I was perusing Peter Speirs' book Christmas with my first graders.
There was an illustration of Santa ringing a bell for donations.
I said, "Sometimes people dress up in Santa suits at Christmastime."
Zach said, "Elves do that."
"Zachary, I don't think they are elves. This man is tall."
Zach replied with certainty,
"One elf stands on another elf's shoulders...
they do that, you know."
2. Neither one-year-olds nor 52-year-olds find somersaults effortless.
3. What do you do when you find an ancestor's grave?
Talk to them? What do you say?
4. My mom is in an Alzheimers unit.
She has trouble carrying on a conversation of more than a half minute,
and difficulty answering simple questions.
She often doesn't recognize loved ones.
(Actually, she treats everyone as a loved one,
whether she knew them or not.)
...but she can sing!
Many songs.
Many verses.
In harmony.
Interesting what the mind retains.
5. In November,
Denny had the opportunity to be in an elk herd at night.
A little disconcerting,
and very cool.
There is more to that story,
but I'll let him tell it.
