Last minute letter to Santa from Maeve

MAEVE: Dear Santa, How are you? This is Maeve's Christmas list. I made this blog because I didn't know if Freddy the Elf would get this list to you in time.  I thought a blog post would be better because you read them, that's why!  I know you read this blog because Mrs. Claus told me. 

Here are the things I want for Christmas. 

Gymnast Dora 
A sled
Some clothes
Kid car, like the kind you can drive around
Remote control car, like the kind you can drive around but with a controller.

And that's it!  Thank you Santa.  I hope you have a safe trip.  I hope you're feeling better.

From,
Maeve

Holiday greetings from the bloggers...

A quick editorial from Daddy. Last night was a party we held for Addie’s fifth birthday. In 2010 and 2011, she was lucky enough to get a visit from Santa at her birthday parties and she’s been talking about how she can’t wait to see her “special friend” all year. Santa was played beautifully by her great uncle, Neil, who passed away in February. This year, Mary Kate O’Connell was sweet enough to fill in as Mrs. Claus, claiming Santa was nursing a bad cold, but that he sends his love.

About ten minutes into their conversation, Addie leapt from Mrs. Claus’s lap, ran to me and shouted,

ADDIE: DADDY! SANTA READS MY BLOG!

I assume most of the people who read this blog know me and my girls and were even lucky enough to have known Uncle Neil. So I don’t have to explain how Christmas was HIS TIME. He played Santa for the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra every year with Marvin Hamlisch. He bought presents for every one of my siblings, cousins, children, nieces and nephews. Addie was telling me that Santa Claus reads her blog, but to me, it was a sign that Neil is still keeping an eye on things.

The first time Santa visited, he left a book for Addie that included a recording of The Night Before Christmas. He’s using his Santa Voice, but it’s unmistakably Uncle Neil. I’m crying thinking about it now.

Thank you to everyone who reads this blog. Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, I wish for you the kind of joy Uncle Neil felt whenever he donned the Santa suit. I wish for you the kind of pure wonder Addie felt when talking to Mrs. Claus about Rudolph. And I wish for you the kind of love I feel when I listen to the following. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Field and fountain, Maeve and mountain...

MAEVE: I lost one of my ponies. What time was it when I found it, dad? When it was 4:58, I found my pony. Just so you know, it’s not a real pony, it’s a toy. Can I spell “TOY”? Like on the computer?

DADDY: Sure.

M: [She types this] toy

D: Good job.

M: Well I’m cleaning up the play room right now and it’s a retiring job.

D: A what?

M: A retiring job.

D: Oh. Okay, keep going.

M: Daddy, write the words to this song. [She sings. Beautifully.]

star of wonder,

star of night.

star of wonder,

beauty bright.

star of wonder,

star of night.

star of wonder,

beeeeeauuuuuuty briiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

Also, this is the song I sang at my Christmas Concert:

angels we have heeeeeeeard on high!

sweetly swinging over the plains.

and the mountains in reply,

echoing their joyous stains.

D: That was so pret-

M: 

GLO-O-O-O-O-OOOOO-O-O-O-O-OOOOO-O-O-O-O-OOOOO-REEEE-AAAAA...  

IN ECKS ELSE EES DAAAAAA-AAAAAA-OOOOOOOOO!

Daddy, Tom and Jerry is on so I’m done with the blog now.

What Addie's getting everyone

ADDIE: Guys!  Do you want to hear something?  For Christmas, I am going to get Jess a sweater!  And I am going to get Nana a vase.  I am going to get Clark a guy dinosaur.  Well, not a guy, it's a toy.  And I am going to get mom the best thing of all. A picture frame.

And I am going to get my dad my heart.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

MAEVE: Happy birthday, Daddy! This is a frame that I made for you.  Daddy, can you take a picture of the frame and put it next to these words?

The pipe cleaners spell "Dad".
Okay, actually, they spell "dAb".

I'm going to bug my mom to make a cake for Daddy. Bake a cake! Bake a cake! If I made a cake for you it would look like Superman has been made on the top. It would be chocolate chip!

ADDIE: Guys, in a few days you're going to see Dad's card. The one with my picture is me and Daddy on our block. Walking. And here it is!

A drawing of me and Addie?  Weep.
Also, Donald totally does love Pluto.

Hey, do you want to know something? My birthday is December eight-two. 

M: No, it's December eighteenth.

A: I SAID December eighteen. We're going to make cupcakes today for my class! I know we're not going to school. Don't worry.  We're just going to make cupcakes for tomorrow. We're going to make SNOWMAN cupcakes. But only the snowman's head. And for the noses of the snowmans, we're going to use orange tic-tacs!

Daddy, why don't you have a Birthday Crown?

DADDY: I'm regal enough.

Carrots are not a favorite thing.

DADDY: What's your favorite thing that happened today?

ADDIE: My favorite thing? [She taps her temple, silently thinking for a good twenty seconds.]

D: Okay, how about--

A: My favorite thing was very fun today, do you all want to hear it?  Okay then.  Let's hear it.  It is playing on the playground after school.  Well, I did play catch with one of the teachers.  When he catches us, when he gets us, we have to try to get him.  Not anyone else.  When he gets one of the people on my team, that means that were all taggers.  Once, know what?  He tagged everyone and everyone came up to him and he tagged like this [makes a frantic tagging motion], even me!

Daddy, I love you from the moon to my heart a hundred times.  I'm going to go watch TV in the living room now, can I? [Exit, stage living room.]

MAEVE: Can we talk about me now?

D: We can talk about you so long as you eat your carrots while we do.

M [Eating, with a very sour face.  She pulls a little, porcelain unicorn and a dolphin up onto the table.]: Nana got me a unicorn and a dolphin from Alabama.  This dolphin is like almost as big as my thumb.  And then the unicorn is almost as big as my thumb too.  Actually, I think it is as big as my thumb.  The dolphin has paper on its tail and it has a blue beak and it has a tiny tiny hole on her neck and she's white from the ankle of her tail on the bottom up to her beak and she has black eyes.  She has a little white on her beak. [Maeve's eating carrots with about a gallon of ranch on each one.  Here she actually wretches for a second and, of course, she blames the carrot, not the dressing.]

And they're really special glass.  And this unicorn is white and it has a white mane. It has four gold hooves.  One is tilted.  She has a blue necklace with a golden jewel in the middle. And her horn is gold.  Her eyes are black. And that's probably it.  Bye!

When mi kids grow up.

[Maeve has asked to type something again, but won't let me watch while she does it.  Here it is.]

Hi dudes! What's up? I love mi dad. 

[Daddy has wiped his eyes and is now typing again.]

MAEVE: And I love my mom!

What I am going to be when I grow up I actually don't know but I feel like I want to be a ballerina but only I don't want my toes to bleed. 

ADDIE: I want to be a gymnastic. A cheerleader. Well, I'm going to be three of them. And the last one is a actor. Daddy, what would happen if I had a parade on the same day as a play? 

DADDY: Well, you'd have to pick one. I bet that'll probably happen someday. You'll have to choose what thing you most want to do. 

A: Maybe I can do one thing and then later I will have time to do something else. 

D: Yes, actors do that a lot...

A: Oh good.

M: Can I say one joke? Here is a joke. What do birds like to eat? I mean what do birds like to drink? Bird water! Ha ha ha. Not just water, biiiiiird water.

Bye dudes!

So many favorite things

DADDY: Tell me your three favorite things that happened today.

ADDIE: Can I tell you my most favorite thing?

D: Tell me two regular favorite things and your one most favorite.

A: A regular favorite thing that happened is that we watched The Grinch Story.  It’s on TV though.  I liked it.  I liked that it was a story.  My favorite part is that he thought Christmas WAS great after all.

My second one is super student.  Super Student is when you're the best one in my class.  I was the super student today!  Because I be'd nice.  And I was a big help.

My best favorite thing was that St. Nicholas came to my school!  He went to all of the classes!  And he loves kids!  He loves kids!  He's the real St. Nicholas because I saw his beard and he loves kids and he has a Pegasus.

MAEVE: It wasn't Santa, it was the real St. Nicholas!  He came to my class too.  He was a saint!  I don't really know if it was the real St. Nicholas.  I don't know.

D: Was St. Nicholas also one of your favorite things?

M: Well, one of my favorites was that we practiced Christmas carols at the end of the day.  It was Rudolph.

My next favorite thing was that I had library!  Christmas Charlie Brown is what they read to us.  And I checked out a joke book again!  Here's a joke and I think this is how you say it.  What kind of spray does witches put in their hair?  Scare spray! Ha ha!

My favorite favorite thing was that St. Nicholas came!  He brought a sack and there were candy canes for everyone in it.

Daddy, if I wipe my hands off really good, can I type what YOU say?

D: Sure. Maeve is typing this. She and Addie are the best daughters in the world. I am the luckiest.

M: And now Daddy is typing this.  I love my whole family and Maeve is the luckiest.

Conversation over Breakfast-For-Dinner

MAEVE: Hi everyone!  Elf on the Shelf took Barbie's bathtub and is in the Christmas tree sitting in the bathtub!

ADDIE: Do you want to hear something funny? This is for real! We're eating hot cereal for dinner!

M: Well, YOU are.

A: For real. Seriously. Maeve is eating eggs, but Clark and I are eating hot cereal.

M: Addie, can I have some of the dessert you got for dessert?

A: Of course. Because you are my sister and I love you. 

M: Two nights ago, Mike came over, and just so you know, it is not my dad, because his name is Mike too.  We had fun playing with him and he is a good book reader.  Mike is my daddy's friend from high school.  

D: Actually, college.

M: oh.

A: Dad, can it be my turn again? [Laughing.] And when you and when Mike were in day care... when you were in day care, you took a nap on a dirty couch that had bugs on it and now you have bugs on you!  [Lisa told the girls a story about how I used to nap on the couch in our college's theater club room.  Admittedly, the couch was pretty gross.  Canisius College: Where Leaders Are Made By Growing Them From Couch Mold.]

M: Ha ha, bugs!

A: Do you want to hear something? Clark, today, he needed some tubes in his ear. And his eyes. So they put drops of tubes in his ears and eyes.

M: Actually, it was only Clark's ears, not his eyes. And Clark is waaaaaay better now. He didn't even cry at his surgery! He is a very silly boy and I love him.

Maeve loves you.

DADDY: if you had three wishes, what would you wish? 

MAEVE: I had two unicorns, one is a grown up and one is a baby. That's one wish. I would name the unicorns Jingle and Grace. The mom would be Grace and the baby would be Jingle. I would keep them in my backyard. I would feed them every day and I hope they don't charge over me. I know the baby would probably try to, but it would be so funny! 

Number two is I wish I could meet an elf, but nope. If I met an elf, I would say, "Hi elf, what's up, baby?" 

I don't think I really have a third wish. And actually, that's it for the post. The blog I mean. Bye bye folks! And whoever is reading me, I love you!

Dandelions are funny.

MAEVE: Hi my name is Maeve. Me, Maeve, is the only one making this blog today. It's because Addie gets to go places with my mom and I'm really jealous and my Daddy's laughing at me. [I totally am.]

Here's a fact, it's not really a fact though. Gramma bought an Elf on the Shelf but it's fatter, I mean, bigger than the elf... I mean the elf we have is skinnier. The elf that gramma bought is the size of my teddy bear. And the elf that gramma has? We named him Criddle. If you need help spelling it, I can show you the book. It starts with a C, not a K.

Did you know I'm eating cheez-its right now? Hee hee! Can I have more, Daddy? I'm forcing my dad to give me more cheez-its!

Now I'm playing a cheez-it like a guitar! Neer neer neer neer! And here is a cheez-it that looks like an "L". [For clarification, she's eating Cheetos. She also ate an apple and a ham sandwich, so no judging.]

Last night, when I was having my swim banquet party, I got an award and a trophy! My award was for "Deep Sea Diver"! But I don't know why. And did you actually know my trophy has my name on it? I loved being on the swim team because it's fun. And I love my coach even though she's a little silly. Everyone at the swim party gave her a snow globe with Finding Nemo in it because she loves it and she opened it and said "ah! I love it!"

Hey, want to hear a joke? [She thinks, then gives up.] I'm kidding. I don't want to tell a joke anyway. There is a dandelion. The end. [She pretends to fall asleep.]

Things on Addie's mind

[Daddy's note: While Maeve was at girl scouts, I sat home with Addie and Clark.  Addie, who stayed home sick today, told me she had things to say and wanted to blog another blog.]

ADDIE: Hey do you wanna hear something really cool? My birthdays's almost here. 

Guys. Did you know this that I'm going to talk about right now? When you eat vegetables it's healthy for you. Really it is. 

On my birthday, I'm going to have a disco birthday party at my birthday and I'm going to make a disco ball out of Cecilia and Amy's disco ball. I'm going to turn five when I get my birthday. 

I went to the doctor's today and I even got a Snow White sticker and there was nooooooooo shots. 

And, listen, everyone.  If you guys ever see this blog, call Gramma.  And if you're in my family, call Gramma. Her real name is Mary Pat.  Because this is the secret of Gramma. [Looks around, whispers] She has elf on the shelf now!  But it's a grandparents' one. And she got it today. And his name is I don't really remember his name.

I went to the doctors because my breathing is bad and I had a cough and I don't remember what the doctor said so I do not have a diagnosis. [I swear to Christ I'm not making this up.  My four year old said "diagnosis."  Lisa tells me it's on a cartoon she watches, but I'm still filling out applications for UB Medical after I post this.]

And everyone, this is the secret of all. The secret is...  

Do not tell anybody...  

I love my Clarkie baby! I love him so much my heart grows. And it grows the biggest. Maybe my heart grows, maybe it weighs ten miles away. And my sister loves Clark too. 

Bye bye, everyone, goodnight, I'll see you tomorrow! And don't tell Maeve this, I'm going to come downstairs and tackle her when she gets home!

The Shelf Elf, discussed.

ADDIE: We found Elf On The Shelf today! He was up on the little shelf thing hanging on the wall.  In the kitchen!  His name is Freddy.

The Elf On The Shelf is from the North Pole.  Because when you get your Christmas tree he comes.  He can see through walls to see if we're bad or good and then he comes tell Santa. He's Santa's little helper.  

MAEVE: You can't touch him. And he watches over you.  He has a red suit and brown hair and a white collar and a red shirt.  And I don't know why he doesn't have hands or feet.  He hides every single day in a different spot and it's very hard to find him.  If you touch him he'll lose his magic and he can't fly back to Santa.  

A: Or talk and do stuff.  The Garvey family named him Freddy.

M: Once he was hidden the first time we saw him he was hiding on the window right down the big stairs.  He has also hidden on the...

Dad, what is that thing called in the kitchen that Addie talked about at the beginning of this thing?

D: The spice rack.

M: and then the next day he hid on the spice rat.  I do not remember where he hid last year.  

A: There was a cartoon about the elf on the shelf!  My favorite part was the girl how she went up and twirled around and then went back down... [whispers] It was so... pretty...

Thanksgiving wrap-up

ADDIE: Dear everyone in the world: Turkeys are the funniest birds ever in the world. Love, Addie.

MAEVE: I have a poem to go with that.  

I am a turkey.  

All know is this one word and that is gobble gobble.  

A: No, this is how it goes.

A turkey is a funny bird.

Its head goes bobble bobble.  

All it knows is just one word 

and that is gobble gobble.

M: Wait, I have a good one, write "Hi turkeys, what's up, baby?"  No, Daddy, you say it like "bay-buh."

A: [Sung to the tune of I'm a little teapot.  Kind of.]

I am a little turkey, plump and wide!

Feet on the bottom, wings on the side! 

When I walk, I waddle to and fro! 

And now see me gobble gobble, off I go! 

Daddy, Can we talk about Easter now?

Decorating the tree

MAEVE: My favorite ornament on the tree?  I have two favorites.  The new one Addie picked out for me.  Actually three.  And this angel one.  And the manger.  The one Addie got me is a swirl ornament and it’s sparkly purple.  Like the shape of a circle.  And I love it.  And my daddy and my sister got it for me.

The angel one is very pretty and very special to me.  Her hair is yellow.  She has green wings.  And I named her Merella.  She has a circle mouth, almost like she’s saying "boo".  She has a white bottle in her hair [it's in her hand, actually-- Maeve is a little distracted].  She has a flower on her foot that says “Maeve” and what’s two zero eleven?

DADDY: What do you think it is?

M: It’s one one.  No.  two hundred?

D: It’s two thousand eleven.   That’s the year you got it.

M: From when I was five.  The manger is also my favorite.  It’s cute.  And I like it.  And I really love it.  There’s Jesus and Mary and Jophus. 

D: Addie, what’s your favorite ornament?

ADDIE:  the sled one and the Christmas tree one because I’m the baby and Maeve is holding me.  There’s a picture in them and they’re the same picture and Maeve is holding me when I was a baby in them.

I also like this one [the manger one Maeve was talking about] because it’s a house and there are people in it playing house.

I have to go now because mom needs my help.

Correction to the last post

[Daddy's Note: I read the last post to Addie and she told me I got my facts wrong.  This is her correction post.]

ADDIE: Hi I am Addie.  I love our family.  Daddy, don't be mad about this, but best of all is Santa Claus because he's my special friend. Do you want to hear a story?  Or a joke?  I'll do both.  How do you say goodbye to a two-headed monster?  Bye bye!  Hahahaha... 

Okay, I'm going to do the story now.  Okay, then let's do it.  Once upon a time, there was a family that was a Garvey family.  The dad was named Mike. My big sister was named Maeve.  And the little sister that was me was named Addie.  And the baby that was one was named Clark and the mama was named Lisa.   

And they picked a Christmas tree out but Maeve did not want that tree and then she changed her mind and then she did want that tree.  So we cut it down and then the end.

Stories

DADDY: Tell me your favorite things that happened yesterday and today.

MAEVE: I'll tell you two things today and one from yesterday.  Yesterday we went to Nana's to sleep over.   And we saw our whole family.  Well, not our whole family.  We had a lot of fun.  I can't wait until we do it again.  We watched a little of a movie.  I watched a little of The Grinch and a little Frosty the Snowman and a little Rudolph.  Today we played Memory today and getting the trees.

Getting the trees was a lot of fun.  I do not know why Uncle Louis did not go.  Gramma and Papa went and Gramma wore headgear that looked like reindeer horns.  

Where is the tree now?

D: It's on the porch.  I haven't put it up yet.  Maybe we'll just leave it out there this year.

M: Santa's gonna be confuuuuuuuuused.  

D: What else happened today?

M: I had bacon for breakfast.  But, Daddy, I didn't have any grits!  Will you read this to me?

D: Yup.  Let me get Addie's story first.  Addie, what was your favorite thing that happened today?

ADDIE: I don't want to do a story.  [She taps her temple with one finger, thinking.]  Okay, chopping down Christmas trees.  Actually, I do want to make a story.  Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Addie and that's me.  And there's my big sister and she was named Maeve.  And Maeve decided that she didn't want a Christmas tree, but I decided that I did.  So we cut down the Christmas tree and then we put it on Amy's truck.  The end.

Counter

D: Maeve, 100 people have already looked at your blog on the Internet!

M: There are that many people on the Internet!?

And yet another post

DADDY: Pretend someone has never heard of Christmas.  How would you tell them what it is?

M: Christmas is about loving others.  And definitely your parents and definitely again your family.  Here is a fact about Santa: you better be good or Santa's not going to give you any presents.  And that's it for facts.

I like when Santa comes and I like to open presents.  We wake up and go downstairs for what I just said.  With our parents.  And I like when the Elf on the Shelf comes to our house

I hope I am not on the Naughty List.  I like Santa.

A: You know someone who has never heard of Christmas?  Christmas is a very special year.  It's where we get presents and we open them and we get them from Santa.

D: But why is it a special day?

A: Because Santa comes.

D: But why?  Why does he come?  Why do we have this special occasion?

A: ...

D: Is it someone's birthday?

A: Yes, mine.

D: Okay, your birthday is on the 18th.  Who was born on Christmas?

A: JESUS!

M: Can I tell you a fact about elves?  Elves can see through walls.  That's important because they can see if we're bad or good and they report to Santa.  If you're bad, Santa will bring you a stick or coal.  And here's something about sticks and coal: they are not fun.  And did you know that when it gets cold outside for Christmas the water freezes up into ice and then sometimes it rains at Christmas and that's called precipitation, which is when the water rises up and the clouds get too full and it rains.

A: I hope that it snows and not rains on Christmas.  I like to have snowball fights and build snowmans.

Follow up post from both

A: oh, I want one more thing.  A princess coloring book.

M: Why didn't I think of that?  Here is my Christmas list.  Here are the three things I want because I didn't think of anything else yet: Dora Gymnastic and some clothes and a new sled.  a hot pink sled.

And I really just want a car that's this big and there's a remote control that will control where it goes and I really want that.  And I want the color to be light purple.

How about you ask us some questions, daddy?

First post from Addie

ADDIE: I am Addie.  I love angels and I love snowflakes.

Santa Claus is my favorite friend.

Here are the things I will ask him for Christmas:  Swan Princess Barbie.  Dora dress up costume.  Dora Gymnastics too.  I want a Doc McStuffin Barbie.

And on Christmas Eve, the Elf on the Shelf comes!  And I don't think we'll see the Elf on the Shelf today, but we're going to check and see.  Santa Claus also comes on Christmas Eve.  He brings some presents!

Happy Christmas and Thanksgiving!

First post from Maeve

MAEVE: Thank you for reading our blog.  These are the things that I like to do: I like to play games and I like being with my family.  I like going out for dinner at my Nana's.  And I like to go to school.  

And here's a joke: How did the skeleton call home?  On the telebone!  Ha!  Not the telephone, the telebone.  

Have a happy thanksgiving, everyone!  And ho ho ho have a good Christmas!