Orange Belt

Today we went to Zachary's karate luncheon. It was a combo holiday party & belt graduation for all of the kids who take karate through this place. I have mentioned before that the karate school sends a karate teacher to Zachary's school one day a week, which is very convenient. There are probably about 8 or 9 boys at his school who take the class, but Zachary was the only one from his school who was at the luncheon. But there were lots of other families there who take karate actually at the karate school. They had a pretty nice setup at the Doubletree Hotel on Holcomb Bridge Road. They gave out some awards, and then handed out the new belts for those moving to the next color. I believe all of the boys who take karate at Zachary's school were getting their next belt, but since Zachary was the only one at the luncheon, he is the only one who will have his new belt at the start of class this Wednesday. He was SO excited. It is a Novice Orange Belt - basically a white belt with an orange stripe running down the middle. Hopefully he will continue to do well so he can get out of this orange belt VERY fast...Yall know how we feel about orange in this house! :) But even though we didn't know anyone else there, it was a fun day, and great to see Zachary making progress & enjoying karate.

After the luncheon, we came back home & dropped the kids off with my mom. Josh & I headed out to out church for their annual Christmas program, the North Atlanta Christmas Festival. We've been going to this church for about 5 years now, but have never attended the NACF. But we decided this would be the year - but without the kids, because they still can't really be still & quiet for that long. The tickets went on sale at midnight the day of the Auburn game, so since we were in the car driving home at midnight, I got on Josh's phone & ordered us tickets. When we got there today we discovered what happens when you order tickets the second they go on sale - you get seated in the front row, right next to the trumpets! It was a little hard to hear everything, unless the trumpets weren't playing. But the program itself was very good - very well done, and very impressive. I think we will have to add this to our holiday traditions each year - they really do a wonderful job. And hopefully next year Zachary will be able to sit still so we can take him with us (Liam might still be a couple of years away from that, but we'll see).