Joyeux Noël, EmmaLee PV EmmaLee LeDames Closed

December 12, 2023

Dear Stephen,

I do believe that we are golden. I have received both letter and package and I would like to first say that this is one of the most beautiful gifts I have ever received! Thank you so much! Thank you for the time it must have taken to put it together, as well. It must have taken a decent amount of time to get it done.
Minx is transfixed by the bow's movement and has taken to badgering me to make it play so that she can watch it, not that it stops playing much when I am in my room anyway. Haha. I may wear out the gears by the end of school. If you don't know already, the song it plays is Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2 by Chopin, but they probably told you that in the instructions. Still, it is a beautiful piece, in this format and others. Thank you, again.

I am glad that you seem to be enjoying your Hanukkah at Ilvermorny. Do you often have to celebrate it away from your family? I don't know much about the holiday, but I do know that it moves around, so it isn't always at the same time every year. I have had potato pancakes and find them tasty, but I don't know if something about latkes makes them special or if all potato pancakes are called latkes. Haha. Regardless, I am glad you are enjoying yours and you might be pleased to know that your letter arrived grease free.

I am sorry for my friend's behavior, but I will admit, his running from you is rather amusing news. I can see him reacting that way. Hopefully he will act his age soon enough and maybe you two can become something of friends. Alura and Grace tell me that he is grumbling less at least and seems to remember that school is supposed to be fun, despite not participating in sports. I think it really is just a lot of envy at your position on the racing team and maybe some embarrassment now after all that happened in San Francisco. Time will tell.

I hope that you enjoy your holiday as well and that you get to eat your grandmother's latkes as swiftly as possible.

Oh! I almost forgot to tell you! I joined the Hufflepuff dueling team! I very much understand not having time to do the things you want to do. Now that I have practices for the dueling team, I feel like I don't even have time to take a walk with Minx any more, much less sit down and write a proper letter. Even my letters to Alura, Grace, and Kiernan are but a few sentences scratched down quickly and sent off.
My first duel was November 2 and we won! I was on a team with two other students and we did very well. Well, everyone did very well. It was a very exciting match. I hope we continue to do as well in the future.

That being said, I do have to get to practice. I was glad to find a moment to respond to you properly. Stay safe yourself and I hope things slow down for you so you can enjoy yourself.

Happy Hanukkah!

That Hogwarts School

WC: 554
@AngelFyre McCubbin

December 17, 2023

Hanukkah Sameach! (Happy Hanukkah)

Dear Stephen, I hope you had a wonderful holiday. I think it is surely over by now haha, but since you sent me such a wonderful gift, I felt obliged to send you one as well. It took so long because I had to wait until the weekend to make it and there was quite a lot of math involved. Well... some. There was math.

I, or rather this mail owl, present to you a plush, scale model of our planets. With cute little faces. The process was very scientific. You'd be proud of me. Haha. I took each planet's kilometer diameter, read it in millimeters, then scaled it down to a reasonable size by diving that by 150. I ended up having to leave to sun out because it would have been close to 30 feet wide and I am a bit short to handle a sewing project that big. The moon is a little less than an inch in diameter and Jupiter is a little over 3 feet.

You probably know all this already, but I learned quite a bit in the endeavor. Such as, I didn't realize how similar in size Mercury and the moon are nor that Mars in about half the size of Earth. I thought Mars was closer to Earth's size.

So yes. This was fun and educational. I really hope you like it and if you don't, that's fine, too. I hope you had a wonderful holiday and that you do well in your exams. I must go and study for mine and send this off.

Ta,

Hoggy Warty Hogwarts.

WC: 271
@AngelFyre McCubbin

These are to scale mm to px. Except for Jupiter and Saturn, which are divided by 4 bc they were too big to fit the banner. Haha. Also the math compare if anyone cares.

These are Jupiter and Neptune divided by half for a slightly more accurate compare to the smaller plushes.

[quote][quote]
Stephen Schwartz
That North American School
U.S.A.

EmmaLee LeDames
That United Kingdom School
Scotland

December 20, 2023

Dear EmmaLee,

I was surprised today with not one, but two owls from you as well as a package. It all made my day. First, let me thank you profusely for the planetary plushies! I know how much you adore math, so I doubly appreciate the effort you went to to not only make them for me, but to do it to scale. You have no idea how impressed I am with the amount of research that had to have taken on your part. I know it would have taken even me some time, and I practically live and breathe this stuff! I will get them hung up in my dorm room before I leave for winter break. Thank you so much!

Second, I am very happy to hear that my gift to you arrived safe and sound. While I love that you loved it, I do not love that you felt obliged to get me something in return (even though I'm elated with what you sent.) As it so happens, I do know that it played Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2 by Chopin, and I would love to be able to tell you that I knew that the second I heard it playing, but that would be a big a lie and I know you'd know it. Ha! I only knew what it played because that is what the box said it played. I was motivated to get the thing put together just to hear exactly what Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2 by Chopin sounded like. Did it in one sitting - only took 3 hours. Good news was that I at least had heard it before, so it was not completely foreign to me. Guess I'm not as much of a musical troglodyte as I at first suspected I was.

And Hey! Congratulations on making it onto the Hufflepuff dueling team AND for getting a win under your belt right out of the gate. Wish I could have been there to cheer you on, but know that I will be there in spirit for your future bouts. I predict great things for you on the piste and some sorry times for anyone unfortunate enough to have to go up against you and your partner. How does that work by the way? Do you team up with the same partner for each duel throughout the year or does it switch out? How many matches do you have in a year? Excuse the ignorant questions. Broom sports, well, one broom sport in particular, seems to occupy my mind too much, so I practically know nothing about dueling. When I read that you had joined, it crossed my mind that I don't think I've been to a single dueling match since I've been at Ilvermorny. Looks like that is going to have to change next term.

Okay, next two days are filled with end of term exams, so I need to sign off and hit the books. You will not hear from me until next term, so I wish you and your whole family a very safe and Merry Christmas, EmmaLee. If I can find someone around here with some wizarding camera developing solution, I'll send you a photo of the plushies hanging in my dorm room with the next owl.

-Stephen

P.S. Believe it or not, I really am glad that things are looking up for Kiernan.

P.P.S. Potato Latkes are potato latkes all year round. The only reason they are "special" during Hanukkah is because of the nod to the oil they are fried in, as Hanukkah is all about the miracle of the oil.

January 6, 2024

Dear Stephen,

I am so happy that you love your gift. I was trying to think of something that would make up for missing the eight days of Hanukkah and then I thought, why not the eight planets (plus moon as a bonus. ) I understand that you open one present each night, yes? I would love a picture if you can manage it, but do not trouble yourself if you can't. Admittedly, it occurred to me a little too long after I sent it that I was having the owls carry a very large and possibly heavy package and I felt a little bad for the poor creatures. I hope that they arrived not too tired from the journey and the weight.

I will say, maybe obliged is the wrong word. I wanted to return the favor and make my friend feel special on his holiday. Haha. I actually was able to do a bit of research into Judaism and the Hanukkah holiday over winter break. If it isn't insulting to ask, does your family practice the religion, or are your Jewish by birth, or, I guess, both?

I suppose I've never really thought about religion before. My mother's family doesn't really practice any particular religion. I guess you could call them pagan, but that's not exactly the right word, I think. My mother sometimes prays to our ancestors and sometimes asks me to join her, but I don't think that is a religion, is it? I wouldn't say we 'worship' anything.

The town I grew up in is Catholic and so is my Ilvermorny friend, Grace and her family. Kiernan's family goes to church on Sundays, though I am not sure which kind. Not Grace's church, though, and I didn't get a chance to ask him. Sorry for rambling. I kind of went down a rabbit hole. Haha.

In any case, I probably spent way too much time over my break looking into other winter holidays and the religious context around them. Even Christmas. Mother says that we celebrate it secularly and we do not celebrate it for the Jesus Christ like Christians do.

Ok, I'm really going to move on now, because I wanted to tell you that I certainly do not think you are a troglodyte in any sense of the word. Rock music is as valid and enjoyable as any other kind of music. I am glad that you have heard at least a little Chopin, though. I wouldn't say he is my favorite composer, but he is a good one.

I took the "magical" cello home to show my family and Chlo is just as fascinated with it as Minx. The two of them could sit for hours just watching the bow move and listening to the tinkly little tune. HeeHee. It was most amusing to watch. Papa Victor says that he may just buy Chlo her own and try to put it together himself. I will let him know that it is a long endeavor (three hours is quite long to work on a thing and I appreciate your time even more), but a profitable one. He might get it done in 10.

As far as dueling goes, I think they changed some things right before I joined the team. It used to be teams of two and now it is teams of three. I had really good partners this round. We were very in tune with each other and won within 6 rounds. It was very exciting.
There are three matches a year. October, January, and April. We are partnered based on our skill and matched with another team based on skill. I was placed on the lowest level team in October because I had just joined.
Um. I think the other house teams are more stagnant, but Hufflepuff seems to have a lot of turnover. Haha. If the whole team stays the same between stages, we stay with our little team, otherwise teams may shift depending on who drops. For example: if someone on the team a skill level above me leaves and a more advanced player doesn't join, someone on my team will move up and the new teammate will join my team.

HeeHee I will admit to knowing nothing about any broom sports aside from Quodpot, which you might be surprised to know is my favorite above even dueling. There's something highly exciting about the ball blowing up. Broom racing looks rather straight forward, but for some reason I feel like it's actually rather complicated. You should let me know, please?

I think you would rather like dueling. It is highly strategic if you do it right. Quite a bit like wizard's chess. Have you experienced wizard's chess, yet? It is VERY different from muggle chess. Well. Very different in only one important way. Haha.

Well, I think I have rambled quite enough and Minx is VERY determined to get me to go....somewhere. She keeps pawing at my ink well and threatening to knock it over. So I will end here. I hope your exams went well. Mine went... as expected. I also hope your vacation went well and you had a good time with your family. I forgot to ask for you to send your father and grandmother my best, so please do.

Awaiting your news,

That Hogwarts School
P.S. I definitely believe it. Believe it or not, he says that "At least the wimpy Wampus seems to know what he's doing on a broom." Take that as you will. I guess Alura and Grace finally got him to go to the latest races.

P.P.S I did learn that in my research, that you eat all sorts of fried things because of the oil. What are your other favorite fried foods to eat?

WC: 963
@AngelFyre McCubbin