Rounding Up All My Children

Finally, I'm very close to having all three of my children together.
I'm in Florida with my two oldest, Grace and Spencer. Grace finished with college for the year on Tuesday, moved her things home, and we left the next morning to drive to Florida.

It was a very long drive, or maybe it just felt that way because I am getting old. I usually drive the whole way myself but on the last stretch of the trip, I let Grace take over.
Part of what made the trip long, was that we stopped at a park in Charlotte, North Carolina. Our route goes by Charlotte and I had heard about a pretty park there from Jackie McGuiness at Junkboat Travels.
Driving into Charlotte, Grace and I were both struck by how much it felt like our hometown Columbus, Ohio. It's a small, bustling downtown area, which, we noticed, is called "uptown" not downtown.
Charlotte is one of the cities that Grace is considering after she graduates from college. She put it on the top of her list after our stop at The Green.

The Green is a bookish park with author's names as mile markers and stacks of books as statues. We loved it.

 

We got to my parents' house on Wednesday night.

On Thursday, I drove over to St. Petersburg to pick up Spencer from college. I hadn't seen him since Jan. 3 when I dropped him off at school. I've talked to him on the phone and texted plenty, but there's nothing like hugging your kid. 

We loaded up all of his belongings, filling a trash bag full of his big basketball shoes and tying his bicycle onto the top of the car since I forgot the bike carrier. 

It's been a tough year for Spencer in many ways, but he's healthy and he persevered. And I still owe you all the "mafia" story. I promise I'll tell it someday soon.

Now Grace, Spencer and I are at my parents house for a few more days until we drive back to Ohio.

Meanwhile at home, Tucker finished his last day of high school.

Every year at our school, the parents and underclassmen line up for the seniors to walk between us on the last day. They go to the football field across the street and after a few speeches from the students, they release balloons (biodegradable) into the air.

I have missed this ceremony for both of my boys, but Earl has gone both times and took pictures. My friend Betsy also took some pictures of Tucker for me.

Tucker had an AP (Advanced Placement) test on Wednesday afternoon, so he didn't think he'd get to walk with the seniors. He really wanted to be a part of it though. He asked whether he could skip the exam.

The exam can be important because students can earn college credit. They take an advanced class all year and the official AP Exam is what earns them college credit. It doesn't affect their actual classroom grade. 

To me, the college credit seemed more important than a few minutes on the football field, but maybe I wasn't thinking enough about the emotion of it all. 

He ended up taking the test and still getting out in time to walk with his friends.

Here's a picture Betsy sent me that I love. I can picture him hurrying out of the test to join his classmates, afraid he'd be late, but no, there they were. He's smiling to himself with an array of friends behind him.

In a few more days, we'll all be home together preparing for a weekend of graduation and celebration. 

Grace moves out in June, but until then, I'll have all my children together for a little while longer. 

Cinderella Misses the Ball

I consider myself fairly tough emotionally. I have thick armor. Most of it was built up out of necessity.
My parents divorced when I was three, so I was raised in a single-parent home long before it became the norm. They reunited when I was 10.
My sister died when I was 14.
I had so many stupid love relationships because I felt desperate to find a man and be part of a couple.
Over the years, that stuff builds up.
So I'm surprised how deeply one of my children can still wound me. Even as I write this, I'm tearing up. And I'm not a cry-er.
I have three kids, ages 22, 20 and 18. They do things to stress me out all the time, but generally, it's not aimed at stressing me.
Sunday, my youngest, a senior in high school, sent an arrow flying that pierced my heart and leaves me somewhere between silently resentful and passive aggressive toward him.
Four years ago, another mother and I planned that when our sons were seniors, we would go to the mother/son, father/daughter dance together. The dance is held during the kids' senior year, and here it's called Spring Fling. We get dressed up. We have a nice dinner. We dance with our kids who will soon be flying the nest.
We don't do this any other time during their growing up years. This is it.
I asked Tucker about it nearly a month ago. He told me that was the weekend of the Frisbee tournament, so we might be late.
I was okay with that and I paid the $40 for our tickets.

Here's a photo from the dance last night.  Not me and Tucker.

Sunday morning, I braved the high winds to sit through two of the three Frisbee games. Then I hurried home to go to a graduation party for another friend's son. Next I went to ballroom dance class with my husband.
I donned a party dress and waited for Tucker to get home. His last Frisbee game ended at 3 p.m.
He walked in the door around 4:30 with a burrito from Chipotle.
"We just have about an hour before Spring Fling," I told him.
"I told you I didn't want to go to that. I'm too tired," he said.
"All the other seniors who played Frisbee are going," I said.
He named two boys who weren't going. "I never told you that I would go. I told you we had tournament this weekend."
"You told me we might be late because of the tournament," I pointed out.
He ignored me.
"You had three games yesterday and you went out until midnight last night," I argued.
It didn't matter. He walked down the stairs to the basement.

Spencer and I went to spring fling when
he was a senior

I texted the mother we were meeting and the mother we were supposed to ride with.
My texts were juvenile, full of anger at my son who I called "a jerk" and "immature." Of course, both of those things were true.
After about half an hour, I changed out of my party dress. I tried to read on the front porch then I hunkered down in front of the television.
I imagined punishments that I could give him. I'd take away his cell phone. I wouldn't let him drive a car.
I wondered if he could go to college early so I didn't have to deal with him this summer.
Truthfully, I'm just hurt.
This is the only time we will ever have this one-on-one date. Sure, he might dance with me at his wedding, but it's definitely not going to be all about me and him.
I assuage my hurt feelings, remembering that I got to go to the dance with Spencer two years ago when he was a senior in high school.
This morning, I'm still feeling sad. I tried dancing to "Happy," but it didn't chase away my blues.
I talked to an ESL teacher who told me I should teach English in China this summer and, like a character in one of my novels, I spent an hour searching sites, wondering if that would be the best way to escape my children home for the summer.
I realize I should simply say to Tucker that he truly hurt my feelings. There's no way for him to make it up to me now, but I shouldn't hide my feelings, as I have for years while the kids were little. He needs to know that his actions have consequences.
He may not regret his actions now, or this year, or even next year, but he's enough like me that I know in 10 years, he'll probably beat himself up that he didn't go with mom to Spring Fling. He's just too young to know it yet.

Prom 2014

Last night was the final year I'll have to rent a tuxedo for prom. Yes, I'm happy about that because it is ridiculous to pay $145 to rent a suit for one night.
Maybe next year, when I have no children going to prom, I'll be nostalgic for prom.
Tucker is still asleep downstairs, but his few words of description assured us that he had a good time.
Before he left, we took a picture of him with Grace holding the cat up beside him.

The prom theme was masquerade, so Tucker ordered a mask online and reluctantly held it up for me to take a  picture. 

Tucker and his friend Alex met their dates at one of the girls' houses for pictures. As a man of few words, Tucker was reluctant to let me know where and what time pictures would be. I finally texted the mom of one of the girls and got to the picture house before Tucker did. 

I joked that Tucker is one of those people who believes that having his picture taken will steal his soul. I can't figure out why else he's so reluctant to have his picture taken. Luckily, in front of other people, he's willing to pose and stand still.

Here he is with is date Amelia. 

She had on a gorgeous red dress with turquoise jewelry. She rented the dress. She actually rented two dresses for $95 then decided which one to wear. She wore the dress by designer Badgley Mischka, which would probably have cost more than $1000 to buy. She rented from an online company called Rent the Runway. I think this is a great idea, although we always found dresses for Grace to buy that were less expensive than the tuxes we rent. 

The girls had some elaborate masks. Here's Tucker's friend Josie on the left and his date Amelia on the right.

Here are all the girls with their masks. I always love to see the girls' elaborate dresses.

And one more shot of Tucker and Amelia. 

I hope it was a senior prom to remember. 

Saturday Snapshot -- Tuxes

It's a gorgeous day here in Ohio, so I plan to go in search of spring flower photos.
It's prom day here, but the high school kids won't get dressed up until this evening. If I had a daughter going to prom, she might be going for a manicure or getting an updo on her hair.
Instead, my son is in the basement playing video games. His prom prep will probably consist of a second shower this evening before he throws on his tux and goes to pick up his date.
Hopefully, I'll have pictures to share next week.
Here's Tucker last year, posing with our cat Tybalt, who always has his tux on .

Tonight, Tucker will be wearing a black and white tuxedo too. 

Hope you are having a terrific weekend. 

Saturday Snapshot -- More Swim Pics

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme, post a photo that you (or a friend of family member) have taken. Then leave a direct link to your post on West Metro Mommy. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online.
Last week I posted some pictures showing how Tucker has changed through his swim years. While the post was up, I was at another swim meet, and one of the mothers there had a camera and took some terrific pictures.
These have been on Facebook already, but I thought I'd share on my blog.

That's Tucker diving in over the head of his teammate during the 400 Free Relay race. The boys won that race. 

 
And this is the next frame as Tucker went into the water.
I'm off to another swim meet today. Three more weeks if they make it to states again this year.

Senior Photos

On a crisp Autumn afternoon, my youngest went to have his senior pictures taken. He went under protest. He didn't understand why senior pictures had to be a big deal. He just needed one picture.
And, he needed some clean khaki shorts to wear, he warned as he headed back to school after lunch. Luckily, my husband had a load of laundry in the dryer, including a pair of khaki shorts.
I'd taken Tucker to the store a few weeks before and encouraged him to buy a new shirt for senior pictures.
"I'll just wear a shirt I have," he said and refused to pick out anything new.
So after school, with our 4 o'clock  appointment creeping closer, I asked what he planned to wear.
A blue polo shirt, he said. A polo shirt is as close as Tucker gets to considering himself dressed up. And a blue polo shirt is fine, but it isn't what he would normally wear. And I like a senior picture in clothes that the kids would usually wear.
"Maybe we'll just take along another shirt to change in to," I suggested.
"What? I'm not changing shirts. Where would I change?"
"You are a guy. You can take your shirt off and put on another one," I explained to my son who is a swimmer and spends half his life in a tiny Speedo swimsuit.
Then he put on his blue polo and I pointed out it was wrinkled.
"I'll iron it," I said.
"It doesn't need to be ironed. We need to go."
I held out my hand for the blue shirt and took along a red shirt that has some dark striations through it. I thought it might look good in contrast to his dark hair and beard.
And, yes, apparently the beard would stay for the picture.
Sullen, would be the way I'd describe him, as we scrambled to get out the door to meet the photographer.
But as soon as she met us, he became quite pleasant.

I took pictures of her taking pictures of him.

In both the red shirt and the blue shirt.

In various places around the park.

She thought the reddish grasses would go well with his red shirt. He warned me before we went that he was only doing close-lipped smiles. I told him we spent thousands of dollars on his teeth so he should be willing to show them.

I tried to convince him that he should have different smiles and we'd pick the one that looked best.

Spencer regrets that he "looks a little mean" in his pictures because he didn't smile, I told Tucker. 

"He is mean," Tucker said, still getting over his role of little brother apparently 

And when he got there, Tucker did smile. I guess he just likes to argue about it with me.

The photographer showed us a couple of shots that she got and I think we'll have plenty to choose from. Yes, they're all better than my phone shots in the background.

I noticed in the middle of the photography shoot that Tucker was wearing a bracelet. I don't know if it was a conscious decision to leave it on or if he just forgot it. I thought maybe he'd wear the watch he bought in Paris last year, but apparently that $100 expenditure has fallen out of popularity. 

The bracelet is one of those rubber ones, the kind Lance Armstrong made popular. This one is in support of a high school teacher and basketball coach who was just diagnosed with colon cancer before school started. So maybe it's okay that the bracelet is in his senior picture.

One Innocent Question

I asked my 17-year-old one innocent question, "Whose glasses are these?"
I pointed to the black-framed glasses laying on the counter.
"They're my fake glasses," he said.
"Why do you need fake glasses?" I asked. He has real glasses that look very similar, but he usually wears his contacts.
"It was poker night," he said.
Was that supposed to make sense?
"And?"
"That's why I shaved my beard and left my mustache last night. Then I wore the glasses for poker night."
I looked at his clean-shaven face. I'm not sure if the answers provided any more clarity.
Was it some sort of 70s poker night where they dressed in short-sleeved plaid shirts with pocket protectors, thick mustaches and glasses? Some sort of Will Farrell parody?
I'll never know.
"Did you win?" I asked.
"Oh, no. I lost bad," he said.
"Did you play for money?" I asked, suddenly worried.
"Nah, it was a dollar maximum. We played with chips."
And that was the night of a 17-year-old when his high school football team is not doing so well

Breakfast Test

Last night when I got home from work after 9, I found my 17-year-old sitting on the couch in the dark watching college football. I plopped down beside him for a few minutes to chat. Before he went to bed, I asked whether he'd like pancakes for breakfast.
"Yes," he replied.
"Scrambled eggs too?" I asked.
"Sure."
So he went to bed and when I woke up Friday morning, I realized I'd have to cut short my run in order to get back in time to cook breakfast for Tucker. That was fine.
I just ran a couple of miles and headed to the kitchen.
Pancake batter at the ready, eggs beaten, blueberry sauce simmering in the pot, I listened for the shower to turn off so I could cook the eggs and pancakes.
I scrambled the eggs, making sure to get them dry the way he liked. I carefully cooked the pancakes to be sure they were done, but not brown.
By the time Tucker moved to hang up his towel in the bathroom, dressed for the day, I called to him that his breakfast was ready.
I set the plate on a place mat and poured an oversized glass of milk, which is what he drinks most mornings.

As he walked into the dining room, he looked at the plate and said, "I don't have time to eat that. I need to leave."

I shrugged and didn't make eye contact. 

"What am I supposed to do? I can't possibly start eating now."

"Do what you have to do," I said. 

So he slipped his shoes on and approached me as I stood over the sink washing the skillet I used to cook the eggs. He bent down for me to kiss him on his bearded cheek.

"Thanks for the breakfast, Mom," he said.

Then he paused at the wooden cabinet and pulled out a pack of Pop Tarts before he closed the door behind him.

I stared at the plate. I hadn't been home from my run long enough to be hungry yet and I thought about being angry at my selfish teenager. But I think selfish teenager is redundant. 

Tucker spends a lot of evenings at home alone while I teach. Many evenings dinner is just pizza or something we pick up at Subway. 

I spend a lot of time juggling classes, talking to Grace or Spencer at college, spending time with my husband. Tucker may feel the need to test me, to see if I'll change my schedule to kowtow to his needs.

And this morning, I did. I passed his test. 

But because I didn't throw a fit about him skipping the breakfast I lovingly cooked, I'm pretty sure that guilt is nibbling at him somewhere. 

Last, First Day of High School

Tucker's a senior and started his last year of high school today.
Yes, it seems early, but the school district made changes last  year so the students begin school early enough to finish finals before the Christmas break. They used to return to school after Christmas for a week then take finals. Obviously, some of the information was lost during the two-week Christmas break. So now they start in mid August and finish school in mid May.

Tucker was in a good mood this morning, until I asked him to pose for a picture on the back porch.
"OMG!"

Luckily, his belligerent attitude helped make it a little easier to see him lope off to his final day of school.

A Year of Finals

My youngest son is a rising senior in high school. That means, in August he'll be a senior. So I'm sure my year will be filled with final times. A final first day of school. A final homecoming dance. A final spring break.
But the finals already began today.
I went to Tucker's final outdoor swim meet, league championships, today. He didn't want to swim in the summer league this year, so I'm sure I won't be able to convince him to swim next year.
These championship swim days are always unbearably hot and start very early. They had to be at the pool by 7:15. Luckily, the coach volunteered to take Tucker and his best friend Josh. I didn't have to be there until 9 and I went with a mocha for me and a frappucino for Tucker, trying to jolly him into a good mood.
Tucker and his team were lined up already to swim. They did well, especially considering that Tucker only went to one practice this summer.

That's Tucker in the center and his bestie Josh on the right. 

I took this picture at the end of the lane, but it looks very bizarre because his foot is so far out of the water.

They decided to stick their goggles to their faces like when they were little kids. 

Here they are on the blocks getting ready to swim the 50 freestyle. (Tucker won but it was close.)

Goodbye summer swim team.
Goodbye sitting in the sun and sweating.
Goodbye volunteering to time at swim meets.
This is just the first of many finals in the year to come.

Saturday Snapshot -- Growing Up

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post on West Metro Mommy. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

My  youngest became a high school senior this year as he finished exams for his junior year. It made me a little sentimental, so here are a few photos of him much younger. 

And then here he is ready for prom this year, posing with the cat in his own tuxedo.

Hope you are having a glorious weekend.

The Pain of Renting a Tux with a Teenager

I have to accept that I'm an embarrassment to my 17-year-old, no matter where I go or what I do.
A few weeks ago, we went to Men's Wearhouse to pick out a tuxedo. We had a $40 off card for the tux rental.

Spencer and Tucker in their tuxes 2012

Tucker's date is wearing a navy and silver dress. We felt like that ruled out a black tux. He decided he wanted a white tux with a silver vest and a navy tie. The helpful woman pointed out two tuxes to choose from, both of them costing $124.99 for the overnight rental.
I couldn't really tell the difference. I let Tucker choose. After some measuring, we sat down to pay while they filled out the forms. When we got to the end, the woman said, "The total will be $156."
I was perplexed. $124.99 minus the $40 coupon should not be $156.
"Can you show me the breakdown to explain why it costs that much?" I asked.
Tucker, sitting in the chair beside me, just slunk down lower in his seat.
"Hmmm. Wait a minute," the woman said. She clicked a few things on her computer screen then excused herself, disappearing into a back room.

Tucker and Jordan in 2012

"Why do you even argue with them about the price?" Tucker asked. His fury quickly going from 0 to 100. "It never gets you anywhere. Just pay the price."
Much easier to say when you aren't the one paying.
I didn't bother explaining to Tucker that questioning the price was not the same thing as arguing.
When the woman came back, she said that the two white tuxes she'd shown us were not the same price. One was $149.99 and, of course, that was the one Tucker had chosen.
Since we couldn't tell a difference between the tuxes, I suggested we switch to the less expensive one and Tucker agreed, still squirming.
"Just pay the deposit and I'll fix all this in the computer later," the woman assured me.
Hmmm. Call me skeptical, but I doubted that it would get "fixed."
"Could you let me know the price once you get it taken care of?" I asked.
"Sure, I'll email you a copy," she said.
So I paid my $20 deposit and left.
The next day, I found the email with my receipt. The total was $156.
What? The exact same amount she told me the day before with the more expensive tux? Yep.
After I finished work that day, I stopped by the Men's Wearhouse to discuss tux prices.

Spencer and Claudia in 2011

The manager who looked up my account and explained that the woman who helped me the previous day was new. The manager promised she would change to the less expensive tux.
"Okay," she said, as she finished entering the information. The total then is $129.99."
"That's better," I said, "but I still don't understand how a $124.99 tux, with $40 off ends up being $129."
"Well," she explained, "the price we show you is really $30 off so with the $40 off coupon you only get another $10 off."
Hmmm.
"I'm pretty sure that's illegal," I told the woman. "I don't think the Ohio Attorney General would agree that is fair advertising."
Suddenly, the price reduced, plus she gave me an extra $20 off for the trouble of having to come in again to straighten out the problem. She said I would owe $81 plus tax when we picked up the tux.
And today, we went to get the tux.
If fit; it looked very white with the white shirt, white jacket, white pants, white shiny shoes. Tucker was practically ready to start work on an ice cream truck.
The efficient sales associate got the tux hung up in the black bag and we walked to the register.
"That'll be $111.81," the man said.
"Is that after my $20 deposit?" I asked the guy. Tucker's eyes rolled back into his head.
"The woman I talked to said I would owe $81 plus tax," I explained.
"What woman?" the sales associate asked.

Ty and Grace in 2009. The dress was much
less expensive than a tux, but I did have to
pay for the hair.

"This woman," I said pulling her card from my purse and setting it on the counter.
"Oh, she's with another customer. Wait just a minute and I'll get her."
We stepped aside to let the next customer pay.
"You can wait in the car," I told Tucker. He bolted from the store.
Several other families from Tucker's school came by paying for their tuxes while I waited. Finally the helpful woman walked to the register.
"The discount I put in the other day didn't save," she explained. As she corrected the price to $88, she apologized for the mix up again.
"No big deal, except I embarrassed my son again," I told her.
I paid and exited with the long black bag full of tux. As we pulled out of the parking lot, Tucker said, "Next year, I'll pay for my tux."
"I don't mind paying," I told him, "but I'm not just going to pay any price they say at the end if it doesn't match the price they showed us earlier."
"Whatever," he said.
I hope he saves a lot of money for next year's prom. I noticed that the boy behind him was paying $174, after his deposit.

I Got a Rock

Sending Tucker off to France last week, we all had high hopes for gifts that he would bring back.

He brought me some yummy dark chocolate. Grace got a soft, orange scarf.

Earl got a rock.

"I know this seems lame," he said as he handed Earl the smooth, brown stone, but it came from Omaha Beach.

He showed us a picture he had taken on the beach with the rock in his hand.

Tucker knows that his dad is a history buff and has always wanted to visit the Normandy beaches where the Allies launched an offensive against German-occupied France in World War II. Omaha Beach is one of those beaches. He also took pictures of the inside of the pillboxes, defensive structures the Germans had built to fight against the invasion. The roofs of the pillboxes were scorched from the fighting.
In an attempt to redeem himself for the rock, Tucker also gave us a bottle of wine. He had pictures from the cave that they toured and where he purchased a 10 Euro bottle of wine. He didn't say if he tasted several in an attempt to find the right wine.
We were a little surprised that he was allowed to bring it in to the U.S. since he's under 21, but we didn't question it.
We enjoyed some wine on the front porch last night and it was delicious.

Saturday Snapshot -- Swim

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post on Alyce's blog At Home With Books. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

Today is an exciting day in my house because of a big district swim meet yesterday and we found out my son is moving on to States.

It's also an exciting day because my novel The Summer of France is free on Kindle Saturday and Sunday. I'd really appreciate if you'd download it free. If you don't have a Kindle, you can download a free Kindle reader to your computer then download my book. Thanks. Plus, I bet you'd like the book if you'd give it a chance! Here's the link: The Summer of France.
Now here are some photos from yesterday.
Tucker gets his head shaved every year before the meet.

But first the barber makes sure he looks really silly.

Here they are on the podium one of the three times that they placed in the top four.

I love this group huddle after they dropped 6 seconds from one of their relays.

I can't to see what you all are posting.

Saturday Snapshot -- My Kids (Adults?)

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post on Alyce's blog At Home With Books. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.
I got to enjoy having all three of my kids home during a long Christmas break so here are a few shots of them.
Tucker and Emma went to Winter Formal at her high school. She is a senior and Tucker is a junior.

Can you see the cut outs on her shoulders? Va va voom!  Boys clothes for formal aren't nearly as exciting. Tucker revised his black pants, black shirt and this time a blue tie.

 

Spencer flew back to school on Monday after a six-month break. I got this shot of him holding baby Regan.

It isn't often that a 19-year-old boy will agree to hold a baby, but he had finished eating so he got a baby in his lap. He thinks she is hilarious. Don't they both look happy?

 

 And last weekend was Grace's 21st birthday.

One of her gifts was an owl mug. Her sorority, Chi O, has an owl  as the mascot, so she loves all things owl. I love having her home during this respite.

Christmas Music

As some of you know, two of my children are off in college, so my husband and I are home with just our 16 year old. He seems intent on adding extra activities so we are as busy as we were when all three kids were home.
Thursday morning I was debating whether I would go watch him sing with the Singers at school.
The concert for parents was that night at 7, but my husband and I both had to work, so we couldn't go. Luckily, Tucker had two other concerts Thursday -- one at the elementary school in the morning and one at the middle school in the afternoon.
I really wasn't going to go, but I started to feel guilty and decided some Christmas music might be fun.
So I walked down to the elemenatry school and listened to them sing. I loved watching the little kids react with delight when they recognized a song. And they were especially thrilled with "I'm Gettin' Nothin' For Christmas" as the high school kids pretended to slug each other and pull each other's hair.  Last year, Tucker was in the Concert Choir. This year, he has moved up to the Singers, which requires an audition. They travel throughout the city doing concerts. Tonight they'll be at the zoo caroling.
I've tried to upload their song "I'll Be Home For Christmas/Let It Snow" which is appropriate for our family as Spencer comes home from Florida today, but we have to wait another week for Grace to come home from New York. The video refused to upload.

Hope everyone gets to enjoy some Christmas music this season.