Last Post!

Last post of 2005, that is. This year has gone by so fast, and yet it's seemed kind of long, too. I thought I'd just recount, at least for my own sake, some of the highlights of the year. Sort of like an expanded Thanksgiving list.

Highlights:

• Going to Maui in February! We were blessed with nice weather the whole time. I especially loved the constant scent of flowers and the stunning sunsets every evening.
• Doing a twelve-week study called "Seeking Him" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss and Tim Grissom. It was a powerful time of revival in my heart.
• Recording my second CD in March. Everything went so well and I was very pleased with the outcome.
• Learning the painful, but valuable, lesson that disappointments are really blessings in disguise. And that God's grace is totally sufficient.
• A wonderful summer! I felt pretty run down by the end of the school year, but after resting, studying, traveling, biking, swimming, and socializing some, I felt rejuvenated.
• Visiting family and friends in NH in July. I got to be there for Tucker's first birthday!
• Blogging! I barely knew what a blog was last year, but since June, I've thoroughly enjoyed my sojourn in blogland. What a special way to stay connected to many relatives and friends!
• Learning so much and gaining 18 college credits through studies in English, Western Civilization, and the Humanities.
• Several parties throughout the year where I got to socialize and play volleyball and games with old and new friends.
• Directing the Hallelujah Chorus at my church.
• Seeing Narnia.
• Discovering great books, movies, and music.

I'm sure there's something I've missed, but those are the ones that pop into my head right now. We never know exactly what the next year will hold, but we know Who holds the next year! 'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus.

Happy New Year!!

Silly Slippers

One of my whimsical Christmas gifts. Aren't the whiskers hilarious?

It's Over!

It appears that everyone's on vacation from blogging, so I thought I'd try to liven it up a little bit. We had a great Christmas. We had my four nieces and nephews from Friday afternoon through Saturday night. It's so much fun to see Christmas through childrens' eyes! They remind me so much of my own excitement when I was little. The kids were so excited about opening presents! We kept all of our presents for their family here until Christmas Eve, so they spent a good deal of time studying them, touching them, and coveting them. I let them open a present to the four of them on Friday night. It was a collection of "Tom & Jerry" cartoons, which was quite a hit! And it wasn't just the kids who were cracking up! They watched the whole thing two more times on Saturday.

Until Lori and Chris came on Saturday afternoon, we did things like go for walks (the kids w/Grandpa), do puzzles, watch movies, look at presents, eat, etc. The girls told me several times that I was going to love what I got them. Jessie said, "You're going to love what I got you. It's one of my favorite movies!" I smiled and said, "Oh, so it's a movie, huh?" I could see some internal backpedalling going on, and then, "No, it's not a movie." Heh, heh, it was a movie.

In the afternoon I curled the girls' hair. I have very little experience with doing other people's hair, but they actually looked pretty cute afterwards. They've got the same fine, blonde hair that Lori and I have. Then when I was painting my nails (a very rare event) they wanted me to paint their nails too. Little girls are so fun.

So anyway, Lori and Chris came and we soon settled down for a roast beast feast. A prime rib, to be precise, and a very good one at that. When I didn't think I could hold any more food, my mom brought out the yule log (a rich chocolate concoction we have every year) and coffee. I guess there was a little space in there because I did fit some in. Mmmm...I've had so much chocolate the past couple of weeks! I ease my conscience by remembering its cancer fighting qualities. :-)

The kids finally got to open some presents! The girls opened the American Girl dolls my mom had gotten them, plus all the little dresses and accessories she'd made or purchased. Their expressions of delight were priceless. Meanwhile, the two boys were engrossed with their respective noise making vehicles. Will had a little excavator and dump truck which kept him happily occupied for the evening. I wonder how many batteries he's gone through already. The rest of us opened one other present. My dad's big present to my mom and me was a treadmill! About a week ago I started talking about how nice it would be to have one with our inclement weather, and he picked up on it. We're already enjoying it. It's great to be able to go out in the garage any time and get some exercise.

We watched "A Christmas Carol" and then Lori's family went home. On Christmas morning my parents and I started with stockings, then had breakfast after we got dressed, and then opened the presents. I couldn't have waited that long 15 or 20 years ago! Now I actually enjoy taking the morning at a leisurly pace. We all got lovely gifts and contentedly enjoyed them throughout the day, interrupted now and then by a nap or a walk on the treadmill or eating.

Now it's kind of a relief to have Christmas over and look forward to the fresh new year. My mind is spinning with plans or ideas. School starts again next Monday so I have to get ready for that. Still praying about whether I should return next year. I go back and forth. I'm sure the Lord will make the way plain in due time, but I want to know! Then I'm trying to decide about where to go on spring vacation -- New Hampshire or Israel. And I really want to go to Greece next summer, but that may be a long shot.

Merry Christmas!

Punch Recipe

Ryusoma requested the mocha punch recipe, so I thought I'd post it for everyone's benefit. This drink is always a hit!

Frosty Mocha Punch

2 quarts strong brewed coffee
1/4 cup sugar
3 tbs vanilla extract
1/2 gallon coffee ice cream, softened (or mocha ice cream, or half coffee and half chocolate)
3 cups whipping cream, whipped
additional whipping cream

Combine coffee and sugar in a large mixing bowl, stirring until sugar dissolves. Stir in vanilla, chill thoroughly. (It's good to do this the night before as the coffee takes forever to chill.)
Spoon ice cream and 3 cups whipped cream into punch bowl. Slowly pour chilled coffee mixture into punch bowl; stir to blend. Dollop additional whipped cream on top.
Yield: approx. 1 gallon

Enjoy!

Addled Cook

Vacation for me has meant extra time to do "normal" things like shop (finished my Christmas shopping yesterday!), read, watch movies, and cook or bake. Tomorrow I'm hosting a Christmas tea for the young ladies in our church, so in preparation for the little sandwiches we must have, I boiled a chicken and eggs (not together!). Let me preface my story by saying that I had a busy week last week and a long weekend with late nights. So I'm still pretty tired and low on nervous energy. And I'm reacting to all the sugar and dairy I had last week. Grrr...Why can't allergies and hypoglycemia take a vacation, too?

I decided to make some candy cane cookies. Not because we really needed them for tomorrow, but because I wanted to make cookies! It's been a good 50 years or so since I've made these particular Christmas cookies, and I'd forgotten how much work and effort they take. You color one half of the dough "red" (more like pink, and my hands still look pink), and then twist a piece of "white" dough and "red" dough together to form a candycane. The trick is figuring out just how much dough to use and how thin to roll the pieces. My first candycane turned out really fat. Oops. My next one was too skinny. (Sounds like a fairytale.) Some of them came out skinny at the top and fat on the bottom or the other way around. BUT by the second cookie sheet, they were looking pretty good, if I do say so myself! And they taste very good, too!

As I said, I was boiling a chicken, which was quite frozen when I put it in. And it took forever. I'm never quite confident about judging the doneness of a chicken, so I finally consulted my guru mom. She said (and I did know this) that the legs need to wiggle loosely. I said, "Well, the little legs are loose, but the big legs are still pretty firm and they're a little bleedy." She looked at me oddly and said, "Little legs? Do you mean the wings?" She started laughing her head off and I couldn't help joining her once I'd realized my mistake! Of course, I knew in theory they were wings, but somehow they'd registered in my mind--today anyway--as little legs. I'm sure my mom won't let me forget that one. I'm still laughing about it as I write. Oh, dear.

Then I was putting eggs in a saucepan in preparation for boiling. I had to go out to the garage frig to get a couple more eggs. I brought them in, took an egg, and without hesitation, cracked it on the rim and dropped it's contents onto the other very whole eggs. I let out a Tiggeresque sort of holler as soon as I saw what I'd done, and then started laughing hysterically about it as I proceeded to wash off all the eggs and rinse the pot. Sigh. What is wrong with me?! I'm too young for this sort of thing!

Ahem, in other news, my Christmas party last Friday went very well and everybody had lots of fun. There were about 27 of us, plus my parents. This is the seventh year in a row that I've hosted this party. People dress formally and we eat decadent desserts, drink mocha punch (wonderful!), play games, and visit. Such a jolly time. No alcohol needed to make this group merry. A particular highlight of the evening was the Yankee gift exchange. The hottest item, I think, was the Starbucks gift card. Many people didn't leave till after midnight and we didn't get to bed till 2 a.m.!

Oh, good news! Natalie and Brian and Benjamin came home today!! So I guess that's a very positive sign that the little guy is doing better. Praise the Lord for great things He has done!

No More Pain

At Christmastime, it seems to be like there should be no in the hospital, no one sick, no one dying, no traffic accidents, no unhappiness. It should just be illegal! I found myself a little down after going to the children's hospital on Saturday, but then rejoiced to read this verse in Revelation: "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." Hooray! Everything will be different some day! The way God originally designed it to be. Hold steady, my friends.

I'm Still Alive!

I survived a marathon weekend! Friday night was my school Christmas program, which went very well. The kids did great, though the kindergartners would wave and stare at the audience no matter what instructions I'd given them earlier! Saturday morning I played/sang/spoke at a women's brunch up in Seattle. That went well, too. Sunday morning was church and choir practice. I rushed home, ate dinner, changed, packed up, and went back to church with my friend Kristin for a concert we gave. It was called Christmas Angels and it went very well. We didn't get a huge turnout, but I did sell more CDs than I expected, so that was good.

On Monday night I gave a concert at a quaint church in a little dinky town way up in the northern part of the Olympic peninsula. It was about a two and a half hour drive, so I'm glad my dad came with me to do the driving over the dark, windy roads. We got home close to midnight. That concert went well, though I was pretty tired. Helped me be more relaxed, I suppose. It was kind of funny, when I started, the microphone I was using kept getting lower and lower. I would hoist it up between songs, tighten it, then continue. Down it would bow to me, while I kept playing or saying. Finally got it balanced so the weight was evenly distributed. Made me think of Joseph and his dreams of the stalks of wheat bowing down to his stalk. :-)

Last night I got to have some fun! My friend Tina called in the morning with an imprompu invitation to have a birthday dinner and movie with her family. I said sure! Well, I had to move around a couple students, which I felt no compunction over. We went to a swanky city called Bellevue, which was so beautifully decorated for Christmas. Made me think of the song "Silver Bells." We ate at one of my favorite restaurants - The Cheesecake Factory. Mmmm...I'm such a sucker for cheesecake. I ate a light dinner so I'd be sure to have room for a piece of cheesecake. I ordered pumpkin. Mmm. After dinner we emerged onto the street just as they were doing this street show with people dressed up as drummer boys playing drums along with Christmas music. There was a snowflake light display and "snow" coming down. Very magical and very cold, but we hurried across the street to a new movie theater. It was very posh and elegant, but then, I didn't really have much to compare it to since I'd never been to the theater before!

And guess what we saw? Narnia!! I wasn't about to wait 6 months for that. It was super well done, the casting was great, effects were spectacular, etc. I was a little disappointed with some of the liberties they took with the story line, but basically, they got the important stuff in there. I'm not sure where they got the idea of the little fox (with the voice of Rupert Everet), or why they gave the wolves such a big part. But anyway, it was cool. And the Christian symbolism was very clear, I thought. After Aslan finished off the White Witch, he turned to Peter and said, "It is finished." Wow, we've heard that before. After the movie, we stopped at Starbucks, where we got drinks and "debriefed" in front of a cozy fire. Great fun.

It's so nice being on vacation from teaching! Though I'm finding that time is quickly passing as I find other occupations like shopping, cleaning, and paperwork. Tomorrow is my last day of private teaching before a full two week break. 'Twill be lovely to recharge my batteries and enjoy the beauty of the season. Friday night is my big annual Christmas party. I finished shopping for that today and will have a busy day on Friday cleaning and decorating.

Please Pray

My friend Natalie's 12 day-old baby, Benjamin, is in the hospital ICU right now with pneumonia. This is their first baby. He went in on Wednesday night. I visited today and it was heartbreaking to see so many wires and tubes coming out of him like a computer. He's so tiny and precious. She and Brian learned today that he now has a staph (sp?) infection from all the pokes he's taken. That struck dread in my heart, but I know God can bring healing. Please pray for healing for Benjamin and peace and strength for Natalie and Brian and other family members.

Christmas Rant

So I'm listening to or playing or singing a lot of Christmas music right now. After awhile I start to really notice the words and ask myself a few questions. Like, how many people have actually ridden in a one-horse open sleigh? Who roasts chestnuts by an open fire? Who puts presents ON the tree? Were there only three wise men? Were the angels really singing or only speaking as the Bible says? Do we really hear silver bells on every street corner? Certainly not at Target any more. Losers. Hmm...just some random thoughts. I'm sure I'll have some more.

I've been noticing a whole new attitude toward Christmas this year. Maybe it's been there and I've just started noticing it. Like the whole thing about Happy Holidays vs. Merry Christmas. Or people getting offended at a Christmas tree on school grounds. Or nativity scenes being taboo. Even Santa Claus is frowned on in some places. Christian conservatives got all riled at Pres. Bush because his Christmas card said "Happy Holidays." Laura very logically explained that they send cards to people of many faiths. Good grief, let the guy be president for once. However, nobody's going to stop me from saying Merry Christmas! My school kids sang at a mall on Tuesday evening. We couldn't sing at a Seattle mall because we had Christian songs on the program. Christmas CAROLS, people!! What is the big deal? Who would have thought fifty years ago that Christmas would ever be so attacked? I say the Scrooges and White Witches in our society are way too vocal and powerful these days! So Bah Humbug to them!!

Looking Like Christmas

We did get snow on Thursday--probably about 3 or 4 inches. I cancelled all my lessons and just managed to get to the chiropractor and store before it got too snowy. It was cozy staying inside all day and watching the snow turn our neighborhood into a winter wonderland. It was also good I stayed home because I was coming down with a cold! Aaargh! I took all sorts of potions and I rested and I took a hot bath. Probably kept it from becoming a severe cold, but I still got it, nonetheless. I was pretty concerned about the wedding I was supposed to sing at on Saturday. It wasn't a difficult, high range song, so I decided to go for it anyway. My mom and I made the two hour trek to the wedding. The church was decorated beautifully with Christmas decorations of burgundy and green. I played harp for prelude and a couple processionals. My special song was for the unity candle, so I sat there praying fervently that my voice would come out without a squeek or croak. Praise the Lord, He did enable to sing better than I might have hoped! Those who had heard me before knew something wasn't quite right, but for anyone else, they probably that I had a nice, slightly contempoary, breathy sort of voice! Put the right expression in, and vocal quality isn't as huge an issue. Well, at least for some songs.

BUT, please pray for me, because I have three concerts full of singing next weekend! And these aren't easy songs! I have a number of high A's.

Friday was my mom's birthday. Sometimes her birthday gets lost in the Christmas shuffle, but we managed to do something special in the evening -- we went to a dinner theater to see "It's a Wonderful Life"! It was a fun time, even though I wasn't feeling tops. The theater is kind of a small, family-run, cozy place. We had a dinner of cornish game hen with fixings, then saw a little pre-show of various performers doing Christmas music. One lady, who was supposedly a vocal coach with degree and all, sang a wobbly, weak version of "O Holy Night," which didn't impress anybody. But then one of the waiters got up and sang "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" and he did a great job! We were impressed that before the play started, they turned out the lights and, to the background of Gregorian chant, read the Christmas story. Then came the actual play, which was very well done. They'd based it on the movie. Of course they couldn't do all the scenes that are on the movie, but they still managed to give the gist of the story with few props and scenery. The acting was very good for a small theater, making me wish again that I had the time and opportunity to do some acting. I actually wanted to be an actress when I was little (yes, I'm a third-born!), but I think those dramatic tendencies got channelled into music and teaching. The theater is doing "The Sound of Music" next summer, but they've already chosen Maria. Rats. I guess I could try out for a nun. Wouldn't have to worry about the kissing scene!

Yesterday after church my dad and I went to chop down a Christmas tree. We live in a fertile valley dotted with Christmas tree farms, and this was apparently the weekend that everybody was getting their trees! There was still snow on the ground, adding to the fun and spirit of hunting for the "perfect" tree. I'm very particular about height and size and shape. We did eventually find a large, lovely tree, which my dad proceeded to cut down while I held on and yelled "Timber!!" at the right time. When we got home my mom had hot chile and cornbread waiting for us while Christmas music played in the background. It was all very cozy indeed. I guess I'm a terribly sentimental traditionalist. I cherish traditions like these--getting the tree with my dad and then decorating it with my mom. These are memories I like to store in my little "memory card" to happily review in years to come. So anyway, the tree is up and beautifully decorated and the house looks very festive. Now I just need to finish my Christmas shopping!

And I should get off here and do something productive (like practicing!) before I have to head to school for a dress rehearsal. 'Tis the last week of school before Christmas break and I'm so ready for a break!! I think the stress of school probably contributed to my cold.