the video was not good at all.  When the concert ended, Stuart said goodbye to Connor to return to work and I hung around with Connor.  The kinders had a potluck in the cafeteria to celebrate, and there were lots of fruits and sweet treats.  Connor was excited to pick his favorites and we went to sit down on the stage to enjoy.  Periodically his friends came join him and had asked him to take pictures too.  We hung out until it was time to return to the classroom.  The parents had the option to take the kids home, but since I had errands to run, Connor stayed back and enjoyed a quiet rest of the day with 6 other classmates and the teacher.