New Year Hullabaloo

Before I pontificate , may I just say, 

Happy New Year! 

The days since my last posting (Thanksgiving) 

have been a bit hair-raising, unpredictable, and difficult for our family, thus is the explanation for my non-postage. (don't you love odd words? not sure that one is uh, accurate in that usage, but it sure is fun to use.) 

If you're not friends with me or my family on Facebook, here's a quick overview...Dad went to Raleigh for a short, quick medical procedure on the Monday after Thanksgiving, and ended up back in Raleigh with a diagnosis of kidney failure on Wednesday morning. It's been a definite roller-coaster ride for all of us since then, but dad finally got to come home on December 14. We took him back to the

ER Christmas Eve night and was released Christmas Day afternoon with diagnosis of MRSA. He is still on dialysis and strong antibiotics, so he is definitely not back 'up to par,' but at least he is home and improving! God is so good. and we are thankful.

The Christmas holidays were interesting, to say the least, considering the previously

explained situation, but it was wonderful getting to spend the Holidays in NC...

where the crisp winter air wafts through the bare trees, cardinals adorn the frost-covered 

clothesline wires, and the early-morning frost decorates the brown, dead grass. 

I love it. It's quite superb, actually. 

Christmas programs (3, actually), school/church parties, Christmas caroling (with students

at the Hospice House, then with church friends to shut-ins), Christmas-cookie-baking,

The K-6 Christmas Program at school- "Not a Creature was Stirring."
It turned out so cute! The kids looked adorable, sang their hearts out,
and did an excellent job! I was so proud of them! 

favorite Christmas tunes on the radio, Christmas movies by the fire, ... the list goes on, 

but I love it all! and so very thankful to get to share these times with my family. 

Fun Gingerbread-baking with 7-8th grade at school.
Whew. This was the 1st time most of them had ever cut out Christmas
cookies. Seriously? How sad is that! the room was a wreck when we
finished and we were all covered in flour, but we all had a blast.
and they tasted great. :)

Our gorgeous live tree (from the NC mtn's) upstairs,
decorated with Waterford Crystal and
ornaments from overseas. It was beautiful! 

Living room upstairs- partially decorated for Christmas.
Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of it completed :(
It was beautiful, though! 

enjoyed nifty Christmas decorations 'downtown'
Thomasville during the Thanksgiving parade with
friends from church.

And, just for a laugh....

A snippet of the hilarious older ladies featured in the Thomasville
Christmas parade. Hysterical!


All around, it was a terrific (but flexible) Christmas, and I thoroughly enjoyed all the bustling,
shopping, gift-wrapping, traffic, programs, decorating, etc. that are involved in making the
Season memorable. And, most of all, I love celebrating and reading about the Birth of Jesus.
Still marveling in the Gift of God's Son!

The hour grows late, and I must needs rise early to provide and education for the children
of Thomasville. :) More posts to come later.

A'dieu, until then...

Happiness is: blundered imp-cakes, chocolate, and singing in the choir

 according to Charlie Brown, "Happiness is singing in the choir." and, since my goal for my students was for them to begin to correlate learning with fun and excitement (I sensed a great lack of this), then if singing in the choir= happiness, PARTY while singing in the choir must= double dose of happiness, right? Well :)


...So, I decided to have a Christmas Kickoff Party for my Jr High/High School kids in choir in Wednesday, our first real day of choir, since Monday was a half-day. 

I found these and just HAD to try them out...aren't they
terrific?

However...*clears throat* pictures online aren't always as easy as they appear...I know this! "How," you might ask? Well, this next picture says it all...

The dreadful imp-cakes...poo!

...Yep, that's correct. Instead of cute little reindeer, I ended up with red-eyed, horned, imps due to a mistake of my own. (bought small pretzels rather than large, the wrong candy, and forgot to use marshmallows for the eyes.) Since this was not what I wanted to communicate during our first choir practice, I improvised and came up with...

...Ta-Da! Smiley cupcakes! :)They weren't the Christmasy affect I was hoping for, but at least they don't look like I stole an orc from Lord of the Rings and made him pose for my cupcake design. :) And, they tasted great.(Which, I suppose, was the prime objective.) 

Here's a glimpse of my choir kiddos...all 17 of them. :) I wasn't quite sure what to expect since there was just an ensemble last year, but I am really excited! We had a blast playing random games! One was where everyone goes around the room humming different Christmas songs/carols, and has to find other people humming the same one. They kept me hopping for the 65 minute class... and by the end, I felt something like this...

But, I figure, if it helped the kids realize:

1) learning and fun can go together

2) choir is not scary- it's singing: and supposed to be fun!

3) learning more about music can be a blast, too...

...then I will have succeeded...even if it took imp-looking

chocolate cupcakes, oreo's, fizzing drinks, candy, games,

Christmas decor and music to do it! 

Our next choir is on Wednesday, so I'm hoping for a great 

rehearsal! 

If you run out of things to pray for,

I could use a few extra :)

Well, here's to a terrific labor day weekend...

and an apology for such a lengthy post. :)

(but, I must admit, I sort of use this for a journal to help me 

remember things, so I'm sort of not as sorry as I sounded:)