Day 12: Peace on Earth, but not among siblings

Sunday breakdown:

1. Church

The Kidsing Praise performed their Christmas musical Back to the Manger at both services. Here's a brief synopsis courtesy of wordpress.com: During the annual Christmas Caroling Outreach at Midway Community Church, Jackson and his friends discover a time machine in the basement. After accidentally hitting a lever, they embark on an adventure throughout the twentieth century and learn how helping others changes lives. Seeing the caroling outreach effects over the decades, once-skeptical Jackson comes to know Christ better and discovers the true value of God’s gift and why we celebrate His birth. Technically, this is not plagiarism, because OUR lead was a girl named Jackie. And the exact same thing happened to her! Weird. Anyway, it was hilarious. And I cried. Because that's what I do. There was just something about hearing Baby Jesus cry, I guess. It's surreal to imagine our Lord as a baby. A baby who cried. And probably spent Sunday mornings in the nursery of a Nazareth synagogue. I wonder if Baby Jesus had a babysitter? Being the lover of nanny life that I am, I just want to go on the record by saying that it would be so awesome to care for the PERFECT baby/child/teenager. I bet all the other nannies at the local park were jealous. But I digress.

2. Football

The schizophrenic Seahawks were playing the San Francisco 49ers....actually, let's just skip this one, OK? OK.

3. Christmas Cantata

Auntie and I went to the cantata at Third CRC. It was a packed house. And I don't like balconies. But I do like good music. I miss organized choir. Woe is me.

4. Settlers of Catan

Another rousing and rather intense game of Settlers at the Vander Kooi household. I spent a lot of time in my happy place dreaming of puppies and candycanes while the siblings fought. I can't wait to get back from Iowa in a couple of weeks and play again. I was going to attempt to get my brothers on the Settlers bandwagon, but I don't foresee that taking off as much as I would like. I do, however, see another sibling battle in my near future as I attempt to sway them in the direction of complete awesomeness. I can just hear my youngest brother, "Awesomeness, Em? Are you kidding me? I'm already too awesome for most people to handle. You know the only reason I didn't attend college was because I couldn't find a single university that had a major in 'awesomeness'." Seriously. That's what he'll say.

5. Amazing Race finale

Can I get a "Woot Woot" for the first all-female team to win The Amazing Race?!? Way to go, lady doctors! Finally, for the FIRST time, the team that I was rooting for won the race. Can't wait for next season starting in February; The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business. Former teams coming back for more? Need I say more? Should I say the word 'more' one more time to try and confuse you more?

It was a good day. And it lasted a really long time, because I drank a large glass of Mountain Dew at 8:30. Caffeine after 7:00 wreaks havoc on my REMs.

And I do have pictures. Coming soon. I hope. Ahem...