Christmas Eve

Seriously, who has the time to write these things on Christmas Eve? Actually, I kind of do, because it's 930 and the kids are in bed and the parents are headed that way, and with any luck an hour from now they'll all actually be asleep! So today....

- jack was wildly excited and bouncy and giddy all day long
- Kate was as healthy as she has been in a week. Naturally, though, she is coughing now.
- we began a tradition of tacos on Christmas Eve. Next year I hope I don't have to run to the grocery store at 4 pm because the meat we bought two days ago looked bad.
- we went to church and the singing was beautiful. It always is. Carol of The Bells and O Holy Night were the highlights. They always are.
- got home and my parents were there. Merry Christmas!
- jack wrote a note to Santa and I helped him put out cookies. Delicious. They looked, that is.
- read the kids The Night before Christmas, as I do every year. Kate was riveted. Jack sang along, not always at the right speed.

Watched some of It's a Wonderful Life, as we also do every year. I think next year we shall watch it the night after Thanksgiving to make sure we get the whole thing in.

Now to check out the NORAD Santa tracker, then bed.

Sunday, Sunday

Couple of good moments today, which included some of the usual pre-Christmas running around by me, Emily, and other assorted family members, plus with Kate still being slightly under the weather, somebody keeping her company here.

- She had an afternoon nap, and afterwards I got her up to sit with me on the couch and watch some football. I told her we were rooting for Ray Rice, and she nodded in assent and obligingly cheered, "Go Ray Rice! Go Ray Rice!" I gave her a cup of water, and told her she could have an orange snack with me, but one on condition: when I gave her an orange section, she had to put the whole thing in her mouth, not take a bite of it or pick strings off it and get juice all over everything. And she agreed, so I'd peel her a section, she'd eat the whole thing, and ask for another. We sat on the couch eating two entire oranges this way, cheering for Ray Rice.

- Jack was sick last Sunday, and I went out to a football gathering, and I feel like the previous Sunday it rained or something. Anyway, we haven't been able to play football the last couple of Sunday afternoons. Then today he was out caroling and at his cousins and so forth. So as I put him to bed tonight, I said, Jack, we HAVE to throw the football around next Sunday. I don't care if it's cold, or rainy, or what, we're throwing the ball around in the back yard, because we've missed the last couple of Sundays. He agreed this was pretty bad. "Deal," he said, and we hugged good night.

Saturday at home

With people trying to get over being sick, and cookies to be baked, we spent much of the day at home. Some of what occurred:

- we watched Year without a Santa Claus, followed by Santa Claus is Coming to Town. Kate was going to be scared of the Heat and Cold Miser, I think, and then I pointed out how goofy they were. Look, he has a little trio of hims as his backup singers! "Yeah, he does!" she laughed.

- we ate pizza, because there wasn't enough room in the kitchen to cook anything or clean up afterwards. Jack settled for that; we would save his first choice, tacos, for the next night. 

- I read stories to Kate, a Biscuit one (she read most of it) and then Christmas in the Manger. Jack and I read Cool Stuff Exploded.

- we made some pictures, and Kate made a birthday card for Uncle Ian. 

Pretty sure we did more, but on this, the 22nd day of Christmas, I am pretty frazzled.

Sick, not sick...bleh

Kate was sick today and stayed home. High fever, she slept a lot. When she's sick, she kind of just crumples up into a little ball, wails when she's awake, whimpers in between. I held her for a while on the couch, though I also felt awful, so she watched Rudolph...and the Grinch...and....   Gave her cereal for dinner and put her to bed. Am hoping she's better tomorrow, because her day wasn't much fun.

Jack feels GREAT, which he reminds us of every 5 minutes by leaping and dancing around. "It's almost Christmas! You don't know what it's LIKE to be a little boy just before Christmas!" Uh, actually, Jack, I do. It's pretty awesome. Anyway, Jack watched the Harry Potter movie, and I watched some with him; not bad really. Holds up well. Love the Wizards Chess scene. We played Parcheesi, I sort of let him win for a change, and put him to bed. Before bed we watched a little of the "Brian 'O' Barley Bowl" or something like that, which is apparently a college bowl game currently sponsored by some chain of burger restaurants. We were watching these commercials for huge burgers and steaks and I felt bad that I'd only had cereal for dinner. Anyway, Jack was in a goofy mood, so when I expressed awe over the size of the burger in the commercial, and elaborated on the elements (burger...bacon...and cheeeeesse) somehow this struck Jack as the absolute funniest thing in the world, and he was totally cracking up. Every time I said cheeeeeesse, peals of laughter would follow. It was pretty funny, and a good note to end the day on.

The Grinch

Way back when, I told Jack's teacher I'd join his class as a chaperone for their field trip to Madison Square Garden to see the musical of The Grinch. That day was today, and although I Wasn't feeling my best, I managed.

At the school I met the two boys who, with Jack, I would be in charge of. One of them said to me, "Do you like your hair that way?" That was pretty awesome.

We got onto the school bus, I sat with another boy's mom, Jack sat between his two.  Friends. They chattered away happily the whole way down. We saw a really big battleship, that was really cool. We saw Times Square, drove by the Empire State Building, sw the restaurant that didn't have room for us this summer.

At the show, one boy had to go the bathroom before, one had to go about 20 minutes from the end, and then Jack had to go about 5 minutes from the end. Guh. Jack, I made wait. He was ok.

Me and a mom took 10 boys to the bathroom after the show. Scariest 10 minutes ever. Bunch of 7-8 year olds running around ("Walk!") as I did head counts over and over again. I went in with the kids, she stood just outside, and I sent 'em out as they finished. Nerve-wracking. None were lost.

Most of it was great, the Grinch especially. Funny. Some of the Who songs, I kind of sympathized with the Grinch. Loud. At parts the kids lost interest.

But the best part was at the end, when the Grinch brought the toys back, and it SNOWED in the theatre. Not real, but it seemed real. All three kids stood up, reaching out, faces aglow. Worth the price of admission right there.

Christmas art

Today when I got the kids home from school, with their gingerbread houses and Christmas trees they'd made in class, we.... Well, actually, first we unwrapped the plastic on both of them, well no, first we tried to untie the ribbon on the top of them, and then I found the scissors and cut through them, and then I ripped the plastic off them, and then we set up in a place of honor on the dining room table, even though Jack's teacher Ms. Bernstein actually made the thing because Jack was out sick.

Anyway! We sat down at the kitchen table with paper, crayons, and scissors and made pictures. I made an old standby, Santa in his sleigh, waving, being pulled by reindeer. Kate also made Santa in his sleigh, and Rudolph, and cut each of them out and we taped them up to the kitchen windows. Jack made a picture of Santa coming down the chimney into the living room, where there were big presents for everyone. He drew a reindeer on the roof, and then drew another picture with more reindeer. Those, too, we put up on the cabinets in the kitchen.

Merry Christmas!

Bleh

Now I'm sick. Brief blog tonight.

Jack stayed home again, but was mostly feeling fine as the antibiotics kicked in. I worked, 'cause I have a deadline, and dragged him to a couple of different doctors -- two, because I got lost going to my appt and had to go to a second one. He agreeably went along with me, reading a book and filling in the doctor on my various medical history, only some of it relevant. "He broke his collarbone three times!"

Yeah, that's it, I'm going to bed.

sick Jack

Jack was home sick today, as the latest illness makes the rounds. (I'm not feeling so hot myself, so this will be a short one.) You really feel it when he's actually sick; he basically just lies on the couch, or sits with his head resting against the cushion. Cheeks flushed, hair matted against his head, eyes glassy. It's terrible but it's also kind of cute; I kind of just want to sit there and hug him. So I did that some today. He'd have momentary flashes of excitement -- something cool in an episode of the Avengers cartoon, or some highlight he saw from a football game -- but then he'll lapse back into silence.

The funny thing is that when Jack is sick, it seems to have the opposite effect on Kate. She was full of energy and joy, perhaps glad he wasn't running around competing for our attention or something. Us not having to entertain him beyond bringing him water every once in a while meant more time to spend entertaining her. Seemed that way, anyway. 

He didn't want to get off the couch at dinner, so I sat next to him and fed him chicken and rice. We watched a little of the pregame, then it was off to bed. And now it's my turn.

Sunday

This morning at church was the Christmas paegant. Jack was a shepherd ("Every Christmas it's the same...I always end up playing a shepherd.") and got a couple of lines and a pretty cool costume with a long robe, a staff, and some sort of wrap on his head. No fake beard though, I was a little disappointed. Maybe next year. Kate was a sheep, and the girl who was one of the stars of the Friday concert clung to the Sunday School teacher for the entire performance.

Afterward Jack had a fever, so he couldn't go to the football party we went to. Emily stayed with him, I went with Kate. Forgot the friends had a dog, which barked at us through the door. Oops. Kate is a little nervous around dogs, especially ones that bark at her. So, she spent the afternoon upstairs in the daughter's room playing with dolls -- in fairness, she would have anyway -- and I watched football. So, not an out of the ordinary Sunday.

Got home to find Jack with a cold, cough, and fever. Put him to bed early. He politely turned away when he had to cough. Sleep tight, Jack.

She loves to dance

It was parents observation week at Kate's dance class, which means we got to sit inside the room (normally parents aren't allowed) and watch Kate dance. It's ballet and jazz dancing, or as much as it can be for 5-6 year old girls, I guess.

And it was pretty cool. They lined up and did their steps and their bends and padded along on their little feet in their ballet slippers, smiling and posing and looking both proud and shy at the same time. Kate is kind of a ham, she clearly loves performing and being on stage...shy in situations where she has to meet people or whatnot, very outgoing in situations where she is on stage. Kind of funny.

Lined up with all the other girls in the same little outfits, she managed to look both very big and very small at the same time.

Today

The morning began with the Christmas concert at the school. We showed up half an hour early to get seats. Kate was in front, in the middle, and she played to the crowd. She sang loudly, she smiled, she waved. Susie Snowflake, Rudolph, etc. She likes to be on stage. Jack was in back, looking a little wooden and sleepy. When it was over, he joked around with his friend Peter ("we walked into a door!" he said later), but during the show he just went through the motions. Kate continued to wave.

After school, they had a gingerbread house class. I helped out, pouring candy into bowls and trimming tips on  icing and such. Working the room, helping kids in need. Often Kate.

We went home, and Jack gave me a tour of his gingerbread house. The trapdoors, the secret passageways, the different attributes. He was pretty pleased with it. Well, he lamented it wasn't as nice as the one in the picture on the box. I said they took a lot more time on those. He admitted his was unique.

We brought Kate to a girl scout meeting. Jack and I stood outside and tried to make up games until Emily showed up. But went inside because it was really, really cold.

At Aunt Cathy's, we ate latkes and lit the menora for their Hannukah celebration. And Jack and his cousins goofily sang 12 days of Christmas. Then we went home.

We hugged and kissed them both goodnight, then sat on the couch and were glad they were sleeping upstairs, safe and sound. Then went up to kiss them goodnight again.

Library

Today we went to the library after school. We go almost every week, it is the only way to keep up with Jack. He is what you call a voracious reader. We park, and we go in...I return books, they run upstairs to the kids area. Jack collects about a dozen books. He is into encyclopedia brown, Beverly clearly, and some other mystery types of books. And Weird at school or whatever.

Kate goes for Biscuit, which is her reading level, and Dr. Seuss, which might be a little beyond me to be honest...that man was nuts. And Olivia, and Pinkalicious. And she likes doing the puzzles there, too.

We head home, and they each want to carry their own books, and read them in the car. It's nice. At home, jack flops over a chair or arm of the couch to read. Kate flips through one, then asks if I want to play a game. She's getting there, though.

12th day of Christmas

Today was going to be a night of leftover spaghetti and meatballs, which would have been fine with the kids I think, but instead I decided to go grocery shopping and get something special -- fish sticks, couscous, and frozen crinkle cut carrots. They love those things, all of them.

We ate in the kitchen, which they also love; not sure why they view it with such reverence, but they do. Next to eating out is Eating in the kitchen.

After dinner we watched Santa Claus is Coming to Town, which I figure I have seen 100 times over the last 30 or so years. I'm not sure how I would rank it, the Grinch, and Charlie Brown... I like them for different reasons. Gotta say, I think the Grinch might just be perfect. But nothing gets me like the end of Charlie Brown, when they are singing and Written by Charles M. Schulz comes up.

Anyway, kate was a little scared of the Winter Warlock, but she liked it eventually. Jack too, but he remembered it more than she did.

Kate's story choice tonight was Goodnight Gorilla. Haven't read that one in a few years.

Brinner

Emily went out for the PTA Holiday Dinner, so I gave the kids dinner -- brinner, we call it, as in breakfast for dinner. Scrambled eggs, bacon, english muffins or corn toasties, grapefruit, orange juice. Basically it's a meal I can make without really taking the time to cook, although you really have to be attentive to get that bacon just right.

They gobbled it all up (Kate: "I love scrambled eggs AND hard boiled eggs!"), we had lemon cookies for dessert, and then watched A Charlie Brown Christmas for about the third time. I sat between them, the tree was lit up and beautiful, the stockings were hung by the chimney with some degree of care (and the Elf on the Shelf peeking out of one of them), and the show was as great as ever. And so were they.

10th day of Christmas

Sick day for Kate, half day for Jack. Work day for Daddy and Mommy, which can be tough. Because the kids crave interaction, and it's tough to do while working. There's a lot that's great about working from home, I know that. What's not so great is that when you're sitting at a computer trying to work and yet you're home, it doesn't seem like you're at work. It seems like, Daddy! Will you play with me?

And the tough part is that I know there will be days when I wish I had said, OK! Let's play the Playground game, or Scrabble, or Monopoly, or Zoominoes. But in the moment, at the time, I'm just thinking, Gah! I have a deadline! I have to work! I can not play with you right now!

I guess some people are in that situation all the time. They can never say, OK! Or they're working in an office, and not there to be asked. I know everyone in an office would probably trade places with the person working from home. So I won't complain too much. Just those some days.

One great thing today: Jack, knowing I had to work, said, he would get Kate lunch. In the morning, he told Emily proudly how he knew how to make cinnamon toast...He knew where the cinnamon was, where the sugar was, and he knew how to use the toaster. Where the butter was. So after I got him at school and we got home, he said, "Daddy, go work! I will get Kate lunch." So I went downstairs, and he made Kate lunch. Once I went upstairs to offer to pour juice for them, and he said, "Daddy, YOU go downstairs. Go work." So I did, and he gave Kate lunch.

And yes, there was a fine coating of cinnamon all over the counter afterward, but I got some work done.

Sick Kate

Kate was sick today...stomach virus starting around 2:30 a.m. Actually. Kind of makes it difficult to focus on other stuff like the holidays. And it rained all day, trapping us inside, which didn't make it any better.

On the bright side, she didn't get sick after being sick three or four times during the night. And we also got to relax a little, at least from the running around stuff. Played some board games, watched some football, jack took funny pictures of them with Emily's camera. Kate felt better late and proudly pointed out how she ate her chicken and green beans..... "I LOVE chicken," she said.

Together we read Rudolph, as we have every bedtime for the last two weeks, and she went to sleep.

Busy day

Today was a full day,mwhich for Emily and Kate culminated in a classmate's birthday party, and for Jack and me ended with a burger at his favorite eating place -- he's positively rhapsodic about it -- Elevation Burger. Seriously, as we approached it in the parking lot, he was like, "smell that? No, really smell the air. It's the French fries."

So as we were eating our burgers, I said, so Jack, what was the favorite part of your day?

And he said, "Definitely decorating the tree. No -- the snowball fight at the breakfast with Santa. (styrofoam snowballs, we don't have snow yet.) no, watching the "Avengers" show. No, this burger. No, playing with beyblades."

He took another bite of his burger. "I think it was the whole day."

I took Kate to ballet today. Parents don't get to watch, they just sit outside talking, or with their faces in a book or phone or whatever. So I was reading a book when Kate bounced giddily out of class with a "Booo!" And chattered away about "we did THIS and THAT and put our hands together to make a flower and we danced to that song you like and it's my favorite...."

All that and I almost forgot to mention that during breakfast Emily played The Nutcracker, which Jack's class had just seen a version of, and he marched around the kitchen and showed how the guy did this with the sword, and then the mouse sowed up, and the soldiers, and there was Kate saying "da da da da da, da da DA! Da da da da da da, da da DA!" over and over again.

7th day of Christmas

Jack said to Emily tonight, "I don't know why at school people think reading is work. Because, when you read a book, it's a whole story, and it's just great. If I'm bored, I can read, and, you know....." Then he kind of trailed off, because he couldn't quite express it.

Recently Jack had found a key ring, and asked me if he could have other ones. I looked at him, confused, and said, no, Jack, because we need them, we have keys on them. And he found one on a key that we weren't using and said, well, can I have this one? And I said, okay, I guess so. And he said, I need one more. And I could see he had them on a piece of paper with holes punched in one end, and I said, no Jack, I think two is enough to hold that up or whatever it is you're going for. And then he found another one, and I said, ok great. And then he disappeared.

A few minutes later he came back to show us what he had done. He had drawn pictures on three pieces of paper, and linked them together with the key rings. One had Santa on his sleigh. One had eight reindeer. And the last one had Rudolph, leading them all. It was this cool mural, connected by key rings.

What could I say? Well, Jack, you were right. I stand corrected. That is a much better use of key rings than hanging on hooks in our kitchen. That is really, really great.

Quick one

Watched The Grinch again with the kids and put them to bed. Read The Happy Lion Roars to Kate, which like most sequels was not as good as the original, The Happy Lion. Jack and I then read an Encyclopedia Brown story. Strange how I remember most of them. That's the stuff my brain hangs on to?

Then I came downstairs and shut off the computer before I had blogged, so I wrote a quick one on my phone and turned that off too

Swimming

The kids have swimming classes back-to-back on Wednesday, Kate at 3:30 and Jack at 4:20. What this means is I'm there for two hours, entertaining Jack for the first hour and Kate for the second hour.

We speed over there after school, and Jack parks himself in the parents waiting area with a book while I get Kate into her bathing suit. She chatters away happily and I'm glad she's not the kid who's crying about something or other, presumably swimming I guess. I tuck her head into her swim cap and she asks for a sort of pony tail, "like you did last time." Basically I bun her hair up and stuff it into the cap without the benefit of an actual pony tail tie. We strap on her goggles -- she needs new ones -- and I send her happily off into her class.

Jack finishes his homework, and we spend some time in the game room. It's about what you might expect from a YMCA game room -- air hockey, foosball, pool table, table tennis, in various conditions. The foosball table is falling apart, but that's what Jack wants to play. So we do. I try not to clobber him, which isn't hard because the thing barely works and it's sitting on a slight angle, so if we miss the ball entirely it eventually rolls into my goal. I also nobly take the side that doesn't have a goalie. He wins 5-4 and is very happy, laughing when yet another rolls into my empty goal due to the rotation of the Earth.

I check in on Kate. Her goggles have broken and she's sad. I go in and take them and promise to get her new ones before next week. "Will they be pink?" she asks sadly. Yes, I say. She cheers up and finishes the class.

While Jack is in his class, I take Kate into the family bathroom, which has a shower. She's too old to bring into the boy's room, I obviously can't go in the girls room. The family room is OK, at least it locks. Kate has her shower and we manage to get her dressed without her clothes getting too wet.

I brought coloring books for Kate, and Highlights magazine. She colors happily and sings a little. For about 10 minutes. Then we look for thing in the magazine puzzles (A rake! A shovel! Daddy's vision at 25!), and she laughs at my jokes (Is that the fish? "NO, Daddy! That's a banana!" That? "NO, Daddy! That's a monkey!"). I get 5 minutes to read the book I brought, and then it's time to get Jack, bundle up to brave the cold, and head home.

Grinch was on tonight. "Then he got an idea.....an awful idea....the Grinch got a wonderful, AWFUL idea...."

I think Kate might be a little scared of the Grinch early on. But she loves his dog Max.

playdates

Kate had a playdate at her friend Brooke's house today, Jack had his friend Dylan over for a couple of hours. Tuesday's a busy work day so I try to avoid the complications, but Kate being out is a plus, and Jack being otherwise occupied when Kate's out is a plus.

Jack and Dylan played with Jack's Nerf bow and arrow; there were gasps of "Wow!" and such from the back yard as they fired nerf darts straight up into the air. They ran around and laughed and I realized as always that playdates are pretty good, because Jack needs to play with kids his age sometimes outside of just school.

Kate returned from her playdate chattering away. "Brook has a MILLION stuffed toys! Really! And I want to have Brooke over for a playdate. And a SLEEPOVER! And I want to go over THERE for a sleepover. Oh, bye, Brooke! Byeeee!!!!!"

3rd day of Christmas

Kids spent some more time playing with the Peppa Pig camping trip toys this afternoon. I realized, listening to them play with it, that Kate was really, really happy that Jack was playing with her, with toys. Because he's a little older, and he likes to read, and play football in the yard, and play computer games. He doesn't always want to sit down with Kate and play make-believe games with toys. And he was doing it, and she was ecstatic. "Here, Kate, let's do this." "OK! And, Peppa will be over here, OK, Jack?" "OK!"

A lot of the games they do play are imagination type things. They play "toy," where one of them acts like a toy and the other the child playing with them. They play some sort of roughhousing game where I'm always scared one of them is going to get hurt; I'm not sure what that one is called. "Nearly hitting head on coffee table," I think.

The games Kate likes best, generally, Jack gets tired of sooner, and he wants to go do something else, usually that Kate has no interest in. And she gets sad, or angry, and I try to either fill in when I can, or cheer her up, not often with success.

So it's nice when they find an activity they can both enjoy, and I don't always realize how much Kate appreciates it. Jack is kind of mild-mannered, I think, so he doesn't seem to make a big deal out of it. But I tell him, Hey Jack, Kate really enjoyed playing that game with you. It was great of you to do that.

I like to think he's happy to know that. 

2nd day of Christmas

Today was mostly a home day, aside from a morning birthday party for Kate and church for Jack. Back at home, I spent a whole lot of time watching football, and Kate and Jack spent a lot of time.... playing. It's a big deal, because they don't always just, you know, play with toys. Together!

Their first big toy activity was, uh, multiple wooden Nativity scenes we've collected over the years. We have them set them up each year, which is fun for them. But today they decided they'd play with all the characters like they were action figures.

Kate: "I'm going to be the baby Jesus!"

Jack (putting one of the wise men's robes on a cow): "It's ....Supercow! Yay, Supercow!....." He held the cow up and had it fly around the room.

Kate proceeded to have other Nativity figures bring presents to the Baby Jesus. Toys, mostly. Because, you know, baby. So the wise men brought Jesus a puppy and a small ball, rather than say myrrh or frankincense.

Jack enjoyed playing with Nativity figures from different sets, and thus of different sizes. "Look, it's a giant version of ME," he had one Joseph saying to another Joseph. "Look, it's a little version of me," said the second one.

Later in the afternoon, they played with the Peppa Pig camping trip set. I think this was prompted by Emily helping Kate clean her room, and they found it. Suddenly it was Kate's favorite toy again, and they had a blast with it. I only caught bits and pieces, because the camping trek went from Kate's room, to the playroom, and back again. Stopovers in the kitchen on the way.

At the end of the day, it was time to put the recycling out, and since we were outside, and it was Sunday, we played some football. It was nearly pitch black, but the football was half orange, so we could half see it. We threw it back and forth, and Jack tried to bring every catch back for a touchdown, for about 20 minutes without anyone getting hit in the eye since they couldn't see anything. And then we went in, ate dinner, watched some football players who weren't nearly as good as we were, and called it a night.

25 Days of Blogging

Been slacking on this lately, so what better than the busiest time of year to write a blog every day for 25 consecutive days? If you don't have a goal, you won't try to achieve it. So here goes.

Today we rose at the ungodly hour of 5:30 so we could be out of the house before 7 to drive into New York City to see the 9 a.m. showing of the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular. Jack helpfully woke Kate up as soon as he was awake and fairly dragged her out of bed and down the stairs, then encouraged her to eat her breakfast faster. "Kate! C'mon!" Anyway we got out the door and drove into the city.

Made it to Radio City and immediately dropped a small fortune on a couple of Santa Claus stuffed toys and a program. Took some pictures with glowy lights in the background and then of Jack and Kate with a real live Rockette. They did a nice job of smiling. The Rockette, too!

The show was pretty great. There was a lame bit where a mother and daughter played a video game to save Christmas or something, which Jack enjoyed, but everything else was cool. Kate was enthralled, I think, by the dancing. Jack liked some of it, got weary of some of it. Granted, we were all up really early. There were marching soldiers and dancing Nutcracker characters and a whole lot of Santas. And ice skaters. We asked Kate what the best part was, and she said, "Everything!" Jack mentioned the video game and I believe the wooden soldiers, because they were pretty cool.

After the show we went on a quest for coffee/food for the kids. After somehow walking about 4-5 blocks in New York City without encountering a Starbucks (we'd see 3 on the way back to the car later that afternoon), we settled on the Cafe upstairs from the NBC Store. Yes, I suspect we're the only people who have ever gone into the NBC Store for the coffee and the black-and-white cookies, which were fantastic. Kids got hot chocolate, which they enjoyed once it was lukewarm. When do kids start to like hot beverages? 

We then went to the American Girl and Lego stores, with the idea being the kids would think of things they wanted and tell Santa. They could each pick one thing. Kate picked a doll, we made a note of it, and on the way out of the store she came up with a different one. Jack picked some giant Lego truck, then switched to a Harry Potter Diagon Alley set, also halfway out the door. So yeah, they'll get something and may or may remember which one it was that they wanted.

We had lunch at Ellen's Stardust Diner, this 50s diner type place with singing waitstaff. While we were there somebody sang Lady Gaga and this other woman did a pretty fantastic rendition of "Everything's Alright" from Jesus Christ Superstar. Great voice! The kids menu was for under 6-year-olds, so Jack had a big burger from the regular menu, same as me actually. Did a pretty good job eating the thing.

Made it home, watched Charlie Brown Christmas, ordered pizza. Kids were a little on the rambunctious/overtired side, or maybe that was us. Anyway, we trundled them off into bed and weren't far behind. Nice family day in the big city.