Weekend Salad

J and I have talked and we have both come to the conclusion that this is our last Santa Christmas.  Kiddo has hinted on and asked some questions about Elfie that leads us to believe that she is on the fence about this whole Santa thing.  That’s fine.  We all know Santa isn’t real.  I could give you my thoughts on the spirit of Santa and how that lives in some of us, but I’ll save that TED Talk for another day.  :)

The fun part of no Santa is that we’ve discussed (J and myself that is) instead of Xmas and presents and a ton of stuff, we can do a family trip.  See somewhere we want to see at Winter/Xmas Break.  We are also starting a family tradition this year of three gifts.  Something to read/watch, something to wear, and something fun.  We’ll see how it goes, but sounds super fun to me.  Besides, that’s something (if we do Winter Trips) that we can do before/after or, if we can, during.  

With it being our last (or near last) Santa Xmas, we decided to do it up.  We did, however, need to recruit some help.  See, we wanted to have Santa and Elfie leave notes for Kiddo, just to play into the realness of them.  However, Kiddo knows our handwriting.  In comes the one, the only, the wonderful… Becksters.  She’s a new teacher here and her and J climb and hang together (punny) sometimes.  She, however, helped us out and penned a letter from Santa to Kiddo and some small Elfie notes.  She put in some time and effort and we wanted to publicly thank her.  And again extend her an invite to dinner with us.  Seriously, lady, what you do you like as a dinner?  I will attempt making that for you.  A million thanks and all to Becksters.

With the trimming of the tree yesterday, Santa left his letter last night.  Kiddo about lost ALL the bananas this morning.  She read the letter 5 times and even counted the words (135).  It was a big thrill for her and really pushed aside some of the doubt.  This is going to be a fun Xmas.  

As for the tree, Kiddo is tall enough to put the Star on top herself.  When did she get so big?????  

Otherwise, here is her decorating the tree and just being 6.

Also, since it is Xmas, J and Kiddo went to the mall yesterday and started the Xmas shopping.  Mostly it was for teachers and the art, music, engineering, etc staff.  Small stuff.  When they were there, though, they grabbed lunch.  They decided on salads.  Kiddo, however, didn’t like the dressing options, so she just wanted plain.  She also had to show off that she could do “finger splits”.  Yup, she’s six, we’ve confirmed it.  LOL  Other than that, she is growing like a weed.  Look at her face.  She looks so tired, but she gets 10ish hours a night and is healthy.  It’s just that she can’t get enough food… or sleep.  She is 121cm tall now (47.5 inches) and only growing.  

Today, we are decorating more and, of course, when Kiddo finds the fun stuff, she needs to show it off.  Can you even???  

Other than that, we’re just doing life until Christmas break and all that.  

The one non-Xmas related item that I wanted to bring up today will take some explaining.  First, you will need to understand why “an hour… hour forty five” is funny.  J, when we first moved here, asked me about how long it would take me at 7-Eleven one day when I was running out.  I can never say.  Sometimes it takes 3 minutes, other times it takes 15.  Depending on how busy 7 is, if I take the lift or stairs, if I bump into someone I know and chat for a few minutes… So, I told J that I wouldn’t be long, an hour, hour forty five.  We laughed.  That evolved, since she knows it’ll take “hour, hour forty five” and so I changed it up on her one day.

This will explain the change.  However, Kiddo picked up on it and now loves it.  When I say I’m heading to 7, here’s the Kiddo’s reply.  If nothing else, we’re raising her right.  Besides that, isn’t it unusually adorable hearing her say it; Let’s me know I’m in good hands if I’m ever abducted by ninjas or some guys that I stole plutonium from for the Flux Capacitor, but that’s a story for another day.

As a last, when Kiddo and I were getting ready for school today (Monday) she was telling me about her Detective Ninja Agency.  It’s her and some friends at school.  They are detective ninjas and they solve mysteries and crime.  Who thought up the name of the group?  Her hand shot up.  Who is the leader?  Her hand again.  Are you the building block of all detective ninjas?  Ummmm, Dada, why else would we be named DNA???

OK, well, I was just being snarky with the DNA comment, but Kiddo was all over it.  Sometimes I wonder if she’s 6, 16, or 60.  To quote Poley- Jeeeez-a-whhhhhheeeeeezzzzzzzz!

Let’s go, Kiddo… 8 school days after today until Christmas break and only 21 days until Christmas.  That’s 3 weeks, just like you told me today.  Love and hugs, Kiddo.

PS.  During the Xmas teacher gift mall trip, Kiddo found a stuffed Tiger.  How much do I want to get Kiddo her very own Hobbes for Xmas?!?!?!  I'm just in love with these pics.