New Year's Eve

1. Sleeping in
   
   
2. Playing Fast Uno with the whole family
   
   
3. Finding the denim curtains for my living room
   

Stuff from Mom's house to ours

1. My mom's old rolltop desk that used to mine, too
   
   
2. Her old blue reclining chair
   
   
3. The picture of of my cousin Mary and me that used to hang in my parents' living room
   

Sleeping in, good food

1. Mom and the girls slept in, so I had some time to myself for reading. It was nice that Mama got caught up on her sleep some.
   
   
2. Due to no time for breakfast, we had Mama's waffles for lunch
   
   
3. Jambalaya with lots of shrimp for dinner

Movies with the girls, popcorn, fabric shopping

1. Watching It's a Wonderful Life with Mom and the girls
   
   
2. Orville Reddenbacher Movie Butter Microwave popcorn
   
   
3. Fabric shopping with my oldest and my mom
   

Driving Day

1. Good weather for driving to my parents' house
   
   
2. The girls behaved themselves in the van even though traffic was heavy and the trip was long
   
   
3. WMYL (The Merle) in Knoxville
   

Christmas gifts

1. I spent the day today relaxing with new Christmas gifts, like my Super Collapse computer game and my new French Bible.
   
   
2. We watched some of my husband's new movies today. I bought him Eraser with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rent with Jessie L. Martin. I found them both really cheap, so I bought them. My husband isn't crazy about musicals (like Rent), but I like to tease my husband about his crushes. :-) Of course, we didn't watch those movies today --- we watched Live Free or Die Hard that my middlest daughter bought for him.
   
   
3. My husband and the girls played a game of flag football today. I think that we're finally getting them interested in football.
   

The Three Best Gifts

1. My oldest daughter. She has a very sweet spirit, and is very sensitive to the people around her. She's absolutely brilliant, and incredibly creative in lots of different ways. She works so hard on her school work, and she enjoys everything: literature, Spanish, math, and computer programming. She's a joy to have in my life.
   
   
2. My middlest daughter. She can be very quiet, but one look can speak volumes. She's quick-witted and always thinking. She'll tell you that she's everyone's favorite. She works hard at anything she sets her mind to, but she also loves to play. After her school work is over, she loves to watch movies with me. She's a joy to have in my life.
   
   
3. My youngest daughter. She's fun-loving and playful, generally easy-going and cheerful, and loves to give hugs or just snuggle on the couch. She's very intelligent and has a contagious smile. She loves learning languages and math, especially if it means some one-on-one time with Mom. She's a joy to have in my life.
   

Christmas Eve

1. The youth choir (and my oldest) did a wonderful job singing at the early service for Christmas Eve.
   
   
2. I sang at the "midnight" service at 11:00. We sang all my favorite choir songs, including "Shepherd's Pipe Carol." This time we were accompanied by the piano, organ, flute, and a brass quintet (The Cumberland Brass). We ended the service at midnight by singing "Silent Night" by candle light in that beautiful building with all the candles really made it feel like a holy night to celebrate the love our God has for us.
   
   
3. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
   

Christmas sweater, carols on a pipe organ, Joyeux Noel

1. Wearing my green sparkly Christmas sweater to church today, the one with the pictures of snow globes on it
   
   
2. Hearing beautiful Christmas organ preludes and postludes in church today
   
   
3. Watching the movie Joyeux Noel without the subtitles and understanding it, even the Scottish accents (and being able to spell Joyeux without having to look it up)
   

Richard Chamberalin, spiced pears, colorful letter

1. Richard Chamberlain in Shogun
   
   
2. New green candles for Christmas that don't smell like pine trees or mistletoe, but spiced pear instead. Mmmmmm.
   
   
3. Finished writing a Christmas letter, though I haven't mailed any cards yet.
   

Hot men with great eyes, wrapping paper, old scrapbook fodder

1. My middlest daughter and I found another movie that we can both enjoy watching together --- Kingdom of Heaven with Orlando Bloom for her and Alexander Siddig for me.
   
   
2. The kids are helping me wrap my gifts.
   
   
3. I found lots of "scrapbook fodder" from Luxembourg as I finished sorting through old papers in my office this evening.
   

Staying home, finding lost gifts, rain

1. A day with nowhere to go and nothing special to do. Most of the Christmas shopping is finished, and it's nice to have a day just to put my feet up some.
   
   
2. I cleaned up all the clean clothes piled around the cedar chest in my room, and I found all the Christmas gifts that I had bought earlier that I was missing. Now I just need to get them wrapped, but I'll think about that tomorrow.
   
   
3. A nice gentle rain all day today, rain that we really need. And I'm very happy to have rain instead of ice or snow.
   

Wordless Wednesday #38

My sister, shopping with the girls, Joy

1. My sister --- we called her today to sing to her at work
   
   
2. A day of Christmas shopping with the girls in Nashville
   
   
3. Sometimes it's difficult to control what music we're listening to, what music gets piped into the stores. This year I have realized that most of the songs that I associated with my dad, the ones I remember clearly hearing him sing and playing for him while he sang, were Christmas songs. I loved to play "Gesu Bambino" for him. I remember last Christmas when he sang "O Holy Night" for church after just getting out of the hospital yet again, and he got to the line "chains shall He break," and he got some emotional he had trouble finishing the song.
   
   There is a song on my Kathy Mattea Christmas CD, Joy for Christmas Day, that she recorded to honor her dad who had recently passed away. That song comes to my mind often now, to remind me that my grief would be so much stronger now if it wasn't for that first Christmas day, and it helps to make this season a bit easier though I still really miss my dad.
   
   I brought my tree down to the shore
   The garland and the silver star
   To find my peace and grieve no more
   To heal this place inside my heart
   
   One tiny Child can change the world
   One shining Light can show the way
   Through all my tears for what I've lost
   There's still my joy
   There's still my joy for Christmas day
   
   The snow comes down on empty sand
   There's tinsel moonlight on the waves
   My soul was lost but here I am
   So this must be Amazing Grace
   
   One tiny Child can change the world
   One shining Light can show the way
   Beyond these tears for what I've lost
   There's still my joy
   There's still my joy for Christmas day
   
   There's still my joy for Christmas day
   

Christmas green for braces, Christmas green for the checking account, stuffed animal elves

1. Green rubber bands on braces for Christmas
   
   
   
   
2. Money in our checking account
   
   
3. Playing on www.elfyourself.com. (See some of our results at http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1501696528.)
   

Singing, going to church, working on my "coolest mom in the world" title

1. Lesson and Carols
   
   
2. Seeing my husband in church
   
   
3. Cooling off some peanut butter drops my oldest made for a Christmas party by blasting the cold air from the outside into the car on the way to the party. I'm always telling the girls that I'm the coolest mom in the world, and last night, I proved it.
   

Bad pictures and video with funny comments, a great smile for a job well done

1. My husband, who was certain that no one was reading my blogs, was proved wrong today. I posted some pictures of him on my other blog, and my sister sent me a message that made me laugh so hard that I cried. She might be regretting reading my blogs, but she is still reading them.
   
   
2. My middlest daughter made a video of my oldest singing along with the MP3 player while my youngest performed "drama queen karaoke." Again, I laughed until I cried.
   
   
3. Choir practice went well today. I love seeing our director's smile when we do a good job.
   

Christmas grass, good grades, banana bread

1. With all the rain we've had, the grass is getting green --- just in time for Christmas.
   
   
2. My oldest is having a fabulous week in school. She's been working hard, and we got her first quarter report card, and we're all really pleased at her progress. Her goal is to finish this first year of high school with all A's.
   
   
3. My husband made us some banana bread with real bananas, not the stuff from the box. Hmmmmm.
   

Smokey mountains, deer, creeking

1. The clouds are hanging in the hills, and every window in my house has a spectacular view!
   
   
2. All my favorite deer have survived the first round of deer hunting season in Tennessee. The girls were able to see some deer up close while they were down wading in the creek.
   
   
3. Temperatures in the 60's and 70's all week meant that the girls could go wading in the creek (known in Tennessee as "creeking" but pronounced "crickin"), even though it's mid-December.
   

Wordless Wednesday #37

Picnic lunch, apricot-mango yogurt, finals are final

1. The girls had a picnic lunch today. It doesn't seem much like Christmas, but it was a beautiful day today.
   
   
2. Apricot-Mango Lite Yogurt from Kroger for desert.
   
   
3. I finished grading all the exams and computing all the scores. Yippee! Now it's time to relax the last two weeks before Christmas.
   

Hand-me-down denim, rhyming French, Patchy's luck

1. Wearing a new hand-me-down denim dress from my sister. (She gave it to my oldest, but she said it didn't fit and gave it to me.) I love hand-me-downs, and I love denim dresses.
   
   
2. Learning French phrases that rhyme, such as "Cette fois, je vois" (this time, I see).
   
   
3. One of my students was really happy that I brought Patchy (my middlest daughter's stuffed dog) to the final. He said it would bring him good luck.
   

Christmas music, good alto, bad jokes

1. "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming" and"Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus"
   
   
2. Sitting by someone who knew her part during choir practice
   
   
3. Last week, Pastor Tommy told us a joke that he said he had stolen from Pastor Jacob, and then he messed it up and didn't tell it well. The punchline was, "Some people just don't know how to tell a joke," which is true for Tommy. Today Pastor Jacob was discussing the meaning of names with the kids during the children's sermon, and he told the kids that Pastor Tommy's name meant "One who tells bad jokes." The kids were all just looking at Pastor Jacob, but the adults got it, and we all had a good laugh.
   

Twelfth Night giggles, understanding the French, rain

1. The girls and I watched a BBC production of Twelfth Night with Imogen Stubbs, Ben Kingsley, Helena Bonham Carter, and Nigel Hawthorne. The girls enjoyed the movie very much, but it also brought back very happy memories of being hushed by Sir Toby and Andrew when they were spying on Malvolio.
   
   
2. My husband and I watched the French movie Un long dimanche de fiancailles and I was able to understand a lot of the French.
   
   
3. There is nothing about this weather that would make you think it's almost Christmas, but I'm not minding the warm temperatures, and we really need the rain. And I love rainy days when I don't have anywhere to go.
   

St. Nicholas Day

Lumber Markers, old spaghetti sauce, and insane people

1. My husband ordered a "lumber maker" from a tool company --- essentially a guide for his chainsaw so that he can cut 2x4's with his chainsaw. It wasn't very expensive, and when it came, we saw why. Sometimes it's a lumber marker instead of a lumber maker.
   
   
   
   
2. I bought a batch of spaghetti sauce that has two expiration dates on it. I'm assuming that the date that says "2005" is just a 9 that printed too much like a 5 so they redid the date. That's what I'm hoping anyway.
   
   
   
   
3. My oldest made me this post-it note to put on the side of my computer screen.
   
   
   
   

Last day before finals, hard work and play, parentheses

1. Today was the last day of class before finals at Belmont. It feels really nice to be finishing up. (There is still grading to do, but it seems less daunting that writing tests, assignments, and lesson plans.)
   
   
2. All three girls worked really hard today while I was at work and got lots of school done (and still had some time to play in the creek, they tell me). This was a happy change from last week (at least for two of my three girls).
   
   
3. Parentheses (are fun to use).

Braces, found book, Christmas tree

1. My middlest daughter got a new appliance today for her braces. Now she talks kind of funny, but she's taking it in stride. She's just happy to be getting straighter teeth.
   
   
2. I found the teachers' manual for science that I had lost.
   
   
3. We put up our Christmas tree today. It's the same tree that my dad sent to me the first Christmas I was in grad school and I had my own apartment.
   

Singing for Christmas

1. Singing great Advent hymns in church today, like "Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates" and "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel"
   
   
2. Singing Christmas hymns for responses, something we didn't do in the Anglican church in Luxembourg. For example, we sang the Glorias from "Angels We Have Heard on High" instead of the Doxology.
   
   
3. Singing "Shepherds Pipe Carol" during choir practice. I've loved this song for years (thanks to James Galway's Christmas album), but I've never had a chance to sing it (except, of course, for singing along with the album or CD)
   

Christmas Music in my house

1. I got out the Brad Paisley Christmas CD today. There is a song about finding songs to sing that won't offend anyone. The can't sing "O Christmas Tree" because the name Christmas might offend someone, and they can't sing anything about "white" because that might offend someone. But that best line --- they decide that they can't sing "The Little Drummer Boy" because it might offend real musicians. I love that line.
   
   
2. "Christmas is Coming" sung by Miss Piggy
   
   
3. "Tender Tennessee Christmas" by Amy Grant