Merry Christmas! Being the second day of Christmas, I hope you are enjoying your two turtle doves and a new partridge in a pear tree :) I guess partridges have a short life, I'm not sure what anyone would do with 12 partridges....at least they'd all have their own home. Ok, this is so not the point of my blog, I got distracted. :) I've been sitting at my parent's kitchen table since we came home from mass/ grocery store this morning. I ate lunch with mom and we listened to some great music together. Then I decided to get some work done ( I KNOW, DON'T BE SHOCKED). But last semester the college Algebra class required some extra work on my part, so I'm getting a head start on the Dual Credit Trigonometry class for next semester. I even bought a new spiral notebook. :) Then I got distracted by my mom and my sleepiness. I posted on my facebook a few days ago that I was looking to start acting at the local little theatre. I however am rethinking this. A few weeks ago, I noticed that Amarillo College is offering a "Traditional Archery II" class on Tuesday nights. It's taught by the same person that taught me back in the day at Camp K, and it's an advanced class for people "looking to further their skills with the traditional bow and arrow." Its dates are January through March. So I think I'm going to use a portion of my Christmas money, which includes extra money for house-sitting and baby-sitting, to take this class on Tuesday nights. I've wanted to take it FOR A LONG TIME. Plus, the play that I was looking to audition for only has like 3 male parts and 3 female parts, and while I think I'm fantastic :), there's a lot of other really great people out there. Of course, this also means I may have to wait until next season to audition cause the other play this season is a musical. While I enjoy music, I generally enjoy music in my car or house when no one is watching. I don't think anyone wants to hear me sing or watch me dance on stage, hahaha. Which is okay again, cause I have quite a few things to do with school this spring semester; PSIA is happening SUPER FAST after the break, which if you're in Amarillo or the surrounding area and would like to judge at our campus competition, it's Saturday Jan. 22nd, and I do not feel ready for it at all. Plus, my new year's resolution is to go to Confession/Reconcilliation at least twice a month, I'm going to aim for every week, but I'm a busy person :/ Oh, and don't worry, I will be continuing my blog :) I know you're ALL SUPER PSYCHED ABOUT THAT :) I'm going to end the blog asking about your Christmas, it can't always be about me. Share your stories in the comments section so we can all get to know each other a little better :) How is your holiday season? What is your favorite part of the holiday season? Did you get what you wanted for Christmas? What are your plans for New Years? The last question is a selfish one, I don't have plans yet ;)
Merry Christmas!
Can you guess what languages these are without using google?
I'll post the answer in the comment section sometime this week. :)
Warning! IF YOU ARE UNDER THE AGE OF LIKE 13, YOU MAY NOT WANT TO READ IT. IN FACT, I DON'T WANT YOU TO READ IT. SO STOP NOW AND GO WRITE A LETTER TO SANTA...
As promised here is my Christmas blog, I honestly wasn't expecting it to come so soon either, but I was inspired. Any of you writers out there can testify that when the inspiration comes, you must let it flow. So let me just give you some background info, in case you don't actually know me, or don't know me as well as you should. I LOVE CHRISTMAS MUSIC. When I was a kid, I remember listening to a Christmas tape of my mom's in like August! I still listen to the same music I did when I was 7 and I know every single word. I love our family's CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS! First the Nativity Scene: we usually set it up near the Christmas tree, with the Baby Jesus hiding of course until after Christmas Eve Mass. The wise men are also separated from the rest of the scene and they get moved closer each day until the Epiphany. We always going to mass on Christmas Eve, whether the Children's liturgy or the Midnight Mass, my personal favorite is the Midnight service. Usually either before or after mass, we open our "Christmas Eve Gift," which coincidentally is also how your greet people on Christmas eve. Nine times out of ten the Christmas Eve Gift is cutesy matching pajamas. For the past 18 years or so, I, along with my brother, will watch "Muppet's Christmas Carol" on Christmas Eve. For as long as I can remember, I have never been able to sleep on Christmas Eve. I have ALWAYS BEEN the first one up on Christmas day. In fact, Harry Connick, Jr. sings a song "I'm Gonna Be The First One" that he wrote just for me. :) FYI: WE from now includes Cassi and I as children and Bobby and I for the last 13 years. :) So WE get up and go through our stockings that we strategically placed the night before so that Santa could fill them up with all kinds of goodies. I would like to say this is my favorite, but the WHOLE HOLIDAY is my favorite! So "WE" go through our stocking bit by bit, usually with one or two big-ish presents sitting outside of our stocking. WE of course are super quiet during this time, cause mom and dad are still asleep, seeing as how it's like 5 am. Around 6:30- 7, we finally get brave enough (hungry enough/excited enough, take your pick) to go wake up mom and dad, usually showing them one of the gifts that Santa got for us. Next all of us, go through our stockings, children dumping it all out now that we don't have to be quiet. Then, the parade or something gets turned on the TV, WE play with something new that we just got, while mom and dad start to cook us pancakes (occasionally waffles) for breakfast. After breakfast, we pass out all of the presents to the members of the immediate family. Once all presents are passed out, the opening bananza begins. You can usually tell when you're opening something good cause mom will stop and watch and have her camera ready to take a picture, this is true even to this day. Then the rest of the family comes out, which is normally Bernetta, perhaps Genece, nowadays Cassi, Josh and the kids. And the present process happens again. I'm sure very similar things happen, or happened at your house, but I'm not sure if I would be ok with something just similar. haha. Which brings me to my point... (I know that was a lot of background info, but I think this next part is going to good so stay with me)
So, I was about Bobby's age when Bobby came around and I'm fairly certain if he hadn't come around, I would have had this brainblock then, but as I said getting up early and seeing the Santa gifts is one of my favorite things to do at Christmas, in fact there were a couple of years where I was more excited than bobby, so I took a Tylenol PM before bed so I could actually SLEEP on Christmas morning. So Bobby has overtaken my joy for Santa and christmas and until this year, at least as far as we know, still believed in Santa. Most people may mock him for such a thing, I however applaud him. I also think it comes from having me as a big sister and from watching "The Santa Clause" too many times as a kid. So this year he found out, which means no more Santa. I shamefully admit that I was saddened by the discovery of this fact. I started wondering what I had to look forward to on Christmas Day. Coupled with the fact that I don't really make a lot of money and wasn't really sure that my gifts wouldn't just be a dissappointment, I just completely lost the Christmas Spirit. I stopped listening to Christmas Music, I didn't go shopping at all, I just wasn't interested. It was my students, actually I think that changed my mood. Our school newspaper had an editorial about Christmas by one of the students. She said something close to the following: Christmas isn't about buying gifts or getting up at 4 am. Christmas is about showing love, we buy gifts to see our loved ones reaction knowing that we put effort into it. God showed us his love by giving us his son, so we show love to one another with our gifts.
I think this is where it gets tricky, cause our love is not measured by the amount of money we spend on each other. Rather, our love is shown by the time we spend with our loved ones.
One day, I hope to carry on the traditions with my own family, of course combining with those of my husband's. I'm also plan to challenge myself, as I challenge you, the reader, now, to add other acts of love to your Christmas traditions: serving those less fortunate, helping salvation army, the Angel Tree, or be creative and find some other act of love or kindness. So that when the "magic" of Christmas fades away, the meaning is there as a reminder of the "Reason for the Season."
Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! Here is My Christmas Gift to you all :)
Monday, December 13, 2010
Hello family and friends and random blog readers. I'm not sure how many people actually just read this that I don't shove it down their throats...lol. Anywho...I'm still on Michael Buble euphoria and so I'm going to start this blog with a list. Here are the concerts I have attended in somewhat of an order...we'll see how well my memory is:
New Kids on the Block- Lubbock, TX
Tim McGraw, Black Hawk Down, Little Texas
Wade Hayes (and some other people)
The Beach Boys
Clay Walker
there was another random high school concert...
K-Ci & Jo-jo
Breaking Benjamin & Three Doors Down
Blake Shelton
Montgomery Gentry, Kenny Chesney
Willie Nelson & Pat Green
Big & Rich
WT's 2007 Homecoming concert (I don't remember who it was)
Blue Man Group
Nickelback, Puddle of Mudd and Finger Eleven
Miranda Lambert
Toadies
Jack Ingram
Honeybrowne
Justin Cooper (i think that's right....)
New Kids on the Block- Reunion Tour in Dallas
Michael Buble- Oklahoma City, OK
I feel like that's it, but I also feel like I'm missing someone...
So Michael Buble was on my bucket list and so now to complete my concert bucket list I just need to see Jason Mraz and Harry Connick Jr. Oh, and a show on Vegas! Well that's my blog for now. I have more to blog but I am getting sleepy right now so. I'll have to blog again after the vacation has started, which is just 20 school hours away :) be jealous...very jealous :)
