Twice while preparing for the holidays Everett has displayed remarkable feats of memory. The first was when we got our wreath out of the basement and we were preparing to hang it on the gable above our front door. Everett saw the tinsel-filled globes on the wreath lights and said “Dad! I have something for you. Wait here!” He ran inside and a few minutes later came our with a globe that was missing. We have no idea where he might have been keeping it, or for that matter how he recalled its location among his many bins, forts, nests and other nooks where he has things squirreled away. Later that night Chris couldn’t find the wireless remote for the power switch on our Christmas tree lights. After searching for a while he asked Everett if he knew where it was. Within seconds Everett found it in the back of coffee table drawer. What is remarkable about both of these examples is that it has been about 11 months since we needed either of these things.

We are also preparing for the Santa Rampage on December 15th. A couple weeks ago Chris mentioned to Everett that this is coming up and added a comment like “Maybe we will dress you up like Rudolph?” Chris meant this as a possible scenario sometime in the future, as in “Maybe we will go the ice hotel one day?”, but apparently Everett heard it differently. We know this because he has mentioned several times “Remember you said you were going to get me a Rudolph costume?”, to which Melissa commented “Good luck getting out of that one!” So we are now shopping for a Rudolph costume. Photos will be forthcoming.

To help us get in the Christmas spirit we went to see the light displays at Harris Bank (formerly the M&I Bank display) and the Public Museum over the weekend.





In the museum we found a sign that explained the many names of our city and the emphasis on phonetic spelling, which becomes clear after you live here for a while and get to see many different spellings of common streets, cities and bodies of water. Menomonee is a good example.

In other preparations, Everett has started drafting a letter to Santa with detailed instructions about how and where to deliver Christmas presents.