Of Coughs, Storytelling, and Putting Up the Tree

The tree is finally up. It's still undecorated, but it is up, thanks to Sierra putting it together. I was only able to muster up enough energy to pull the box down from the attic. I'm afraid I'm coming down with a cold. I fought the good fight, but I am pretty certain I was doomed. My husband has been coughing for over a week now. Sierra is on the mend after several days with the same illness. In fact, I ended up leaving her home with Marina yesterday and only brought Chase to storytelling. 

The last storytelling of the year was not what we expected. Chase was the only one of our core storytellers present. He wasn't to happy about this. He has never been comfortable with leading the group, and he's never had to do it all by himself. I did my best to help him out by starting everything. I also let other adults read, since the average age of the children who came yesterday was four or five. I don't expect children this young to want to read at storytime. Only one of the three was brave enough to get up in front of the group, the others asked their grown-ups to read.


Chase started storytellling with The Contest Between the Sun and the Wind and ended with Twas the Night Before Christmas. Afterward, our librarian friend told him that a patron had complimented his reading and how clear his deep voice sounded. I think he was embarrassed by the attention, but I could not be prouder of him. He has a powerful voice that he hasn't always known how to use. It must be odd for boys when they start to change their voice. He went from being mistaken for his sister on the phone to being mistaken for his dad. Maybe this is why teenage boys mumble so much. While their voice transitions, they don't know what will come out.

Now I am finally winding down from all of the activities. Marina had her last final exam yesterday. Nature classes are over until next year. Things haven't gone smoothly at times this December, but somehow we muddled through and made it to the holidays again. I'm sure I have no idea how this all comes together every year, I'm just happy to have a moment to stop and contemplate how grateful I am to have this beautiful family.


And cough drops.

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