Presidential Election Day 2016

A Post about the Election in which No Politics Are Actually Discussed

Last week, the Chicago Cubs won the World Series for the first time in 108 years, I believe. I saw on my Facebook feed that night numerous of my friends and their kids staying up late "watching the Cubs," and I wondered why so many of my friends were 'coincidentally' watching the same game.

I didn't know it was the World Series, or the final game of said series.

Well, around here, we may not watch an iconic baseball game, but we make a big deal out of watching an election.

When the children woke up on Tuesday, one of them promptly wrote ELECTION on all the available white space on my kitchen white board.

At one point during the day, we all ran outside because of the deafening cacophony of birds cawing, and we witnessed thousands of black birds migrating overhead and landing temporarily in our trees.

It was a it creepy and, frankly, it seemed apocalyptic to me.

At the conclusion of our school day and music lessons, our whole family went to the polls to vote. Our nine-year-old was particularly interested to talk to candidates and volunteers outside the voting station--a challenge for this shy mama.

Inside, our county had set up a mock voting station for children, which was pretty nifty (see GenerationNation). After the children cast their anonymous votes, they were given a website so they could see the results of our county's children's votes the subsequent day. The children really appreciated the mock voting!

Finally, after much anticipation, we checked off of our list eating dinner, praying rosary, and putting tiny tots to sleep, so I made popcorn and hot cocoa for watching the election results rolling in. I printed out a nifty blank form of the United States for the children to keep track of electoral votes and coloring in the states as they are "called."

Coloring in their electoral college maps

Unfortunately, due to the fall back time change only a week ago, the children couldn't keep their eyes open as late as they would normally. Margaret dropped out at 8:00, Mary at 9:00, and John at 9:45 . . . the nine-year-old lasted longer than this old Mama! (However, I had the advantage of knowing I'd experience numerous baby wakings, after which I could check the news on my iPhone!) I knew Chris couldn't so easily shake his former decade in California state politics, and, indeed, he was up till the wee hours of the morning, watching this historic and very interesting election.