Day +219: Getting into the Christmas Spirit

Keri was trying to get some work done this weekend, so I had lots of quality time with the kids. A weekend with Daddy usually means playgrounds and carousels, and this weekend was no exception. Isaac was feeling under the weather and took an early nap Saturday, so I put Mina on "Daddy's Choo-choo" (it's so cute when she says "N-Judah") and we went two stops and through a tunnel to the Duboce Playground. She wasn't real energetic, but then a wonderful thing happened: a group of high school-aged carolers came out of the nearby hospital and were waiting at the train stop, which is right next to the playground, to take the N-Judah out to UCSF and sing carols there. They had to wait a long time for their train, probably 20 minutes, and one train was full so they couldn't get on. Well, what were a bunch of singing kids going to do standing there for so long besides start singing songs? So we got a little impromptu concert of eight or nine Christmas carols. Mina Brigitta just stared at them with her jaw agape, and every time they stopped she would look at me and say "sing another song?" They were thrilled to have such an appreciative audience. They really sounded great, too. Right before they left I told them she'd spent all this time in the hospital and what a wonderful thing they were doing to bring cheer to people stuck there over the holidays. A couple of them actually got a little teary, but they needed to know how much it means to people.

Today we went to the carousel in Golden Gate Park and Mina rode the doggy by herself. Not without some prompting, but she stuck it out. Isaac got about halfway through the ride before he wanted up. Maybe they're a bit young to fully appreciate the carousel, but Mina always enjoys talking about it. Then we went to the playground that's right near the carousel. It's a huge playground with all kinds of neat structures to play on, but the ground is covered with sand so Mina couldn't go there until recently. Today she wanted to try every piece of equipment, even the big fast scary slide (I talked her out of that one). She wasn't running or giggling, particularly, just intently checking everything out. Isaac got to sit and play in the sand, which he hasn't had much chance to do. He was again so tired he didn't have energy for much else.

Keri bought a couple of Christmas books, and one of them has Christmas carols interspersed with poems and stories. I was reading it to Mina tonight, and she asked me to sing the song "Hark the Herald Angels Sing". So I sang it, and when I finished she was silent for a minute. Then she said "Again?" She made me sing it four times. Finally I told her there were other songs in the book, so we spent the rest of our reading time searching out the songs and singing every single one of them. I think it's a good thing that Keri has Isaac and Mina signed up for a music class this winter, and I predict we'll be singing lots of Christmas carols over the next few weeks.