Christmas December 25, 2004

2004 Archive

Back to the Lydia page.

Oh, and we spent some time visiting the Kids ‘n’ Stuff science museum in Albion on the way there. Lotsa fun!

Just for Fun

Would you like to hear some Christmas music? Here are a couple of Daddy's favorites, one religious and one secular. Happy listening!

A Sunday for Singing and Celebrating

Sunday, December 12, was a full day, and then some! We headed off to church early for a last-minute rehearsal for the Kids’ Choir Christmas musical, and then came the event itself. The children were terrific, and were a great credit to their teachers and helpers. Lydia recited her lines flawlessly, it was only partly in jest that her Daddy said that she didn’t need a microphone. She also did a fine job of singing.

Here was what Lydia memorized and delivered:

And there was the baby lying in the manger. The shepherds told everyone what had happened. All who heard the story were astonished. But Mary quietly treasured these things in her heart.

The kids performed the entire program during the morning service, then took a short break and came out and did it all again for the second service! If anything, Lydia was better the second time.

Here is the song in which Lydia got a brief solo.

Later, Lydia and family motored down to Toledo to do some seasonal fun stuff, as we have done in years past. First we went to Ned Skelton Stadium—former home of the Toledo Mud Hens—to enjoy the Children’s Wonderland. In addition to some large nativity and other displays, there was a kiddie train ride, a few characters roaming the grounds to be hugged (Lydia got the polar bear, Rudolph, and a diminutive snowman), and even a talking tree to converse with.

Later we zipped over to the Toledo Zoo, to enjoy their “Lights Before Christmas” display. The weather was better than expected, and we took in all the sights. We also spent a fair amount of time indoors, hobnobbing with bugs, bats, and Baby Louie the elephant.

Lydia stars in parade, and on stage

Sunday, December 5, was a busy one for Lydia and family. After the morning service, she and her parents quickly zipped downtown so that Lydia, along with others from her Girl Scout troop, could march in the annual Children’s Holiday Parade. Near the end the troop pulled over so that they could watch the rest of the parade go by, and Lydia got to enjoy the company of several animal mascots as well as her old friend Colors the Clown (above) and traditional closing-act Santa Claus.

Then it was back to church to attend the funeral service for Mr. Lundell, a sweet old man who died the previous Tuesday.

And, after a bit of a rest at home, it was back to church once more, for the next-to-last rehearsal for next week’s Kids’ Choir musical. Lydia will have both a speaking solo and a singing solo. God has given Lydia a strong voice, a great love of performing, and a very good memory, and these things all serve her very well for events like this!

Great Family Visits

Lydia and her family have had two straight weekends of great family visits; first, on Sunday November 21, they went to Coldwater to see Grandma Brattin and Grandma and Grandpa Crabtree (the latter recovering from knee surgery at the hospital), as well as great-aunt Shary, as she made one of her infrequent visits from New Mexico.

Then on Wednesday, November 24, they drove to Greencastle, PA, for several days of hobnobbing with Mommy’s side of the family. Lydia got to enjoy her Grandma and Grandpa Dunham, her aunt Linda and Uncle Dennis, her cousin Jennifer, and several other sweet young ladies who were either Jennifer’s friends and/or foreign exchange students (Elle, Tania, and Joanna). We got home Saturday, November 27. The day after was Mommy’s birthday!

Animal Adventures

Lydia and her family had some interesting adventures with animals over the last few days. On Friday, Nov. 12, they were part of a large group enjoying the Wild Safari show at the Mallet’s Creek branch of the Ann Arbor District Library. Lydia got to see and learn about a parakeet, a sugar glider, an emperor scorpion, a marine toad (a whacking big creature), a cavey, and, most spectacularly, an albino wallaby (similar to the one shown here). She even got to pet this incredibly rare animal—we hope to have photos soon!

The next evening, Lydia and Daddy had a Girl Scouts activity at Camp Crawford. The most memorable parts of the evening looking at stars through some really neat reflecting telescopes, and the (indoor) discussion about bats. Lydia shares her Daddy’s fascination with bats, and never got bored, much less frightened, during the proceedings. Daddy got to pet a live big brown bat that the exhibitor was showing; what a thrill!

Girl Scouts!

Lydia is back full-swing into the new season for Girl Scouts. Here are some photos from a recent Scouts event, at Allen Elementary School.

Awana Sparks!

Lydia started her second year at GBC’s Awana Sparks Club. She’s now a Hiker, and her room leader is Mrs. Burgener. Just like last year, she’s very good at memorizing Scripture.

1st Grade!

Lydia started 1st grade on August 31. She’s now at Allen Elementary School, and her teachers are Mrs. Harris and Mrs. Cocco. She has a special helper named Miss Venus. She loves it!

A Busy Birthday

Lydia and her parents took the day off on August 11 to celebrate her 6 1/2th birthday and her daddy’s 40th. They drove to Lansing, stopping first at the Impression 5 Science Museum, then they walked to Oldsmobile Park to watch some Lansing Lugnuts baseball; alas, the intermittent rain compelled them to cancel the game, so they walked back to Impression 5 and spent more time there, then they drove on to the MSU Museum in East Lansing, and finally they had a nice visit with Grandma Margaret in Okemos. Quite a busy day!

The Family that Plays Together...

Lydia and her parents did a return trip to the Storybook Gardens in London ON recently. Here are a trio of photos from there, as even mommy and daddy got to try out those little scooter things—they’re fun, but very difficult for the long-legged.

NJ/PA Vacation

Lydia and her parents went on a vacation to see her grandparents in East Brunswick, New Jersey over Memorial Day weekend. While there, she also went on some exciting day trips, in which she saw the Crayola Factory (Easton, PA), the Philadelphia Zoo (her 25th!), and the Atlantic Ocean. On the way home, she got to visit her aunt Linda and uncle Dennis in Greencastle, PA and later spent a day at the Pittsburgh Zoo. We’ll have some pictures soon!

Lydia Taking Gymnastics

Lydia had her final gymnastics class on Saturday, June 12. She and the other children in the class got to demonstrate, in a show for all the parents, what they’d been learning and practicing; i.e., running, tumbling, some walking on balance beams, and even a little work on the vault. Lydia had fun, made some new friends, and learned some new skills.

GBC Children’s Musical Program April 25

Lydia took part in “Hans Bronson’s Gold Medal Mission,” a fun musical with a great gospel message. In addition to her regular choir work, she also had a brief solo, doing a stanza of Fanny Crosby’s “Blessed Assurance”:

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

Click to listen to the music for this hymn (38 seconds).

Lydia getting Holes-in-One

Lydia scored her first hole-in-one on April 19, 2004, on a chilly and windy evening at the Ypsilanti Putt-Putt Golf & Games. She thus earned the coveted orange ball to play with the rest of the game. She outscored both her parents on that hole and at least one other.

She’s did it again, in the very next time we went to play Putt-Putt. Her hole-in-one was the only one scored by anyone in the family the entire night! Moreover, she did it on a hole that her daddy had just called “extremely difficult.” I guess Lydia didn’t agree.

Lydia scored her third hole-in-one on August 7—daddy and mommy eventually got them, too, but Lydia was the trend-setter.

We went Putt-Putting on September 5, and Lydia not only got her now-typical hole-in-one (#4), she played the entire game without ever giving up and picking up her ball. Daddy got two holes-in-one and Mommy got three; it was a pretty good night for all of us.

A busy long weekend, April 16-18

On Friday Lydia, along with her parents and about sixteen others from GBC, went down to Akron, OH, to see a display of Biblical memorabilia, the central attraction of which were the Dead Sea Scrolls.

On Saturday Lydia attended her first field trip as a member of the Awana Sparks Club. She was one of a dozen children to make the trek to Hidden Lake Gardens in Tipton.

On Sunday Lydia got to go Lansing and attend the 100th birthday party of Michigan Chess icon V.E. Vandenburg, who was an old crony of her daddy, uncle, and grandfather.

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Updated most recently on January 3, 2005.