Party of Five

It was December 14th, 2012. On that day.... I spent the afternoon at my kids' school watching my 1st grader and his classmates perform their Christmas concert for all of my fellow parents and grandparents.  First and Second Graders were singing together, bringing joy into the season. I watched them all, recognizing many of the faces, probably able to name most of them if I really thought long and hard enough. On that day...hundreds of miles away in Newtown, Connecticut, students were also at school with the excitement of Christmas being only days away. I can't even begin to fathom 20 less angelic voices  than those that I heard at my school on that day. On that day...there were elementary students in Connecticut who had spent the past few months making new friends who should've been friends for life as classmates.  At the end of the day they were left wondering why nobody ever told them about these scary, sad days at school. ...because these scary, sad day

"The Elf", who is affectionately known as Jingles in our house, has been around for many, MANY years. He's a roly-poly sort-of elf, who shows up every year, looking like he has spent his time at the North Pole trying just a little too hard to channel his inner-Santa by growing a full beard that is completely out of control.  However, he has been part of Christmas with our family long before THE OTHER ELF was the cool thing to do - sometimes he can be uber-mischievous, and at other times, we hardly have even known he's around (or remembered, if I'm being really honest). I woke up this December 1st, and made my way into the family room, and there he was.  (Like the creepy stalker that he is) I had a discussion with him that these "lil' people" are now 18, 14, and 12...and MAYBE they had outgrown him and the need to be stalked  watched over.  (I'm pretty sure a baby reindeer died at the North Pole when I said that) I talked about how my ki