Day 1567. This morning I had my alarm set for 8 am, but Sammy was up early, as usual, and the others got up not long after. We did all the advent calendars, then got ready to leave the house at 9:15. I got the tops of our Christmas pj's out that we all put on to have matching T-shirts. We were going to a Christmas party after all. The kids also wanted to wear their Christmas hats, and so all three of them put them then. Then we left the house early.
And so we got to the music school over 10 minutes before the party was to start at 10 am, and we were the first in line. Soon more and more people were coming and standing in line with us. Just after 10 am they finally let us in. We handed in our tickets and took our coats and shoes off. Then it was off to the rooms for the different activities.
In the first room they had two piles of adult clothes and a picture of Rudolph without his nose on. The kids had to put the clothes on, then turn around a few times and put Rudolph's nose in the right spot. Tammy went first, then Emmy. Then we moved on to the next room. That's where they had the crafts going. I helped them cut the Christmas tree out that they then glued to a paper plate. Then they got to glue stones and glitter and snow on it. They were soon done, and we moved on to the next room.
In that room they were playing musical chairs, and they were having lots of fun. They weren't very fast, but Emmy still won one round, and he beat an older girl. He was really proud of that and brought it up several times in the course of the rest of the day. Tammy never made it to the end, but one time I had Sammy and walked around with him, and he actually won his round. He was beaming from ear to ear, but Randy didn't manage to take a picture.
After a few rounds of playing musical chairs, we left the room. We had finished all the activities and went to the main room. The kids had some cookies on the way. They had the cubes in the room that the kids were playing with, while others, and adults, were sitting on them. I sat down on one with Sammy. Emmy and Sammy were hugging each other, which was sweet. Their piano teacher was the one playing Christmas songs non-stop in the room, but she never actually talked to them at all, just gave them a greeting nod.
After a long time of waiting for the program to start, it finally did. The school founder and director came, and several students did performances on the piano and on the guitar. It was all rather boring for the kids. Neither Tammy nor Emmy could sit still. Then the teachers did a few songs, followed by everyone singing a few songs. The director told everyone they needed to sing "Jingle Bells" with a loud voice so that Santa Clause would know where to go. Before the song was over, he came through the courtyard and through the window into the room. He was carrying a big sack full of gifts. He greeted everyone and sat down and asked whether they had behaved well. Then they started getting packages out of the sack and reading the name of the kid it was going to. Tammy's name was called quite early. She walked to the front, climbed onto the stage, was handed her gift and sat on Santa Claus's knee for a picture. Then she returned to us and opened her box, which was more challenging than expected. It was quite small, and it was a yoyo. Both she and Emmy had asked for one. Sammy's name was called quite quickly after hers, and Randy walked to the front with him. Santa liked the matching shirts. Last year Emmy had also been the last one whose name was called, but this year he didn't have to wait as long as last year, when he had even cried, thinking he wasn't getting anything. He walked to the front, climbed onto the stage and onto Santa's knees, then I took his picture, and he returned with his gift. He also got a yoyo and was overjoyed.
Sammy's box was bigger, and I helped him open it. When I took it out, his eyes lit up after I had turned it on. It was a toy with sound, movement, and lights that were projecting out. The perfect gift for Sammy! He loved it so much, he held it tight and wouldn't let go of it.
After Santa Claus was done, he said good-bye and left through the door. The kids were not giving him any more attention anyway, as everyone was busy with their gifts. Everyone left the room to put their coats and shoes back on and go home, and we did the same.
We walked back to the subway and got on an old train, which made Sammy cry. Thankfully he had his new toy that helped him get over the disappointment. We got off after a few stops to go have lunch at McDonald's. We had a good time there, then left to walk back to the subway. There's a Christmas market right there, but it's only open later in the afternoon. However, people use the little ice-skating rink, and then the kids saw that the caroussel was moving. They were really excited and wanted to ride it. So we walked over to it, through the melting snow and the resulting water everywhere. Unfortunately all the seats in the caroussel also had water on them. Randy didn't want to do it, but the kids were so excited that I couldn't say know. You could get 4 rides for 10€, and I asked the guy whether we could take the 4th ride with us for another time. He said he didn't have anything to give us for another time and then said he'd let all three ride twice. Wow! He gave us two rides for free! Randy had to climb into the little plane with Sammy, so he could sit there safely. Tammy and Emmy went into the spinning cup for the first ride, then Emmy sat in the front of the plane, where Daddy and Sammy were, and Tammy was driving another vehicle. They were laughing and giggling and having so much fun!
Then we finally walked to the subway to go back home. By 1:45 pm we were back home. We were all pretty tired, so I closed all the curtains and encouraged the kids to rest a little on their beds, allowing them to use their tablets to watch something. Sammy's toy was even cooler in the dark, and he had it next to him in bed. Then I lay down myself and soon fell asleep. I set my timer for one hour, so I'd have enough time to get ready for leaving the house again. It got pretty quiet, so I was wondering whether anyone else was falling asleep, but that was not the case.
After my alarm woke me, I started dressing the kids and myself and making their dinner-to-go boxes. We left the house later than planned at 4:30 pm.
Once again we got on the subway, then switched to another subway. I was really full, but I got a double seat for Tammy, Emmy and myself. The kids then got really quiet, and then both Tammy and Emmy fell asleep. I also closed my eyes as I was really tired. It was the first time they'd ever fallen asleep in the subway since not being in a stroller any more. When it was time to get off, Emmy had to wake up and walk, while I carried the heavy girl out. We didn't go anywhere, as we had to wait for the next train because of construction work. Tammy was getting really heavy, but I managed to hold her and then carry her onto the next train, where she continued sleeping on my while I was sitting, with Emmy awake and next to me. Once we got off at our destination, she woke up and walked.
With all the delays we'd had, it was 5:20 pm before we got to church, and then we had to wait for Randy to go in and take the elevator down, so he could let us into the building with the elevators. By the time we were by the sanctuary, there was no reason to go inside as everyone was gathering to go to kids' church. And so we walked that way. We took the kids' shoes off and let them go into the room. I gave them their dinner boxes, then left Randy there with the kids and went to the sanctuary. I hadn't stayed in the service in many months, and I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the time of worshiping God that ended way too soon. It was good to see a good friend right there, and then, when it was time to talk to people, an old friend I hadn't seen in years came up to me and talked to me. It was really nice to see him. During the sermon, I had my eyes closed while listening. At 7 pm I left to go to the kids' room.
They were done there, and the kids came running to show me the drawings they had made. Sammy was on a car and having fun. The reason we had even come to church after such a busy, intense weekend was that they had practiced the Christmas play for the Christmas service next week. Randy is playing a shepherd so he can be by Sammy who is a sheep.
We put their shoes back on and returned to the sanctuary, where the service was about to end. Sammy kept asking for Anna, but unfortunately she wasn't there. After a few minutes, we put their coats on and left.
We had just started walking in the direction of the subway, when I ran into an old friend I hadn't seen in many years. She lived in the area and was on her way home. Then Emmy said he needed a bathroom, and so we had no choice but to return to church. The others stayed on the bottom of the stairs to wait for us. When we returned, I found out that Tammy needed to go as well, and so I took her back upstairs and to the bathroom. All the while I just wanted to get home!
When we finally got to the subway, we had a long 10-minute wait ahead of us. The kids still needed to eat their food, so I got their boxes out, and they ate while watching videos. They continued on the subway, and then on the second subway. By 8:20 pm we were finally home.
It was late, and it was time for bed. They opened their advent calendars, and we put their pj's on them. They brushed their teeth, and I prayed for them. I told them, no story tonight, which made Tammy cry. I then climbed into her bed with her, which comforted her, and so Emmy came to the top as well. I then told them a short story, and Emmy knew the story was about them. I stayed a little longer, with a kid on each side, then left them. Emmy went downstairs to sleep there. He fell asleep before Randy could ever sit down with them, as he hadn't eaten yet at that point. I got myself something to eat as well, then went back to work. Tammy has been waking up frequently and crying for long times, as she has a cough and a stuffy nose. Yesterday it was Sammy who had cried frequently because of his stuffy nose. At some point I asked her whether she wanted to go sleep in our bed, as she just wouldn't stop crying, and she's been silently sleeping ever since. Now it's time for me to do the dishes and then go to bed. The pictures from today will have to wait as it's already 1:30 am.
