Seasons End. New Seasons Begin. (week 259)

The Christmas Season finally began with our traditional family trip to the Home Depot to pick-out our Christmas Tree. None of us like to think of ourselves as a stereotype or cliche, but by the time we arrived at the Christmas Tree Lot in the Home Depot parking lot the Hubers were already there loading their tree on the top of their car and racing off to get the tree decorated before bed time.

It took us about 20 minutes of looking at trees before we found the one. Mama is very particular about trees. The one we picked is nice and round at the base, with a thick truck. It isn't perfect, but like each member of our family, it is endearing and fits perfectly into our tiny house. Every year, Dada says that by next year he will have a truck to throw it into (he said it last year too). But for now, we loaded it on top of the Forrester, swung by George's for some Greek food, and took it home to decorate. As tradition has it, everyone in the family participates in the decorating (or in Chris's case un-decorating) the tree while watching the Griswald Family Christmas Vacation. Needless to say, Chris broke three ornaments and within three days we had replaced all the decorations with plastic ornaments from Target.

The beginning of the Christmas Season at the Keislers this week, also marked the end to the Silver Shark's season. The season ended in dramatic fashion with: a bounce house; a forfeit; and a trophy for two brothers to fight about. Aside from the week that I was sidelined with bronchitis, all seven Silver Sharks showed up for every game. If success is measured by showing-up, we were the most successful team in the league. We ended the season this week with the team party at our house and two games competing in the "Friendship Cup". On Saturday, we lost our game 2-1 on an own goal late in the second half. It was clear that the Bounce House, hot dogs, and macaroni and cheese before the game did not help our performance at all. On Sunday, we finished the season playing the best team in the league and won 3-1 on a forfeit late in the third quarter when the other team walked off the field. In the end, I discovered that I really love soccer (like all sports), and look forward to playing again after baseball season!

This weekend, we also got to go to the Belmont Shore Christmas Parade and the St. Olaf Christmas Festival at the local movie theater. The parade was cold but well attended, and since we missed the Animal Care Services float at the beginning of the parade, we stood in the street median to watch the floats and bands go by. Christopher in particular was very excited by the fanfare and we did some serious dancing in the middle of the street.

Speaking of Christopher, he is beginning to speak in sentences a lot more and is growing like a weed. He has retained his nickname "Chubbs" but he is no longer at all chubby. He is very tall and very strong for his age--towering over other two-year-olds--and is still quite the love bug. Although he loves to give hugs and kisses, he is also developing a love of wrestling, tackling, and hitting that is not going over great with the parents. More to come on Chris next week!