Christmas Eve!

Hey everyone,
This might be our last post until the new year. We're heading out this afternoon to stay overnight in Seattle before catching an early flight home on the 26th. We'll be in Owensboro with family through the 30th, and then heading up to WV, where we'll stay until the fourth. If you're in spitting distance of either place, we'd LOVE to have a chance to visit with you.

We enjoyed our very first Christmas morning in Washington today. And last night we celebrated our first Christmas Eve here. We were especially blessed to join the Wright family (you can't go wrong with the Wrights) for dinner, games, gifts, and candlelight services. We'll post more photos later, but here's a sneak peek for now.



And because we've been SO faithful about keeping up this blog, I started another one! This one, http://jenniferbradbury.blogspot.com, is my author site, and will be connected to my writing adventures. I've also got a website that is still under construction at www.jennifer-bradbury.com. You're welcome to take a peek at both. I'll be sharing news about Shift, observations on writing and publishing, and lots of other authorial things.

And there will be some silliness.

And you can find more about me and the book on the interwebs at www.classof2k8.com. I'm excited to be a part of this group of children's and young adult writers with debut novels coming in 2008. I'll be guest blogging there from time to time, and if you like kid lit at all, I'm confident you'll find some new favorites in our ranks. And as a little teaser, check out this class video! Jimmy and I edited it together, and he and his friend Ben Gilbert composed the music. And yes I know there's an annoying little glitch at the end where it repeats itself, but that is the fault of the youtube elves.



Merry Christmas!
Jen, Jimmy and Evie June

Ballet Baby

I took ballet for about half an hour back in third grade. My lack of balance, coordination and inability to tell right from left (especially when looking in a mirror! Yikes!) doomed my dancing career. But I love to see it performed, and Evie June and I run around in circles in the playroom holding hands--the closest we get to ballet around here. But on Sunday afternoon we headed out to the a performance of The Nutcracker in Mount Vernon.

My friends we went with later told me that they were laying odds on how long it would take Evie to get squirmy and noisy and need to walk around in the lobby of the performance hall. I was a little worried, too, as I'd roused her early from her nap to make it to our matinee.

But she was a trooper, donning her holiday best. Here she gets familiar with the inside of the theater, happily flouting the food and drink regulation.


She sat perfectly still on lap the entire performance, only speaking or moving after the curtain fell between dances. At that point, she'd point at the darkened stage and squeak, "More, please." Here she climbed back into my seat during intermission, apparently hoping that would signal someone backstage to resume the show.



And her fascination with the dancers didn't end on Sunday. Yesterday, we think she might have been trying to fashion her own pointe shoes.


Jen

PS: Evie has also continued her helping ways. Last week, she fed my laptop a woodchip, causing the disc drive to fritz out and leading to a trip to the Apple Genius bar. Genius said it was broken, but a couple days later the tech called and said that they were unable to duplicate the problem and it was working fine. A Christmas miracle! In less destructive helping action, she pulled a laundry basket up to the sink, flipped it over, climbed on top and assisted with the dishwashing. That's a performance I'd like to repeat.