2020 Santa, Tree and Selfie

We weren't expecting Santa this year, so we didn't put up stockings. But after a breakfast of pancakes, eggs, toast, and hash browns, we headed to the tree and found that Santa had brought each of us a stocking stuffed with things we love!

After plundering our stockings, we turned to the tree. Nina went first, then Pablo, then Emilio, then Mari, then me.

This was the first year Nina, Pablo, and Emi got presents for each other and for Mari and me.

Santa's Sleigh

Brian, Lynz and Olivia drove up from Texas with a trunkload of presents for us and took our presents back with them.

They also let us borrow "Black Orchestra."

Four Days, Three RBs, Four Christmas Portraits: Day Four

 

Four Days, Three RBs, Four Christmas Portraits: Day Three

Four Days, Three RBs, Four Christmas Portraits: Day Two

Four Days, Three RBs, Four Christmas Portraits: Day One

Nightwalks

Sometimes I get one of the kids to go on a walk with me through the park at night.

Wintersmith Bridge

Teenage Twins

Nina's 13th birthday started a day early when Mari brought her a "Birthday Cake" cakepop, an everything bagel with cream cheese, and a Mango-Dragonfruit Lemonade Refesher from Starbucks. At school, she got gifts from Annabelle and Alyssa and sweet notes from Zoie and Addie.
When she got home from school, I took her picture.

Pablo got home after Nina because he had a Robotics meeting.

For supper, we had Mazzio's pizza and cheese sticks, and the twins opened their gifts.

Nina got a watch, two books (Internment by Samira Ahmed and We are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson), and a Hamilton t-shirt ("We get the job done!") from us; sweatpants, a hoodie, $20 and a card from Grandmother and Granddaddy; and pear cake, two Jacksons and a card from Aunt Carolyn. Pablo got a Dungeons and Dragons board game, and two new world journeys for Disney Infinity from us; two books and Minecraft Java version from Grandmother and Granddaddy; and a pear cake, two Jacksons and a card from Aunt Carolyn.

Then, while Pablo played Minecraft with Olivia, Nina Facetimed with Addie and Trent, and then started watching Pride and Prejudice with me and Mari. When Pablo was wrapping up his Minecraft session, I picked up build-at-home Chocolate Lava cakes from Chili's for our three kids, and we lit the candles on the pear cakes Aunt Carolyn sent us.

At the end of the night, I watched the last two episodes of "The Good Place" with Nina and Pablo.

Auditions

Pablo had his first audition today. The 7th graders at Ada Junior High are hoping to perform "Oliver" in December. After initially considering the role of Billy Sykes, Pablo decided to audition for the role of Fagin. For the first stage of the audition, he sang an excerpt "You've Got To Pick a Pocket or Two" in front of the class on the stage and also participated in a group dance audition.  For the second stage of the audition (on Wednesday the 23rd), he prepared a minute monologue with an "English" accent.

Granddaddy helped Pablo pick his monologue and gave him lots of audition coaching.  He also recruited family friends Jennifer Richardson (in L.A.) and Jack Lewis (in Chicago) to help Pablo and Nina both with their monologue readings (and English accents). He also advised Nina and helped her and Pablo pick their monologues.

Nina's musical audition was on Tuesday.  She planned to audition for an ensemble role, which required her to sing an excerpt from "I'd Do Anything," but on the day, her teacher encouraged her to audition for the role of Oliver, which required singing an excerpt from "Where is Love?", which she had not prepared for.  That was a tough ask, but she handled it with grace.

When Nina and Pablo gave me a debrief on Monday afternoon, Nina was thrilled to report that she had heard high praise for her brother from both her friends and the drama teacher, and she was excited to share that news with Pablo. Pablo--who reported that he had not heard any feedback--was both pleased and in disbelief when he got this report (the photo above was taken moments afterwards).

On Friday, we learned that Pablo had been selected for the role of Fagin, Nina had been selected for the role of "The Handwalker" (a member of Fagin's gang), and family friend Annabelle Peters got the role of "The Artful Dodger."

We're looking forward to a lot of "Oliver!" in this house for the rest of the fall!

50

Mari's birthday celebrations started on Friday when she shared with her colleagues a beautiful and delicious chocolate cake decorated with books, which Melinda special ordered for her.

Friday afternoons, she enjoyed a happy hour celebration with her Book Club friends, and then she made French fries for the fam.

Saturday, she and Nina started the day with a "Walk for Breonna" at Wintersmith, as they have every Saturday this fall.

She and Nina and I then headed to OKC for our first trip outside the city limits since the pandemic hit in March. Our first stop was La Madeleine, where Mari ordered a hearty breakfast featuring eggs, a potato mash, bacon, avocado, a croissant and a mimosa. We then we exercise bike-hunting and tried out several models (without yet committing to one). On our way back to Ada, we stopped at Basil Mediterranean Café on 23rd street to buy lentil soup, hummus, falafel, fresh pita bread, baklava, and saffron honey, and we then dropped by La Madeleine again to pick up various tarts, cookies, mousse, a Danish pastry, and a baguette.

Back in Ada, we took some photos (see below), we feasted, and then the kids brought Mari a red bucket filled with 50 scrolls, each of which listed something each one of them loves about her. As she pulled each scroll out of the bucket and read it out loud, she guessed (mostly correctly) who said what. 

Afterwards, we headed to the piano, where I accompanied the kids on the piano as they sang "They Can't Take that Away from Me," with these modified lyrics, which they wrote:

"The way you fry po'taters,'

the way you sometimes cuss,

the way you hate dictators,

No, no, they can't take that away from us.

"[Nina:] The way you call me 'Betty,'

[Emilio:] the way you say I must

take out the trash, [Pablo:] the way you make me spaghetti!

[All:] No, no they can't take that away from us.

"We may never, ever put up the dishes in the way that you would love,

still you'll always, always keep the memory of . . 

"The way we never hush,

and never tie our shoes,

The way we never flush!

No, no, they can't take that away from you.

No, they can't take that away from you.

And then we all watched "Dave," starring Kevin Kline, which Mari picked because she thought it was appropriate for the electoral season (a hopeful fantasy), and she knew everyone would enjoy it. And we did.

Before calling it a night, I gave Mari the card I created for her, featuring a list of many of the places she has visited over the course of her life (half before we had kids and half since then), and a list of fifty things I love about Mari, and fifty unforgettable days we have spent together. That was not a hard list to create.

Throughout this day, Mari received more than a hundred well-wishes on Facebook, along with cards, mailed gifts (that kept coming throughout the week), emails, poems and phone calls.

With Nina . . . 

With Emi . . .

With Pabi . . . 

With all three. . . 

With me (Nina took these) . . .