December in The Blink of an Eye

Well, it’s been a quiet month in Lake Woebegone … oh, wait, that’s another writer. And that’s another story, as well, because it’s been anything but quiet in the Downs’ household. Just quiet on the blog. Time to update the news of the month.

Christmas season came to the house when Jack and the girls put the tree up the second weekend of December. It wasn’t decorated until a week later. Jack suggested I go all out and dig out my Santa and snowman collections. They’re a lot of fun when they’re going up, but a lot of work when they’re being taken down. But I acquiesced, and Santas and snowmen abound in our house this year. Brigid seemed very nonplussed about the whole thing. She didn’t react the way I expected her to – by taking ornaments down or playing with the Santas. She just took it all in stride. She’s enjoyed turning the tree on each day.

We hung the Advent calendar in its usual place – the back of the front door so Margaret and Patricia, taking turns, can hang the ornaments on the tree all the way up to Dec. 24. But this year, the elves delivered something new. It’s an Advent calendar with little doors and each morning, the girls would find a treat left by the elves. Mostly candy, which Brigid loved, but sometimes they’d find something non-edible, like a Christmas bell or Chapstick. Brigid’s face the morning of the Chapstick was priceless, like, “WTF?” (excuse the vulgarity, but you had to see the face).

All in all, the elves were a hit. I even convinced Simon, our elf on a Christmas ball, to make an appearance this year. He hasn’t been seen or heard from since Margaret was a little girl. But Simon appeared in the archway of the living room to keep an eye on the behaviors of the household. It’s the original “Elf on a Shelf” concept. Wish I thought to capitalize on it. I’d be rich.


Margaret was very busy during December with rehearsals for her band and chorus holiday concert. They combined band and chorus musical number was spectacular. Because she’s in chorus, select vocal ensemble and band, she was on all the time. The select group then took a day off from classes and traveled around town singing at schools, a retirement home and the mall. She was exhausted.

Rehearsals for “West Side Story” began this month, too, and she’s already realizing how much work goes into a full-fledged show like that one. But she is also enjoying it tremendously.

Jack finished up teaching this semester and, although it was a challenge because he’d never taught beginning newswriting before, he emerged triumphantly. The students gave him good marks on the evaluation, and renewed his basic grammar skills. Next semester, he teaches two classes. We’ll see how he holds up because it’s a lot of work (for very little remuneration).

At Sibley, Brigid had a lot of holiday-themed activities. They built graham-cracker houses, did pictures of holiday scenes and read lots of books of the season – including Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanza, I believe. I doubt they read one of my favorites, “The Latke That Wouldn’t Stop Screaming.” That book made me laugh out loud in Borders last year.

Patricia worked diligently making Christmas cards that she and her fellow Student Council representatives delivered to a local nursing home. There they sang Christmas carols and for the most part were met with enthusiasm. One woman sat there telling them to shut up.

The girls and Jack turned to philanthropy as the holiday drew closer, collecting bottles (many from my office) to cash in and donate the proceeds to the Salvation Army. The kettle drive was falling short, so they made nearly $30 in bottles for the effort.


Christmas Eve was spent at Mass first then Grandma and Granddad Downs’ house as is the custom. The girls were very good about getting to bed afterward, and Brigid said she was going to go to sleep because she knew Santa wouldn’t come if she was awake. The next morning, when she got up, she was so pleased with herself because, as she said, “I went to sleep good, and Santa came!” She enjoyed the experience, was very patient and happy with the bounty, which included the movie, “Up,” and sock monkeys. A shout-out to Chet and Mar to say thank you for the Barnes and Nobel gift cards – the girls are chomping at the bit to use them; and to Grandma Wright – thank you for the wonderful care package of gifts from Buffalo. The girls were especially excited about the scrapbook supplies.

Christmas dinner was at our house. I made a standing rib roast (prime rib) and had Jack’s folks, his brother and sister-in-law over. Jack had to work, so I wanted to stay home. Dinner and company was fabulous. A good time. I suppose Margaret and Patricia would say the best part was discovering Grandma and Granddad gave them both laptops for Christmas. Being the only grandchildren has its advantages. So they’ve been happily typing away. We did put restrictions on the computer usage. They’re not going to be taking them up to their bedrooms with unlimited Internet access. But they’ll be wonderful for school work. They’re faster and have more memory that our old computer.

We had Brigid’s Godfather, John Yonkovig, over for dinner the next night. That was a lot of fun as well, and he whipped us in a game of Bananagrams. If you’re not familiar with the game, it’s a Scrabble-like letter game without all the point counting. I made his favorite meal, veal saltimbocca, which was new for me but seemed to go over well. Next up on the whirlwind holiday celebrations: getting together with Brigid’s Godmother, Auntie Shell, and the boys, Josh and Jacob, as soon as we can figure out when.

Like I said, it’s been a busy month. We’ll see what the new year holds as it swiftly approaches.