Merry Christmas!

A Christmas Carol ~ Photos in Costume

Thank you very much to Aunt Laura {my mom's sister} and Unlce Ted {my dad's brother} who came up to Milwaukee a couple Sundays ago with my parents to see A Christmas Carol. It was so nice to see you, and Alyssa was very happy you could see the show!

Below are some of my favorite pictures of Alyssa in her costumes for A Christmas Carol. The first several photos show her in her "Want" costume, and in the bottom few she is wearing the costume that she wears in almost every scene of the play other than the Fezziwig scene and the Want scene. The only costume we didn't get her pictured in is her Fezziwig scene costume. It blesses me so much to have these pictures because our experience in the past is that it is extremely difficult to get photographs of the kids in costume ~ wonderful memories I am thankful to have!!

Tiny Tim and Want.

With Martha Cratchit.

With Remembrance and Forgiveness.

With Fan.

With Catherine {possibly Alyssa's favorite actress in the play}.

Collecting for La Causa after the performance.


“I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach!” ― Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

Don't Miss The Manger

The Kingdom Kid's Choir Christmas musical this year was called, Camel Lot, Don't Miss The Manger! and it was as cute as ever! Growing too old for kid's choir at church is one of the saddest things that has ever happened to Alyssa, but Miss Gina told her she can help behind the scenes from now on ~ so that made Alyssa very happy! Kid's Choir is one our girls' most favorite things ever and it's always so wonderful to get that cd of Christmas music in September and get an early start singing Christmas songs as we shuffle back and forth from school.

There's quite a few photos from the musical here, but they are all my favorites and I couldn't decided which ones to include, so I included just about all of them. You can click the collages for a better view.

Rebekah was a lot less reserved than I thought she would be. I had to talk her into staying for the first few rehearsals, she wanted nothing to do with singing with all the big kids. But she seemed pretty comfortable on stage by the time the performance came around. It definitely helped that Emma was right near her. Some of Rebekah's expressions {yawns included} were funny. She only pulled up/adjusted her skirt about 327 times, so that's something we'll have to work on for next year.






Emma during her solo...she was her typical, consistent, laid back self. Her complete calm under pressure astounds me sometimes.

Rebekah had a small solo too, again, something she would not have even wanted to try a year ago. Their teacher asked me if it would make Rebekah a nervous wreck if she gave her a solo and went on to explain how Rebekah was very timid to volunteer during solo try outs, but as soon as the music went on, her voice filled up the room. I'm so thankful she is coming out of her shell a little. I love how the bottom pic shows that she is barely tall enough to reach the microphone, she's on her tippiest toes in the top picture.

Their similar expressions in this photo cracked me up, two peas in a pod they are.

I love how it looks like Rebekah is checking on Emma in this picture, just making sure her big sister is there, doing what she's supposed to be doing :-)


Do you think Rebekah knows where we are in the audience and that I am taking pictures of her?

Yeah, I think she knows exactly where we are!!

And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. And the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. "And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths, and lying in a manger. -Luke 2:9-12

A Little Shepherd Girl

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. -Luke 2:15-20

Last Saturday was Rebekah's German Dance Christmas party. At the practice before the party as they were handing out costumes for the nativity scene, they didn't have enough costumes for all the little girls in the dance group to be angels. The group is larger than it has ever been and the teacher makes all the costumes, so they were limited in how they could cast the little ones. Rebekah was handed a shepherd costume and she brought it to me with a tiny smile, only half happy about the situation and said, "Can you find me a staff? I'll be a shepherd if you can get me a staff."

I told her how important the shepherds were, how they were the very first to find out about Jesus' birth. I also reminded her how in the Bible Jesus is referred to as "The Good Shepherd." I wanted her to be excited about her role, and I am not sure that she understood everything I was telling her, but she definitely perked up as we talked about it. And the fact that I found her a candy cane yard ornament to use as a staff helped her not to feel sad as she watched many of the other little girls putting on their cute angel outfits.

Such a precious sight ~ all the kids re-enacting the nativity scene and singing.

Her staff doubled as a crutch nearly all night, more than one person asked Rebekah how she hurt herself. I tell you, the child does nothing half way, she was very convincing.

Our sweet shepherd girl.

Getting ready to sing Christmas Carols.

This is something that I am so, so proud of...Rebekah read a German Christmas poem to the audience during the party. Her voice was as tiny as a mouse and we could hardly hear her, but no matter!! During the song that preceeded her poem, as she realized it was almost time for her to go on, she started to tear up, and I could tell she was suddenly feeling remorseful for having volunteered her poetry services. But she mustered up the courage and did it, I was so happy for her especially beacuse I know she could not have managed a similar feat at this same time last year. She's growing up!

On to the dancing portion of the program...this picture is so blurry but I thought it showed how happy and active all the kids are once the music plays.

Having a very serious conversation with her friend Brittany in between dances. I love how kids have absolutely no filter about when it is appropriate to break from a performance and do your own thing.

Such a happy little German dancer.

A Field Trip to the Museum of Wisconsin Art

One day last week I went with Emma's class on a field trip to the Museum of Wisconsin Art in West Bend. I had never heard of the museum before our trip and it was a really neat place.

The artist needs to be from Wisconsin, or a current resident of the state in order to have their artwork on display. Much of the artwork was incredible, some of it was a little odd. The museum is in the process of moving to a new location, we were the 2nd to last school group that got a tour before their closure until April. I hope to go back after they re-open when we can spend more time going through the museum at our pace. There was at least one gallery that caught my interest but we didn't have time to see it.

Getting a good look at Robo-girl. She was quite interesting, made of pipes, aluminum scraps, and other various materials. Her heart was a lightbulb, she held a baby doll head in one hand and was smiling as a tear trickled down her cheek.

The museum had a really cool activity planned for the kids that I am not sure if it is available to all visitors, or just school groups, but it sure kept the kids engaged in all the artwork they saw. The kids started at this treasure box where they received a smaller box that revealed some clues about a piece of work they needed to find.

Once they found the artwork described in their box, they had to open their booklet and learn more about the piece and artist.

There was information in their booklets that they were asked to record, along with filling in missing pieces of the portion of the artwork they were given a snapshot of in their book.

Each of the students I worked with that day, which ended up being about half of Emma's class, seemed super excited about their scavenger hunt around the museum. I thought it was a great way to get the kids to explore the art!

This is an artist's portrait of Byron Kilbourn alongside Emma's portrait of him. She came pretty close, right? Along with a man named Soloman Juneau, Kilbourn was instrumental in the founding of Milwaukee. I wish I knew more historically accurate facts about the story, but from what I understand Kilbourn and Juneau's business relationship soured and the two men argued about almost everything during the development of the city. There is a Juneau Ave. and Kilbourn Ave. downtown with some bridges that make very awkward crossings of the Milwaukee River as a result of their fued and each man's individual attempt to stake his claim of the development there. Again, I'm not sure how well informed I am on the subject as I am trying to recall what I learned on a Jingle Bus tour, but I heard Kilbourn was the nicer of the two men.

Our tour ended with the kids getting to spend some time creating their own artwork using this huge pile of recyclables. The tour guide gave the kids some great news when she told them that since we were one of the last school groups to come through for the year, she was packing up half of the materials you see on the floor so they could take it back to their classroom for future art projects. The expression on Emma's teacher's face was priceless, just what they need, two large garbage bags full of...well, garbage. It was one of my favorite field trips!

Trim the Tree

Every December, the Rep hosts a Christmas Tree Trimming Party and the girls looked forward to it for days. It's a Rep tradition to invite all the families of the cast members for tons of food and fun ~ and at least a little decorating.

However, the day before the party Rebekah came down with an ear infection and later had an allergic reaction to her antibiotic. I felt so sorry for her. She itched everywhere, had two unexpected doctor appointments {which are always stressful for her, even when she feels well} and the red hives just spread all over her entire body. After a few doses of benedryl, a new antibiotic, and missing a day of school to sleep, she is completely fine. And there was no way she wanted to miss the party, even though she was still getting over the reaction.

They started with this bare, white lighted tree and tons of boxes and bins of decorations later, it was anything but plain!

Emma jumped right in with the kid's cast to decorate.

Alyssa and Rebekah worked very carefully on this side table. They decorated with a gold theme and it turned out so cute.

This is as close to a final product photo that I got, with the food there it became way too crowded to get a good picture. They added a mini Christmas tree and all the gold accessories they could find.

Busy, busy tree trimmers.

When it was time to eat, Rebekah ate like a champ...I was relieved that she was feeling better!

The older girls enjoyed a great meal by the tree too.

A quick photo of many of the tree trimmers and cast mates. I have been so thankful for the many ways that the Rep has invited the families of the cast into the whole process and season of A Christmas Carol. Alyssa continues to enjoy the experience and performances each and every day!

“For it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child Himself.” ― Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol