I hope this Christmas holiday finds you with a smile on your lips, hope in your step and love in your heart.
photograph by Jennifer Bong
My house was full of Italians last night. I would normally not specify, but if you have ever been around Italians, you know there is nothing they are more proud of…than being Italian. And good grief, I don’t blame them. I wish I was too.
The Sanchelli family (my good friend, Sara Renner’s family) came to our place last night for their Grandpa Joe’s CD release concert. He plays the harmonica beautifully and is just about the cutest little man you have ever seen. He’s 89.
If you know me, you know I have a thing for little old men. Always have, always will. It started with my adorable 5′ 2″ Paka…
So Grandpa Joe with his thick eyebrows, earnest eyes and surprisingly large hands, held that harmonica as if it were his oldest friend and played so sweetly. Our entire living room was filled with people who love him~ his large, happy family and a couple of us lucky ones who were adopted for the night. He has five daughters and many grandchildren…one great-grandbaby was even in attendance. Watching them watch him filled me with emotion. It was precious.
I was introduced to some new authentic Italian dishes that I LOVED. Hot Dago was one of them~ delicious! And I don’t even care for bell peppers, but there was this pepper and onion dish that you put on top of bread that was SO good. It was all such a treat.
And Nellie…she’s Grandpa Joe’s sister. I heard about her before she came~ that she wouldn’t let me clean a dish and that my kitchen would be cleaner than it was before she got there. Yesterday morning, I remembered this had been said and instead of that putting my mind at ease, I realized I needed to clean the oven and that the high shelves all needed dusting…and the woodwork…well, you know where I’m going with that.
It was good and all needed to be done, so no harm there.
But then I met Nellie. She’s adorable. I told her she was so cute and she scowled just a little bit and said, “Well, that’s because I’m SHORT.” We were looking eye to eye, so I told her to just go with it. She liked that and said she would just go with it and we were fast friends. She’s going on 88 and doesn’t have any wrinkles. When I brought it to her attention (I know! That’s not something you should ever do, but you’d just have to know her!), she said, “Well, that’s because I’m FAT!” She said she’d decided around 78 to just go with that too…
Anyway…the whole evening was delightful. I felt full of love and gratitude to have such wonderful and interesting characters come my way.
Good morning. Ugh, it was so hard to get out of my warm bed this morning. We got more snow yesterday. It was still dark when I crawled out of bed. The trees are beautifully flocked. Welcome, Winter! I always have to snort at that on the 21st of December since we have already been having full-on WINTER for over a month. Just a little Minnesota irony…
Speaking of snow, please be careful out there. It’s rough going with the icy roads…
I’m thrilled to have my computer back~ she was in the shop all weekend and I missed her! She came back from her little hospital stay feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. Everyone needs a little healing and refreshing every now and again. She’s feeling saucier than ever, I can tell.
It was a wonderful, spectacular and exhausting weekend. How is that for a sentence? I have to tell the bad first~ the kids (and their parents, actually) have had the crud for weeks, but it picked up full steam over the weekend…especially for Greyley. We tried to rest when we could, but on Sunday we had to hit it hard. The Sunday School Christmas program was Sunday morning and the kids were all so cute.
I kept my kids hydrated with mint tea over the entire weekend. Can I just take a moment to expound on the wonders of mint tea? Oh ye nectar of the gods! There are healing properties in that mint tea, oh yes, indeed.
Sunday night was the ABCYC Christmas concert, which is always my favorite choir event of the entire year. The place was absolutely FULL~ thank you for coming, everyone!~ and the choir gave it their absolute best. They did an AMAZING job.
And since this blog is the place that I tell the behind-the-scenes, not always so pretty stories…just to tell you how it really is…I will tell you that my child was coughing so hard on the way that we had to pull over while she threw up. She was bawling~ I don’t know what made her cry harder…that she felt so sick or that she was afraid of ruining her beautiful new clothes. I told her I was going to turn around and take her home, even though it takes 25 minutes to get to church and we were just 3 minutes from church. That made her cry harder. She was determined to do the concert.
So…I got her in the back door, washed/cleaned her up, dried her tears, told her how beautiful she was, told her to just smile, she got up there with the choir, put her best face forward, sang her solo beautifully and I realized…she is a woman.
Because isn’t that what we are so good at doing? In the worst of times, women know how to pull up their bootstraps and do what needs to be done.
Amen.
I am so grateful that she was able to be there because midway through the concert, we looked down on the front row and there sat Greyley’s fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Hallum! She brought her daughters and a friend and loved every second of it. It meant so much to us that she came and it just felt like a gift that God hand delivered to Greyley.
Just so you know…I kept her home from school yesterday. She slept until 10 and felt a thousand times better by last night. Everyone needs a little healing and refreshing every now and again…
Speaking of bootstraps, I’m needing to pull mine up and get this Christmas week ON! I might need to take a few lessons from my daughter right at the moment. ๐
OK, folks, I am in a pickle.
I do not have my Christmas shopping anywhere NEAR done.
I have tons of good reasons why that is the case, but the fact of the matter is…that doesn’t mean diddly when Christmas is 9 days away. It’s not like I can go shop for the next 9 days. There are, ahem, other things to be done.
These are the times I wish I enjoyed shopping.
I will do almost anything to avoid a day in the mall with harried customers…I have never wanted to clean out my closet more than I do right now.
So…got any good gift ideas for my honey, my 12 1/2 year old daughter and my almost 6 year old son? Actually, feel free to leave gift ideas on here for any family member! ๐
Tomorrow…yes, tomorrow, I believe I will go for it.
The ABC Youth Choir Christmas CD is finished! You can click here and listen to the entire CD: http://abcyouthchoir.bandcamp.com/
It’s available to purchase onlineย for $12 or a physical, actual CD in HAND is $15. They will be available for the first time at our choir concert on Sunday night at ABC 1545 Dieter St., Saint Paul, MN 55106. Concert starts at 7 PM. It is always a really fun night.
And because you’ve heard me talk about some of these people for so long, now you can put a voice with the person…
Soloists, in no particular order:
Sara Renner~Gloria
Christopher Lawrence~Give Love
Ashleigh Still and Deborah McKee~You are Mercy
Norm Blagman~ He is the Mighty God
Tonia Hughes~Jesus Lives
Kevin Herrin~ Reason to Celebrate
Greyley Sabin~ What a Blessed Child
Moi~ Mary’s Song
If you can only listen to one, I suggest listening to Give Love…or You are Mercy…or What a Blessed Child…
Oh goodness, I like them all.
Excited to see a lot of you on Sunday night. I have some Christmas hugs to pass out.
I’ve decided I’d like to give eggnog another try, you know…as an adult.
It’s always sort of grossed me out. The thickness, the sweetness, the way people who drink it have that layer of white on their tongues…
You know what, maybe I’m not ready yet.
But if I WAS ready…does anyone have a wonderful eggnog recipe to share? I know of one friend who is in the process of getting a fabulous recipe. How about we compare? Or is there some store-bought brand that you just HAVE TO HAVE every Christmas?
Enquiring minds want to know.
Another cooking question…
7-Minute Frosting, Which Should Really Be Called 10-Minute Frosting is SO delicious…the first day. Is there a technique to keep it from getting granule-y the second day?
Does anyone besides my dad like fruitcake?
These are the questions that plague my mind this morning.
That and…have you ever tried one of those tongue scrapers? Those should really be sold alongside eggnog.
Weekends have just been all kinds of adventure over here in Minnesota Land. Once we got over our frustration that the Snow Storm of 2010 hadn’t happened on, say, a MONDAY or something…we embraced it.
And after we got over the sadness that we were not going to make the party we were supposed to go to all Saturday afternoon…complete with games and great food…well, we might not have gotten over that one quite yet.
But there will be other parties and other weekends, right?
One thing I learned over the weekend: 7 Minute Frosting should really be called 10 Minute Frosting. Just so you know…
Everyone needs a little dessert now and then…
Anyhoo, back to the snow…did it ever show up! I know you’re sick of hearing about snow since I am sick of talking about it…but you just can’t imagine how it TAKES OVER.
This is our back deck. We had a nice layer of snow already, but most of this all happened on Saturday.
Another thing I learned over the weekend: When the guys on the radio say to stay in, you should listen. I actually did listen. Unfortunately, Nate did not have that option and so he braved the blizzard. He saw about 60 cars, semi trucks, even tow trucks stuck in ditches and on the side of the road. People were walking down the middle of the highway.
Craziness.
Yet another thing I learned…well, this one I already knew, but it was never more clear to me than this weekend: If we could all just AGREE to be snowed in, a lot less trouble, accidents and general confusion would take place. If it snows over 8 inches, TAKE A STINKIN’ DAY OFF!!! If it snows 20 inches, take THE FLIPPIN’ WEEKEND OFF! Please? OK, thank you.
My front porch mid-afternoon…
And that back deck in the evening…
All in all, it was lovely to be snowed in. As far as times I’ve wished to be snowed in, this wouldn’t be my first choice. Christmas shopping comes to mind, among other things…but it was delightful to have my family all warm and bundled up (once Nate got home!) and plenty of good food to eat. I’m SO grateful the electricity stayed on. That would have been a whole different story! Oh my, would that ever have been awful.
I’m thankful my friends and loved ones stayed safe…
The big casualty was our Metrodome~ it literally caved in. Grateful it wasn’t during a game…
Lots to be thankful for on this Monday morning. XO
Oh…and yes, there WAS school this morning…of course.
I have a new addiction.
Everybody say, “Oh no.”
Oh no.
I have a very addictive personality and I don’t mean that in a good way.
The kids LOVE Wii games and Webkinz and all that. There’s a game Nate plays with them on the computer called Plants vs. Zombies. It’s hilarious and gross. You should check it out. I never pay too close attention to the games and when they all try to get me to play, I usually say, “Oh no, you go ahead….”
Or some other very kind and virtuous thing.
Because that’s me…I’m so good and virtuous.
Ahem.
The truth is~ I don’t want to get hooked.
Whew. It feels kinda good to get that out.
There was the Ms. Pacman phase back when I was in middle school. When I got home from school and was done with homework, I’d play and play and play and play. I dreamed of blue ghosts and swallowing dots.
Then it was Tetris. I got a Gameboy for Christmas and became obsessed with Tetris. Even when I wasn’t playing, I was arranging shapes in my head.
And then there was a LONG stretch where I didn’t allow myself to succumb. For a brief period, I thought I was going to be addicted to a game on Webkinz, but one day while I was trying to take the game away from the kids so I could play, I snapped out of it and saw my downward spiral.
Fast forward to this past weekend…
Nate and the kids are playing Plants vs. Zombies and I’m checking Facebook, when all of a sudden, I get the urge to check out Bejeweled Blitz.
Everybody say, “Oh no.”
Oh no…
The bug caught me hard and fast. Why, the game only lasts a minute, so what could be the harm in just playing a time or two?
Or ten thousand?
Or fifty million, two hundred forty-seven thousand, five hundred and sixty-two?
I could not tear myself away. Just one more time…just one more little minute…just one more chance to arrange groups of three and more matching circles…
Just talking about it makes me want to go play it right now…
I will not indulge.
I will not even start.
Well…maybe just one game…or maybe a quick 10…
If only I could share with you ALL the stories that happen on a daily basis…they would be way more entertaining than the ones I end up putting on here.
I have a dear friend who said we should tell each other’s hilarious/awful stories so we could get them out, but so we wouldn’t get in trouble for telling our own…I like that idea. Except we have some mutual friends and sometimes telling “our” stories involves others. See? It’s complicated. I still might have to pull some of her stories out sometime just to quench my good ones down a little bit. ๐ We know too many people and have too many secrets to tell. But those are the best stories, right?
Same with the pictures that are never taken…like me shoveling a foot of snow in my Sunday church dress (short and on the sheer side)…at least I did take off my 4-inch black suede boots first…and put on my splendid, clonky snow boots. These are the pictures that should be put on this blog, not the cute, smiling, proper ones. The rest are the real life, every day, nitty-gritty…
Me taking my child to school in my robe…on a good day. Lord, please don’t let me ever get stopped by a policeman on the way to school…
The new hairdo in the morning provides countless minutes of entertainment…
The scrapes I get myself in all day, every day…
My methods of cleaning and cooking that are never the “easy” way…
The multiple fallings, trippings, and running into things…that would be an endless blooper reel…
And putting myself aside, mostly it’s the countless stories I hear from and about various people~ all ages, men, women, boys and girls…good and bad, sad and funny, horrific and lovely…
All I wish I didn’t know…see above. And some that I love knowing, but cannot share…
Sometimes, not all of the time, but sometimes…I have to be quiet because I have too many of the unmentionable stories going on. Sometimes, my mind is just too full of those and I can’t get the others out. Thank you for your grace and for pardoning me until I get my mind clear enough to tell the easy listening ones. XO
It was a holly, jolly weekend and then some.
Did some sangin’…some playin’…some visitin’…some eatin’…
Some laughin’ and a’gigglin’…
Some shovelin’…some kissin’…some shoppin’…some sleepin’…
Some mad dash rushin’…
Some snugglin’…some groundin’…some strugglin’…some hagglin’…
Some prayin’…some livin’…some mopin’…
Some dreamin’…some strivin’…some Godiva’in’…
Some wishin’…some hopin’…
Some splotchin’…(see above)
Some smilin’… (also see above)
Some cuttin’…(off Nate’s head, above)
Some maneuverin’…some plannin’…
Some withholdin’…some forgivin’…
Some mendin’…some restorin’…
Some jivin’…some hip hoppin’…
Some dancin’ my socks right offin’…(see dreamin’)
Some cryin’…some stoppin’…
Some cleanin’…some moppin’…
Some droppin’…
Some flossin’…(everyone should, you know)
Some cookin’…
Some huggin’…some lovin’…
Some shiverin’…some bundlin’…
Some workin’…some lazin’…
Some crashin’…some grazin’…
Some daydreamin’…
Some somethin’…