Christmas Antics...

Two things strike me as funny this Christmas. Let's look at the pictures...

At some point on Saturday, we noticed this stash of stuffed animals in the crock pot on the kitchen counter.  I'm not sure but I'm guessing this is the product of Miss Bailey's antics.  She loves to carry lots of little things and stow them in interesting places. Do not worry, they were safely removed and placed elsewhere.  It does make for an interesting Christmas picture.

The next picture I took as I was picking up in preparation for this weekends company. I thought all was put back in its place to provide one more weekend of Christmas beauty. Imagine my amusement as I walked past my Christmas tree and noticed this item sticking out of the tree.

Look to the left of the ribbon garland. You will see the hilt and crossguard of a toy sword. I have pulled it out from the tree a little so that it shows up better. It was actually far enough in that it looked like a gold ornament was hanging there.  I honestly can't remember who put the sword there.  I'm guessing the sheath is in the tree and will be found when I actually take the decorations off.

I love my grandmonsters. They provide so much entertainment when they are actually in our home. Then the joy just continues to unfold after they leave and we find the little things they have left for us to discover.

Joseph (a.k.a. Hagrid)...

I know, I know...not a lot of posting lately. I felt much more inclined to enjoy my family than sit in front of this computer screen. We have one more weekend of family visits and then I'll post Christmas pictures. Besides, I want to add Andie's to my collection since it takes at least two of us to cover most of what happens over Christmas.

However, this morning I was picking up a few things and putting them back in their right place after our whirlwind Christmas weekend and before the next round of visitors, and I came across this little item.

My grandmonsters have all enjoyed playing with the Nativity. My kids did also. When they were little I had a set made of heavy blocks of wood. I believe those went with Nissa after she had Katelyn.

As we acquired grandmonsters the need arose for something they could play with and not hurt. I have lots of Nativity sets around the house in varying sizes but nothing they could actually move and play with. A few years ago I found this little treasure. There are five finger puppets and they fit in a little blue velvet envelope. It's the "Pocket Nativity".

Sunday, while Andie and I were diligently trying to complete the Christmas puzzle, Bailey wanted to play with the very nice Nativity set in my dining room. I told her that was just to look at but I had something she could play with.

I took her to the entryway where I keep a little wooden basket with a few Christmas kids toys. Inside was this Pocket Nativity.

We opened it and Bailey was really happy with the finger puppets. She looked at one a bit and then we made note that Joseph (second from left) looks a bit like Hagrid.  Oh My!  What do you think?

Nonetheless, Joseph (a.k.a. Hagrid) was able to keep our little Bailey amused for quite some time.

Little Things...

When I was a child in Primary at Church, we sang a little song with these words:

Little drops of water,

Little grains of sand,

Make the mighty ocean

And the beauteous land.

Little deeds of kindness,

Little words of love,

Make the earth as happy

As the heav'n above.

As I left the nursing home today, this little song from my childhood was drifting through my consciousness and I found myself singing to myself these words.

I came home and checked my hymnbooks with children's songs. I only found it in the green book titled "The Children Sing" and in the orange book titled "Sing With Me".  The oldest hymnbook that contained the hymns adults sang as well as the Primary songs did not have it. And the newer book does not have it.

I believe that music comes into my heart and head often to add an extra bit of feeling, thought and meaning to certain things. That is how it felt today as I sang this old little piece of music. It seems to sum up my weekend perfectly.

Saturday we were blessed to have our daughters, a son-in-law and 4 grandmonsters come for an overnight visit. It was a whirlwind of love and fun. Everyone arrived between 2:30pm and 3pm. Lots of hugs. Luggage was put in rooms. And the play began.

Claude brought a craft project idea from his Thanksgiving visit to Utah. It was a 'little thing' but it brought a lot of joy and fun to the beginning of our evening together.

He collected the supplies and we settled the four grandmonsters at the breakfast table and he directed their efforts to make snowmen out of a partial roll of toilet paper (the body), a styrofoam ball (the head) and a white sock. The kids picked their ribbon out of my stash for the neck and the waist. Nissa and Andie helped hot-glue the eyes on. Sharpies were used to paint faces on the snow men. Pipe cleaners were used for arms.

The grandmonsters then took their busy selves to the basement. They decorated the kids Christmas tree together.

There must always be a 'little' food art when Andie is around. This time she brought the makings for Pretzel Snowmen. Chocolate was melted and the candy to decorate them was set out. Many pretzel snowmen were made. A 'little' extra kindness was shown by making two that were pregnant; one for Katt and one for Odie.

While this was being accomplished, Michael helped me prepare dinner.

Bailey claimed Paul as her personal toy. She had him sit on the loveseat and covered him in pillows to turn him into a present. Then she adorned him with her pirate scarf from the Pirate Party on their Disney Cruise. Paul is very patient with Bailey and they have this wonderful bond. Their happiness together is infectious to say the least. Paul even announced to me this trip that he wants his first child to be a little girl. I think Bailey has captured his heart.

Papa and Tiny also joined us for the afternoon.

We had a wonderful dinner together. Well, we all ate as projects were finished and messes were picked up a bit.

Papa left as it started to get dark outside. We armed him with a 'little' pre-Christmas gift of Dr. McGillicuddy's Reindeer Root Beer and a Pretzel Snowman.

Claude was given two tickets to the University of Kentucky basketball game. He and Michael headed out for an evening of basketball at Rupp Arena.

Hayden set up the Christmas Matching Game and we played a round.

The grandmonsters had time for a movie before bed. We popped popcorn for them and settled them in the basement.

While they watched their movie we put 2 more buttons and button holes on Todd's shirt, wrapped some presents and I finished a present Papa brought me the final pieces to when he came.

The grandmonsters were all tucked in their beds in the basement. The Mini's love having sleepovers now with Aubrey and Paul.

Nissa, Andie and I were able to have a little quiet time. Andie ran a slideshow through the TV of their cruise pictures and we worked on craft projects.

This morning I got up and found Aubrey with Hayden and Bailey snuggling on the loveseat. They were being very quiet so the rest of us could get maximum sleep. That is truly a 'little kindness'.

I had Hayden and Bailey help me get the cinnamon and orange rolls in the oven. Then we scrambled eggs and fried bacon. Showers were had. Bags were brought up and checked. We had all our ducks in a row forwhen David arrived to take Aubrey and Paul for Christmas.

During all this preparation Hayden and Bailey found the 'Elf on a Shelf' on the top of our living room curtains. This little guy appears somewhere different every morning. During the night he hurries back to report to Santa on the behavior of Hayden and Bailey. I wish I had a recording when Hayden showed Bailey where the 'Elf' was. She was beside herself with glee. Hayden was fairly beaming. Just love the magic of Christmas games.

Paul and Aubrey left. Claude headed to Frankfort. Nissa loaded her car and left. Then the Marx family gathered up and headed back to LaGrange. I finished my preparations and headed into Georgetown to Church.

After Church we had choir practice and tithing settlement. I went to the nursing home to sit with my mom. She was tucked in her bed for her afternoon rest. She was mumbling away to that unseen person in the room. I straightend her clothes and then sat by her bed to read my novel to her.

The nurse came in with a liquid supplement for my mother to drink. I assured her I would help my mom drink it. She patted me on the shoulder. Then she took time to do one of those 'little things'. She told me about her memory of mom helping her with the medicines when she was still walking around. Mom didn't actually do anything with the medicines but she would stand there and wipe the cabinet and tell her they had to do things just right. She commented on what a kind and sweet person my mother still is. Then she told me how wonderful it was I sat and read to my mother. She commented how lots of people don't do things like that for their loved ones. She then assured me that, even though Mimi has late stages Alzheimers, she feels sure Mimi knows I'm doing something for her and appreciates it. It was a 'little thing' but it sure made me feel good.

I visited Papa and took some 'little things' he has made for his grandkids for Christmas. I wrapped them for him last night. He doesn't keep Christmas wrapping paper and I have lots. So he left the gifts and I wrapped them. Now he can send off his gifts in the mail Monday. Again, it is a 'little gift' but it is a truly big gift for these grandchildren his loves.

So, I came home singing 'Little Things' as I pondered all the little acts of love and kindness that touched my life over the last couple of days. In the rush of the Christmas season, it just felt good to pause mentally as I drove back to Sadieville and be grateful for all the 'little things' that bless my life.

Musical Saga...

There are two stakes of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Lexington, Kentucky area. A 'stake' is a group of congregations (wards). Every year these two stakes combine their musical abilities for a Christmas Program. Each year the responsibility for this program rotates between the two stakes. The 2011 program was the responsibility of the Lexington North Stake this year. This is the stake in which our ward is located.

Suzi Hjorth is the cultural arts specialist for the Lexington North Stake and it was her lot to organize this year's Christmas Program.

This year's program was titled "Come See the Christ Child". It featured a creche display from 6pm to 7pm. Then the musical concert was from 7pm to 8pm. Refreshments and additional viewing of the creches was from 8pm to 9pm.

One of the beauties of this type of event is the opportunity to perform music that is a bit more difficult. A lot of the people that participate have musical backgrounds of varying levels. It is a good opportunity to use that training.

Another beauty is the music can be outside of worship service music. We did two pieces that fit that catagory. They were "Pat a Pan" and "Run to the Manger".

Suzi started practices with the choir the beginning of November if I remember correctly. They were to be held every Sunday evening at 7pm.

Then the first 'glitch' happened. Suzi fell off a ladder and broke her right arm. She asked Kathy Alexander to help her. Basically Kathy led the choir as they began learning the music. She deferred to Suzi as to how the piece should be sung. And the choir was off and running.

Suzi is full of energy. This is infectious with a choir of talented people wanting to sing. It really kept the mood and feel of the entire experience upbeat. Kathy Alexander is not one whit behind Suzi when it comes to energy and keeping the pace moving and upbeat.

Suzi's hubby was our accompanist. He is also the Bishop of their ward. Even with his hands very full with that calling, he still cheerfully played for the choir every Sunday evening. One of my favorite moments was practicing parts on one of the songs. Bishop Hjorth played the part...then you could tell the melody was familiar as some other piece of music. He played the part again and then let his hands flow to that familiar melody from another piece of music...da dum da dum, da dum da dum...we all noticed what he was doing and after another measure or two we were all laughing. It was the Pink Panther music. Such silliness.

At one point Suzi realized she wanted a piece played on the organ. She left me a voice message and gave the name and composer of the piece. The piece was Candlelight Carol. I rummaged through my music and found a copy and tried it on the piano before returning Suzi's call. Ugh...six, that's right, six flats. I also could tell why it needed to be played on the organ. It was written so the left and right hands played in the same place often. That is easily done with two keyboards. Not so much with just the piano keyboard. I called Suzi back and told her I would try and see if I felt I could learn it.

Now you should refer back to a past blog entry about practicing that song for 3 1/2 hours in one sitting. I was getting the pedals to work with the hands...then fate tipped its hand again.

I was using the organ in our meetinghouse after our choir practice on Sunday's to practice. It was a much more productive practice than playing the piece on my piano at home with the left hand an octave lower that it was written. Plus, I could practice the pedals. Well, after choir practice two weeks ago, I was walking from the piano to the organ to practice, I didn't notice the stepstool in front of the pulpit, I caught my toe on it and couldn't get my balance and I found myself laying on the floor on the stand. I had stretched out my left arm and fallen on it and really messed my left shoulder up. I missed choir practice that night. And, I couldn't practice for a full week after the fall. (There is a previous blog entry about this as well.)

Suzi shared a story of a member in the ward chuckling over her little T-Rex arm.  She could only lift her right arm so that the hand looked like a little T-Rex arm. When Suzi found out I fell she sent me an eMail and asked if I had a T-Rex arm too. I had to admit I did.

Eventually we got through last Sunday's practice. I was able to play at the last practice so it was a go for that piece of music.

Last Sunday night was the Nativity Festival and Concert.

We all arrived at the church at 5pm to warm up before people showed up for the creche display viewing.

One piece we were singing was exceptionally high for the sopranos. Bishop Hjorth realized if he played it on the organ there is facility to change the key to a little lower key. We warmed up with the lower key and the entire choir liked that better.

I played the prelude on the organ. The program began with an opening hymn by the congregation and I also played that on the organ. The organ had a problem back in November with a pedal note playing constantly even when you weren't touching a key or pedal. As long as the pedal stops were on, the one drone sounding note would play. We asked for repairs and they were done quickly. However, when I finished the opening hymn that drone note was there again. Oh My Goodness!!!  I turned off the organ.

Then Bishop Hjorth came and changed the settings on the organ to a lower key for the choir piece "E'en So Lor dJesus Quickly Come".  He found that drone note was still playing. He turned off all the pedal stops and just played the keyboards. The choir sang and it was just fine. We all knew there were no pedals but I don't think the audience knew.

About the middle of the program I hopped back up to the organ for "Joy to the World". This piece is done with piano and organ playing together. I turned on the organ, turned off the pedal stops so the drone sound would go away and prepared to begin. Suzi conducted for Mario Fugal, the pianist, and myself a pace setting beat and then we started to play. Oh No...something was NOT right. My first thought was the problem with the drone sound had taken over the organ. Fortunately Kathy Alexander was clear enough in her thought that she knew immediately the key change was still set to a lower key setting. We quickly corrected that and Suzi gave us our tempo setting measure and we were off with the congregation singing a rousing rendition of "Joy to the World".

The rest of the music went just fine. In the end, I don't think a lot of that was obvious to the audience. We tried to quickly and as quietly as possible handle these little glitches. It was a beautiful program and truly helped set a beautiful holiday spirit.

As nice as it was, it did feel very good to have that piece of Christmas done.

Today I played the piano at the nursing home in place of Papa and me singing. I just carried my hymnbook and some other Christmas music books and played for 1 1/2 hours. It was great fun to play at my pace and what I thought they might know.

The only other program now is the Georgetown Ward Christmas Program on Christmas day.

I do love Christmas music. It has been fun to go back and play some of it. I'm learning my fingers don't move like they used to. A lot of that is not playing regularly. Shame on me!! But it is still fun to do what I can and have it fill me with a little of that good Christmas spirit.

Medieval and Biblical...

I posted on my Blog the other day about a sewing project for Miss Katelyn.

Tonight I'm diligently working on my Sunday School lesson about the Book of Revelation. My cell phone is by my side. It begins to vibrate and the little light at the top starts to blink. This means I have a new eMail message. I just let it blink until I finish my train of thought and note taking. Then I open it.

Sure enough I have a new eMail and this time it is from Nissa. She states she thought I might like to see a picture of Katelyn in her Medieval/Biblical attire. Attached is this picture:

Yeah!! Success!! It fits and the length is okay. Not too bad from 8 hours away.

Good luck with your college class Katelyn. And thank you to Nissa for knowing her mom wanted to see this.