LOOK AT THIS HUMONGOUS BABY!

The tale of a Kindergarten Christmas Play.

My son was Joseph in the school Christmas play this year. He asked for the leading, living, male role when he found out who was playing Mary. Yes my 6-year-old has a crush.

The original date of the play was December 19th but school was closed because of bad weather so the party was postponed until the following Monday.

They practiced their lines over and over but costumes were kind of an after thought. The teachers did what they could. As the lead my son got to wear a wool poncho that dragged on the floor – it was not meant for the 4" set. Our Mary was lovely in her red velvet party dress. She wore a cloth head covering that was held on with an elastic headband and a cape/shawl that was originally a curtain in one of the play areas.

The shepherds wore tunics made from a cheap brown plastic tablecloth cut to fit over their heads. Green yarn was tied around their waists and they carried empty wrapping paper tubes as walking sticks. Under their tunics the boys were dressed in jeans, character shirts and sneakers. All the girls were beautiful angels. They came to school wearing velvet party dresses and put on children's choir robes for the play.

My son welcomed the parents to the production after the toddlers and preschoolers did their song and dance routines, "Welcome to our Christmas play, we hope you enjoy it!"

He then walked over to the manger scene and knelt down. As the teacher was telling of the angel's visit to Mary, my son yells out, "Hey guys look at this humongous baby!" The doll they had gotten to play Jesus was about half the size of Mary.

The teacher didn't flinch and just kept going with the story. After the angel Gabriel(la) finished speaking, Mary joined Joseph in the stable. The angel Gabriel joined the other 2 angels lined up opposite the 3 shepherds. The kids looked as if a square dance lesson was about to begin.

The teacher continued, "The angels appeared to the shepherds, and they were afraid.” The three boys, in unison, let out a small yell.

Everyone joined Mary and Joseph in the stable and again my son says, “Look at this humongous baby!” He lifts the naked (though not anatomically correct) doll up by its head and feet to show everyone and then puts it back in the manger. The doll only bounces a little.

After the play my boy walks back to center stage and says, “We hope you have enjoyed our play. Merry Christmas.”

The musical portion of their program is about to begin. All the kids run around the stage with their heads down trying to find the piece of masking tape with their name on it so they are sure to stand in the right spot. Once they are in place one of the teachers pushes the button on the boom box. Two others teachers run around the stage putting red and green painted paper ponchos with yarn fringe all the students, making sure everyone is wearing their own art work.

The music and gestures begin. All the children rock the invisible baby Jesus in their arms. All the children accept mine. My son is pulling on the neckline of the poncho. It’s obviously itchy. He continues to sing but he has had enough of this wool poncho and can’t wait until the end of the program to get out of it.
He takes off the paper poncho.
He takes off the wool poncho.
He reveals the fact that this Joseph is a big Spiderman fan.
He puts the paper poncho back on.
He begins kicking at the wool poncho to get it out of his way.
One of the teachers sneaks on the stage and rescues the wool poncho.

Now it’s time for his favorite song — Feliz Navidad and it becomes obvious why the wool poncho could not be in his way. There is a good deal of jumping in this production of the song, and my son is going for the height record. His knees hit his chest on almost every jump.

At the end of the musical numbers the girl who played the angel Gabriel says the school prayer before we eat,
“Thank you God for this day.
I hope we have a good, good day
With no hitting, kicking, punching or spitting
In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen”

The teachers let the parents go shopping and babysat our kids for free for a few hours. I love that school and will miss the heck out of them next year when he goes to the “big kid” school. I introduced one of the other mothers to Craft Fancy, and she introduced me to Starbuck's Hot Cocoa. It was a good evening.

I hope you all have good holiday memories from this year too.

MERRY CHRISTMAS — BLTN

Christmas 2008 Card
Originally uploaded by Kalyber

BLTN = better late than never

This is a sample of this year's cards. To see the full size versions click on the link below the image to see them on flickr.

This tag was created on request for a friend at work. She wanted something sparkly and Diva-ish. So I went for it. The details on this can be see on flickr as well. Just click here.

Happy, Happy, Merry, Merry
Katie

Tagged Finally

I decided a long time ago not to answer tag questions until I was tagged, it's like inviting yourself to other people's parties. "It's just not done". I read other people's blogs and comment when I can, but my modest little blog has gone untagged. The only tags anyone has ever seen here are like the one at the left. But that's changed when my downline, Kathy Wendhack, tagged me.




7 Random and/or Weird Facts About Myself
1. I can plug my nose with my upper lip. Unattractive but really useful on garbage day and when I used to change diapers.
2. I was born in St. Louis, Mo.
3. I have worked for the same company for nearly 20 years. In this day and age that's just weird.
4. I don't like coffee or hot dogs and I'm not that wild about apple's either.
5. I've had a least one out of body experience.
6. I hate shopping for clothes, especially shoes (I wear a size 11 they're hard to find).
7. I never learned to swim.

7 [Not So] Random Tags. These things are never really random are they. These people are on my SuperStar artist list and I would love to meet them all.

1. Suzan Buckner : The Thrifty Collage Artist. Suzan is painter not necessarily a stamper and her stuff is amazing!

2. Hermine Koster : Hermine's Place (in the Netherlands)  The fact that an international trip would be required to meet Hermine is just part a bonus, I would love to play in her craft room with her and watch her create her wonderful work.

3. LOUISE CROSBIE : Zuzu's Petals & Stuff (in Edinburgh, Scotland)  

4. Julie Buhler : Paper Pleasing Ideas This is one of the very first blogs I started following every day.

5. Susan Williamson : Artopia Update Susan uses the photoshop, paints, inks, found objects to make paintings, ATCs, MOOs, or 3D objects. All are a wow.

6. Becca Feeken : Amazing Paper Grace I stumbled upon Becca's blog when I was searching for stuff for my sister Grace's Christmas book last year. I was amazed at her talent and have been a reader ever since.

7. Patty Bennett : Patty's Stamping Spot Patty is a Stampin' Up! Founder's Circle Member and such an inspiration. I love her work and would love to stamp with her.

Happy Homemade Holidays

HAPPY HOMEMADE HOLIDAYS TO YOU
Some people bake sweet breads or cookies, some knit sweaters or scarves; paper crafters make cards to be used through out the year. If you have someone on your list that you just can't quite find the right gift for, consider making a gift set of cards for them to send out later in the year. Birthday and Thank You cards can be used later and each time the recipient addresses one of your cards they will think of you. How nice is that.
If you have a crafter on your list, consider making up a stamper’s gift pack as a gift; a stamp set, pack of assorted papers and a punch or two. If you need gifts or supplies to make your gifts place holiday orders by Tuesday, December 16, 2008, by 6:50 PM via phone or online by 11:50 PM (all times MT) to be sure they arrive before Christmas.

RETIRED LIST RELEASED AND ON SALE
Dozens of stamp sets from the Fall-Winter 2008 Idea Book & Catalog are retiring. Now's the last chance for you to get them — these sets are only available through January 18, 2009. And they're 10 percent off from December 9-23, so don't wait to order!
 See my website for the list: www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/katiebolinger

FREE SHIPPING & 20% OFF SELECTED SETS
From December 9 through December 23, all workshop and customer orders of $70 or more will receive FREE SHIPPING. This is good for online purchases too. So this is the perfect time to get all the goodies you want.

From December 1 – January 18th when you spend $20 on anything Stampin’ Up! offers you can take 20% off any stamp set in the catalog sampler. There are great sets there to pick from, and who doesn’t like a sale!
 See my website for the sampler: www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/katiebolinger