Merry Christmas

We had a lovely Christmas.

Santa came!

Peter is ready for duck hunting with Daddy!

American Girl dolls were at the top of the girls' lists. Caroline got the newest historical girl "Caroline" and Helen got a Bitty Baby, which she named "Helen".

Santa remembered to leave a treat for Tigger.

This was one of the only things Helen asked for - a "blow flute" just like her music teacher's at school.

Peter got lots of wheeled things. And balls. Hooray for boy things!

Princess karaoke

Our gift to each other was a new piece of artwork for our family room.

It was unintentionally a merry "Grizz-mas", due to all the gifted Grizzlies items. It just kind of happened. Peter got a mini Grizz from his sisters. Helen wanted to get Daddy a flag (no idea where that came from), so I ran with it and got him a flag pole set up and the official NBA Grizzlies flag. Not pictured is Kevin's new Grizzlies polo shirt Caroline picked out for him. Helen's favorite player is Mike Conley. Kevin found this jersey on sale several weeks before Christmas. She is really proud of it and has hopes of meeting Mike to show it to him. And I love scarves, so of course I love my Grizzlies arena scarf! I'd say we're all fixed up for game days!

Evidence of Christmas good times

It was just the 5 of us here at our house for Christmas eve and Christmas day. Kevin worked through Christmas day, so we celebrated with our families both before and after the actual holiday. Honestly, I kind of like stretching the holiday out for as long as possible. I think the kids do, too. Who doesn't love 4 different celebrations with loved ones?

~~~~~

As for all of the musical happenings, they all went well. I closed out Christmas Eve services with a midnight postlude that, although quiet, was so fitting. This tune appeared again and again in my musical involvements throughout the month. I took that as God giving me a not-so-subtle reminder. I don't know that I did the best job, but I tried throughout the month to reflect on the words of this hymn and remember that my ultimate goal here on earth not only at Christmas but every day is to rejoice in Him!

In dulci jubilo:

Good Christian men, rejoice
With heart and soul and voice;
Give ye heed to what we say:
Jesus Christ is born today!
Earth and heaven before him bow
And he is in the manger now.
Christ is born today! Christ is born today!

And because I'm a good music nerd, I looked up the English translation of the original Latin. I love the line about our hearts' joy lying in the manger.

In sweet rejoicing,
now sing and be glad!
Our hearts' joy
lies in the manger;
And it shines like the sun
in the mother's lap.
You are the alpha and omega!

May He be our hearts' joy not just at Christmastime, but every day! (And I'm counting that as my happy 2013 to all of you!)

Concerts #2, #3, and #4

Concert number 2 was our church's adult choir Lessons and Carols program. If I had to pick a favorite night of the year, this would be it. Every year this program becomes more and more meaningful and emotional to me. I pray the music was just as illuminating to listen to as it was to sing.

I wish I could highlight every piece we sang. I've been doing much thinking about these lyrics the past couple of weeks:

As the dark awaits the dawn, so we await Your light.
O Star of promise, scatter night, loving bright, loving bright, 
Till shades of fear are gone.

As the blue expectant hour before the silv'ring skies,
We long to see Your day arise, whole and wise, whole and wise,
O lucent Morning Star.


As the moon reflects the sun until the night's decrease, 
May we Your healing light release, living peace, living peace, 
Unto Your holy dawn.

Shine Your future on this place, enlighten ev'ry guest,
That through us stream Your holiness, bright and blest, bright and blest;
Come dawn, O Sun of grace.
We await Your light.

So beautiful. It expresses perfectly this "now, but not yet" time of waiting. Someday...

Concert #3 was Caroline's choir program at church. The first grade choir sang 2 pieces and did a fantastic job. I accompany this choir. They are such a good, sweet, big group! I can't wait for the spring concert! I have to say that the most fun part of helping out with children's choir is getting to work with my own and my friends' children!

She looks so grown up! Can she really be old enough for a choir robe?

Concert #4 was a program at Caroline's school. The girls have been studying Mexican Christmas traditions and made a special Las Posadas procession at chapel. They made "lanterns" and got to dress up as a nativity character of their choice. I think out of 60 girls, 50 were angels. Here's ours:

Wings and halo look familiar?

Caroline's first grade class - the Ladybugs

(I'm going to sum up a few concerts/performances. They include gigs as a handbell ringer, accompanist to a high school choir, pianist for a nursing home program, and organist. 'Tis the season to make LOTS of music!)

Choir concert #1

Helen had her preschool choir concert at church last week. It was so sweet. She did a great job, but was a little distracted by all the costumes and excitement. She told me she really wanted to be a "fairy princess ballerina", but I convinced her to be an angel.

She was so excited to finally get to put on the wings and halo.

With her sweet friends Coleman and Caleb

She did do a little bit of singing (in between a whole lot of wiggling)!

Thanksgiving

We had a really quiet Thanksgiving. With the busyness of the Advent and Christmas season right around the corner, I was very thankful for the restful and relaxed atmosphere!

We are incredibly, awesomely, unfathomably blessed!

My menu included cranberry bourbon turkey tenderloin, dressing, mashed potatoes, candied carrots, and brussels sprouts. It was all a hit, except for the brussels sprouts, which no one but me cared for. Oh well. It was worth a try. For dessert, I made pumpkin bread pudding. Yum.

We took the kids down to the Peabody to see the ducks march. It's kind of crazy - you wait and wait and wait and the actual march takes all of 5 seconds. But the kids thought it was the cutest, most exciting thing ever and spent a long time watching the ducks swim in the fountain.

Fail

I'll close with a little Thanksgiving entertainment from turkeys numbers 1 and 2. (It's kind of long - you'll get the idea after the first or second verse.)

Marshmallow World

Lollipop Symphony

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra has a special set of concerts for young listeners, called the Lollipop Series. It was the perfect introduction to the orchestra for Caroline! They gave out crayons and fun programs in the lobby. All of the musicians wore colored shirts that coordinated with the family of their instrument (strings wore red, brass wore blue, woodwinds wore yellow, and percussion wore green). The program included instrumental pieces, singers, ballet dancers, and sing-alongs. The theme of the program was Thanksgiving, so the pieces were about thanks, food, and animals. It was so much fun and Caroline really enjoyed it. Her favorite piece was the "Old MacDonald Sing-Along" and her favorite instruments were the big drums and the trumpets.

Going to the Symphony is one of my most favorite things and I really hope that is something we can continue to enjoy together.

Preschool songs

Caroline's been learning several songs at school. It's so fun when she comes home and just breaks out in a new, cute little ditty. For Halloween, they did a little song about 5 Pumpkins.


And this one is about 5 frogs. You'll probably get the gist of this one after one verse!

Independence Day

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Get your own

About a week before the 4th, I bought tickets to the Cincinnati Pops concert on the river. I purchased lawn tickets and had grand visions of lolling around on a picnic blanket, enjoying the music. No one told me to plan on rain and temperatures in the 60s on the 4th! We decided early in the day to upgrade our tickets to pavillion seats. We were still able to make it a very enjoyable evening. Caroline got a tattoo at the kids' station - very exciting. Caroline really enjoyed the music, but was scared to death of the fireworks (even though she told me as she was headed up for bed, "Mommy, I really liked the fireworks!"). Helen was good and relaxed in the sling for most of the evening. I don't think she fussed once - not even during the fireworks. It turned out to be a fun evening and I'm sure we'll always remember it!

(If you're getting this update as an email, make sure you click on "View All" to see our pictures.)

Happy 3rd birthday, Caroline!

We had a big weekend. Caroline turned 3 on Sunday! We are so very proud of our little girl. Oops - I mean our BIG girl! I could go on and on about how wonderful she is and how much joy and laughter she brings to her Daddy and me... We thank God daily for the wonderful gift that Caroline is to us!

Sunday we celebrated here at home. We took her to the zoo that afternoon. The weather has been so lovely. (It snowed on her birthday last year!) We played outside for a bit. We opened presents from family.

Today I had a party here at the house for some of her friends. We invited our music teacher, Mr. Joe, to come and do her party. It was great. The kids loved it and I think the moms did, too. And the house is still standing after all the jumping and dancing and running! I've got some videos that I'll get around to later.

It was a very, very good birthday!

Itsy bitsy

Are you sick of the singing yet? I might find an agent and see if we can cut an album.

More singing

I never tire of hearing her sing. Good thing she does it a lot these days!

Her two favorite songs

Weekend videos

Yes, it snowed here in Memphis - and quite a bit! We had about 4 inches by late Friday evening. That's a ton of snow for us. It's all gone now... Caroline thought it was pretty neat - as long as she didn't have to touch it or taste it. She got cold and cranky not too long after this video, so we didn't really play in it all that much.


And this is my new favorite video. When we got home from dinner Saturday night, Caroline started singing to herself and I caught part of it. It's really the first time she's sung by herself - with notes and words!

Jingle bells

If this doesn't put you in a holiday mood, I don't know what will! (Sorry for the dim light...)

And some bonus footage for you...

A lesson

OK - so maybe Caroline has inherited more from us than our love of books. I think she's also very talented musically! Check out her posture. I'm impressed. I know my posture isn't that good!