This afternoon we went to the ACE Academy's Snowtime Celebration--the first time the school has put on a winter celebration. I contributed peanut butter blossoms that were presented on Grama Sprong's 3-tiered cookie server with various Andes mints scattered around. One little girl told me very solemnly that my cookies were very good. I felt that was high praise from the best source.
Lots of kids did stuff--most did something musical, but there was one group of 3 boys who told jokes. They stood in a single-file line behind the microphone, and each would tell one joke, then run to the back of the line and the next boy would come up to tell a joke, and so on. (Performances were limited to a maximum of two minutes.) Jonathan was one of the three boys, and he did a fantastic job. He spoke clearly into the microphone, had a good delivery, and was clearly enjoying himself immensely. No stage fright from him, and there were over 100 people in the auditorium! Lots of parents came up to me afterwards and said not only how well he did but how surprised they were since he's so quiet and well behaved in class! If only they knew . . . once he discovered jokes, we quickly instituted a rule that he could tell us a joke only once, after that NO MORE. Even Kayleigh knows how to tell a "knock knock" joke now, although hers are usually pretty surreal.
After the program, we got a tree on our way home. Tomorrow we'll put lights on it in the afternoon (Jonathan and I), and when Dale comes home we'll decorate it. For some reason, it is the heaviest tree we've ever gotten--usually it's easy for Dale to lift, but this one required both of us and even then it's a struggle. At least it's inside and ready to go now. Everyone is very excited about decorating it!
My husband must be one of the luckiest men alive. A couple of months ago I read in the Daily Telegraph online that there was to be a lottery for a chance to get tickets to a one-off Led Zeppelin reunion show that was being held in honor of the recently deceased Ahmet Ertegun, founder of Atlantic Records (his character figures in the Johnny Cash movie Walk the Line). So I told him he should sign up for it, he said why not, and the thing was done.
Some weeks went by, and I read to him in the paper that something like a million people all around the world had registered for this lottery that was ending that day so that the winners could be notified they had won a chance to buy tickets. There were only about 20,000 tickets to be had, so odds were astronomical.
Next morning, as the Churchett Express was driving around town to deliver and collect children as necessary, I got a call from Dale saying he'd gotten an e-mail informing him of the details and that he had 72 hours in which to buy tickets or forfeit his right to do so.
NO WAY!
We sat on it all day long, making sure it wasn't an Internet scam, but it was the real thing. He purchased his two tickets that evening for him & Glen to attend.
Originally the concert was scheduled for 26 November, but Jimmy Page--the guitarist--injured a finger a couple of weeks before, so it got pushed out to tonight--10 December. I have just read three reviews of the show--the BBC News, The Daily Telegraph, and Germaine Greer--and all of them without reservation were absolutely blown away by the musicianship they saw onstage tonight from the band (3 of the 4 original members plus the deceased drummer's son filling in for his dad). Wow. I really wish I'd been there!! But I think it's fantastic that Dale got to go--I still can't believe he actually got picked for tickets. What a treat.