TheTwelfth Day of Christmas Crazy

Christmas Crazy is rounding the bend and getting ready to pack up and find its way to Center for Victims. That means it's time to finish this:

On the twelfth day of Christmas Crazy,

my true love gave to me

reminders that kindness will keep prevailing,

dolls for loving,

books for reading,

Superheroes rescuing,

balls for kicking,

blocks for building,

games for playing,

things kids need,

lots of animal friends,

crafts, paper, and pens

STEM toys they'll love

and all the things for baby.

And it's time to finish up that wish list. Might I make a few suggestions?

1. There are nine, yes NINE!, Kindle Fires ready to be delivered to the kids at Center for Victims. That's a pretty great gift, if you ask me. Alexis is still using the Kindle Fire she got in kindergarten, so there's always a chance they'll last a long time. The trick, though, is that they need cases to protect them. We're short a few cases. Help?

2. These caught my attention and how.

They're "Worry Eaters." You draw or write down what's bothering you and then feed it to the adorable little monster and it will do your worrying for you.

It's a genius idea.

I want to send a ton of them to Center for Victims. HELP!

3. Somebody please buy the little kitchen. Little kitchens are the best for toddlers!

4. There are still a lot of essentials like diapers, socks, and underwear on the list. There are kids who literally only hope for those sorts of things, so let's make that magic, please.

5. I do not pretend to understand the Squishy love, but Alexis is asking for them for Christmas, so it seems like we should send some to the kids at the shelter as well. There's a few choices on the list, but I'm a big fan of this one because it can be split between lots of kids.

Let's finish this thing out and let's do it in fantastic fashion. The wish list is here. The link to donate cash instead is here. Delivery to Center for Victims is happening in the next week, but don't stress if you don't think your items will make it in time. I will make sure they get there no matter what.

Let's go!

Thanks, Pittsburgh CLO

Alexis' schedule has been all sorts of catawampus lately, which is the only explanation I have for how I found myself with tickets to A Musical Christmas Carol and no date. She is, of course, my designated wingman for all of these things. I don't know what to do when she can't go.

I tried a few people because I do have friends and stuff, but nobody was free to go to the show with me. Which, SADNESS. Just as I was starting to consider going alone, a certain little tornado went flying by and it occurred to me -- she owes me after all of those school plays.

Surely the child who could sit through a really bad stage performance of a classic ruined with Yinzerification could sit through a professional performance of a Real Show. SURELY.

Or maybe not.

But maybe.

I pretty much had that exact argument in my head over and over for two solid days.

The main difference was that at the high school play, we could just walk out and we wouldn't have bothered a single soul. If Mila had decided to climb the walls, it would have been fine because we could have found walls for her to climb away from all of the peoples. A show at the Byham, though, is a very different situation. There would be no way to make sure we had seats at the end of the row. We couldn't hide in a corner. Basically, if she decided to act a fool, there would be witnesses and she would be putting a damper on their carefully planned evening.

I went for it anyway. What's the point of living if you don't take risks from time-to-time?

So, here's the thing. A Musical Christmas Carol is kid-friendly, but it wasn't created for kids. There was singing and great acting and an amazing set and all of that, but the story is still waaaaaaay over Mila's head. Ghosts of Christmas Past and Present and WHAT? She can't tell time, forget about understanding what has not yet happened but will unless you create a hole in the space time continuum. She should have been bored to tears.

She wasn't.

Little Miss Ready to Set the World on Fire sat in my lap, with her back perfectly straight and her eyes transfixed on the stage. She didn't blink for the first twenty minutes because she was so in awe of every little thing. Even after that, she didn't miss a single syllable. She loved every second of the show.

Nobody was more surprised than me.

WAIT. I take that back. When Mila and I were sliding into our seats before the start of the show, we had to ask two older women to make a tiny bit of space. One was using my seat as her personal coat holder and the other was all sorts of sprawled out. Once we crawled over them and settled in, I heard the coat lady turn to her companion and whisper, "Well, this is going to be a disaster."

She was talking about Mila. I am 110% positive she thought Mila was going to be distracting and wiggly and annoying and all of that.

HEY, ME TOO! I was pretty sure she was going to be a jerk.

But then she wasn't. And at the end of the show, the woman turned to Mila and said, "You were soooo good! Did you like the show?"

Mila replied, "It was boo-ti-ful! I want to see it again!"

Note to self: on this day in the year 2017, someone complimented Mila's behavior in public. ENJOY THIS MOMENT.

Thanks Again, Ben

There are a lot of ways to make me feel old. The surest is to go out in public with Mila in any sort of situation where she will need to be entertained, but another one is to check on a thing that happens with Christmas Crazy each year.

You guys, it has been SIX YEARS since I first introduced you to Benjamin.

SIX. FREAKIN. YEARS.

For six years, Benjamin has managed to find his own way of adding a little (or a lot) of magic to the Christmas Crazy magic.

And he did it again this year. Except, he doesn't look like the Benjamin up there. Instead, he a giant almost-adult and holy cow did it make me feel old to realize how much he has grown up in the past six years.

Excuse me while I go bury my head in the sand and pretend time isn't passing as fast as it is.

(Thanks again for being awesome, Ben. You rock.)

(This is the last week for Christmas Crazy. You too can be awesome by throwing a few dollars over here or grabbing some items from here.)