ABC Wednesday--S is for...... T is for...

S is for Skipped.




D'oh!   After faithfully playing ABC Wednesday for 18 weeks in a row, we were so busy last week that we Skipped S.   So Sorry.


We're back on Track with T Today.   T is for Traditions.

Today is December 1st, a time of great celebration in our family.   The first tradition is the reason we were too busy to enter last Wednesday.   Late last night I typed the last of my 50,000 words in 30 days to win my 4th Nanowrimo in a row!  





Du-Jay and Sagezilla won over the weekend when they both finished writing their own 500 word novel for the Young Writers category!   This is Sagezilla's 2nd win and Du-Jay's 3rd.   So we have THREE winners today.





The other December 1st traditions are more, well... traditional. 
  



I can remember advent calendars from my own childhood.   Ours had little cardboard doors that opened over tissue paper pictures and I loved to open one every day from December 1-24th.   Then came the year we got a chocolate one!   Oh joy. My little sister and I were so excited to get to open each door and eat a piece of chocolate in a new surprising shape each day.

But Christmas is the season for sharing, and we'd only been given one.   The fights broke out immediately.   Her piece is bigger....  You opened yesterday....
That's not fair.....   


It got so contentious that my Mom took the whole calendar away (and likely ate the chocolates herself to get rid of the headache all our arguing caused).   And what lesson did we learn.......?


We had a visit from Grammy and Gramps last weekend and they remembered   that disastrous calendar fiasco back in the 70's.   Now that they're grandparents, they really are older and wiser.   They brought two chocolate advent calendars, so the kids each have their own to open every day.   

The grandparents also brought up a new tradition.    They came bearing another advent surprise, The Elf on the Shelf.   This fun kit comes with a hardback book and a cute little elf.   It also has an impressive multimedia web tie in, where kids can log on and play games, print projects and recipes, and officially name their elf and add him or her to the registry.





T is also for our final tradition of the first day of December.   We put up our tree.   It was oddly appropriate for today, because our elf, Gidjit, hid in the tree and both of the kids advent chocolates were Christmas tree shaped.   Hooray for no fights about whose chocolate is bigger!





We hope everyone has a tremendous day.   Click below for more T fun.