
In a Crawford Christmas, not a lot of night wind, little lambs, shepherd boys, mighty kings or even people everywhere...but the question still stands: Do you hear what I hear?
"A child, a child, donning a red nose. She is waiting for the curtain to close."
Gracie was a reluctant Rudolph for the Adventure Club Pre-K holiday program, but on the precious scale, this kid and her peers went to 11 (for all my Spinal Tap-types).

Do you see what I see?
"A child, a child. Assaulting a kid named Cole. Guessing how many M&M's were in the jar was his only goal."
Met it, too. A mere 200+ M&M's off, but did the bragging and wonderment and pride cease, even to this day? Nay, indeed. You'd think he'd won the Nobel Prize. Apparently, it's just this easy. Ahem.

Do you know what I know?
"A child. A child, with his huge blue eyes. Slapped some google-eyes on his Snowman just after he won the prize."
Necessity is the mother of invention: the huge eyes wouldn't stick to the chenille stem wrapped around the candy cane to make a reindeer, so...

No more verses. But, as always, more children and pictures to caption than any number of stanzas allow.
Evie, with Cooper and Aubrey, busily constructing their sugar-cube igloo with chopsticks. Cooper turned into a major liability, and was banned from the table due to his constant knocking and collapsing of said igloo. What a punk.

Belly and her powdered-sugar-donut-hole-with-peppermint-patty-and-Hershey's-kiss-hat-held-together-with-green-icing-sporting-mini-chocolate-chips-for-a-face-and/or-buttons-edible-snowman-craft-project. That took positively forever to type.

Shaney, Carter, Taj and Gerardo, preppin' to "read." Obviously.

Nothin' like those Crawford eyes, I'll tell ya what...
Shaney Ro's holiday party consisted of a ridiculously bountiful breakfast (cookies! yee-haw!) and opportunity to present the parents the contents of the construction-paper suitcase housing their passports and projects representing several countries and their respective holiday traditions. He especially enjoyed the cut-and-paste project from Australia: a kangaroo and a surfer. Nothing says Christmas like...a kangaroo...and...a surfer. Is what I always say.

The good stuff: Ty's Bear den creation for the holidays that he keeps not for himself, or his buddies, or his mom (best mom in the world," thank you very much), but his other main girl.

Belly-Boo, holiday concert, violin. Again with the praises for Clear Sky Elementary, Douglas County School District, and the administrators who fight for these programs in the face of severe budget cuts. It takes courage to hold that belief that school should enrich and teach the whole child and to do more than pay lip service to the concept that the arts are for all kids, not just the advantaged that can afford private lessons. May I paraphrase Dumbledore? We live in perilous times, Harry. It's tempting to do the easy thing. We need more people who do the right thing.