Festive fun

I was ready to kick the holiday stuff into gear for the kids, and then we got snow, and I'm feeling even more that way.

I thought I'd share a couple fun holiday things we've discovered this year with hopes that maybe you'll share some of yours (I show you mine, you show me yours).

Books:
Brave Santa, by Nancy Poydar. A fun twist on kids being afraid to sit on Santa's lap (potentially an issue for Jellybean this year, hopefully eclipsed with this book).

A Christmas Party, poem by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey with Cyndy Szekeres. This is an oldie I found at the library. A really cute story about forest animals celebrating Christmas.

Holidays on Ice, by David Sedaris. NOT a children's book, definitely not. A grown-up book that will have you laughing like a kid, though.

Music:
Brian Setzer Boogie Woogie Christmas. This is the "Stray Cat Strut" guy and his big band sound. The songs are energetic takes on some of the carols -- replete with a decent Elvis imitation on "Blue Christmas." It has kept our toes tapping.

My new career

I am pleased to announce that I am realizing my lifelong dream: to perform regularly for an audience. Yes, it's true! My performances consist of singing and dancing, and so far my reviews have been very good.

My repertoire is very large at this point -- some day I hope to narrow it down so it's not so taxing on my brain, body and voice. But for now, I will have to incorporate lots of variety to keep it interesting and a bit less predictable.

My most requested song today was "Row, row, row your boat." That was from Peanut. Oh, did I mention she's in my audience? And so is Jellybean. Well, actually they ARE my audience.

You didn't think I actually had a big paying gig going with hoardes of people showing up. Not yet anyway.