O Christmas Trees.....

Bob went back to work this morning after dropping Michael off at the hockey arena at 5:45 AM. Bob is feeling better...now just weak and tired. He had patients to see, and tonight was the unveiling of the Glencoe Christmas tree light show that has occupied most of his November. He couldn't afford to miss today.

The kids and I spent the day working on our own Christmas lights projects that Daddy had left us a list for. He is very behind on our lights because of the time involved on the Glencoe project. It seemed like things kept going wrong at every turn, and the entire project took nearly 10 times longer than expected. We were doing our best to pitch in today.

Alex and I worked on setting up the mini mega trees. Each one took about an hour, but with two of us and eight trees, we were able to finish by early afternoon. They look pretty neat, with 32 strings perfectly positioned on each one, and it will be fun to see them all plugged in at one time to see how they work together.

While we worked on that, the other kids decorated our regular indoor Christmas tree. Daddy had put beautiful new lights on it last night while we were at Grandma's, so it was all ready for ornaments today. Ususally, I am stuck with this task every year. But this year, the kids were all excited to help out. Even little Tubby was doing his part. This was my first year pretty much unsupervising them after a list of general instructions regarding ornament placement. They did a pretty nice job spreading them out amongst the various branches. The pile of ornaments requiring surgery however, seemed to be a bit larger than normal. Oh well, thank goodness for super glue.

At 4;15, we needed to leave to get to Glencoe on time for the big light show reveal. Alex had wanted to drive us out there, but to his disappointment, it was really important that we get there on time, so he had to wait for the drive home. The kids, on the other hand, were relieved by this turn of events (as they had not yet recovered from our drive home last night)...especially the neighbor girl who was with us. The parking lot was packed by the time we arrived, and a few hundred people were standing out in the lot, waiting for the show to begin. The donation box was frequented by many who were able to purchase a light, string of lights, a tree, a song, or a whole day dedicated in their loved one's memory. As we waited in the cold, we saw Daddy Elf skip by on his way to the control booth. Tubby and Laura were most excited to see him. Soon after, Santa appeared at the end of the block.....neither Tubby nor Laura wanted any part of getting close to that funny looking dude.

A long list of introductions and thanks, followed by a crowd countdown, and the light show finally began. The 30 foot metal pole "tree" was impressive and fun. Massively beautiful through all five songs Bob had programmed. He has talked about making one of these in our backyard. After seeing it in action, it would be nice to watch one out our living room window. Lots of "ooo's" and "ahhhh's" came from the crowd throughout the show. This has probably been one of the most exciting things to happen in Glencoe in several years! Below is video of the Christmas light show...all four songs, in Glencoe. Click on the link, then click on the big "Let there be lights!" circle in the middle of the page, and play the video at the bottom of the page:

www.grhsonline.org/treelights.htm

After the awesome show, we were all invited inside for cookies, cocoa, and a visit with Santa. The line was huge and so very slow going. We finally gave up on it after 30 minutes, and opted for just cookies and cocoa. A visit to Santa would have to wait. We visited with the Elf for a bit as we found a quiet and cool space in a corner, out of the too large and hot crowd containing lots of crabby kids by that point. We were all proud of that Elf, and it was fun to see other kids excited to get their picture spontaneously taken with Santa's helper. When the line subsided, we went up to see the big guy.....Laua and Tubby began to cry, and shrunk back in fear, the older boys were just too old, the neighbor girl had a sudden bout of extreme shyness (I have NEVER seen this little chatter-box shy), and only Melissa was brave enough to walk right up there and talk to Santa. Crispy and Jonny followed behind....so at least 3 of the kids might be getting something for Christmas this year.