Don't forget

- This morning when the girls processed with the other children at church singing, "Silent Night" while holding candles (well, ok, they were battery operated tea lights dropped into plastic cups. But they looked pretty good in dim light!)

- Evelyn unwrapping all the tea lights and putting them in the cups the night before

- Evelyn and Amelia finding the tea lights at the dollar store (since their mom waited until the day before the performance to shop for the candles)

- Amelia and Evelyn helping to cut out pictures for the ornaments we made, then Evelyn helping to put them together (hot glue guns have quite an attraction) and Amelia then labeling them all.

- That both girls love to read (Magic Tree House books have been one of Amelia's favorites, along with the Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Dork Diaries series. Evelyn likes those, too, but says her favorite book of all time so far is "The Girl Who Could Fly." And of course we're finishing Harry Potter right now.)

- That Amelia lists the only food she likes as pizza and ice cream. (What?!? No Red Lentil Indian Curry??!?)

- That Evelyn is a tomboy and hates dresses and skirts, but wore a skort today with a good attitude since it was the Christmas presentation at church and I said wearing shorts over leggings was just not quite performance attire.

- Evelyn's sweet voice singing when she accompanied me to the rehab center to carol for my friend Melissa. How lovely of six of my church friends to join us. What a special memory that is.

- Amelia snuggling on my lap during the sermon today after all the performances were finished. Have to enjoy those moments while they can still happen. Sigh.

Consequences

I'm not sure how I feel about admitting this, but Alan and I started watching The Walking Dead on Netflix and we have been watching too many episodes at a time.

Last night I dreamed the zombies were pouring into the room I was in and I was attacking them with--get this--a serving spoon. Good thing the alarm went off just as I was thinking, "I should have grabbed a fork."

Insomnia

At least I can be somewhat productive on these nights when I can't fall asleep. I wrote out my to-do list for tomorrow and crafted 21 homemade ornaments. And lookie-here: a couple of blog posts.

In the not-so-productive category goes the watching of youtube interviews with the cast members of The Walking Dead.

First Time for Everything

Tonight Amelia came downstairs saying she couldn't sleep. Why should Evelyn ALWAYS be the one getting up over and over after bedtime? :)

And of course, when I took Amelia back upstairs, Evelyn woke up. She's been a light sleeper since the day she was born. Amelia has slept through thunderstorms and tornadoes.

And while it is not a first, this is in the "unusual" category--Evelyn did NOT come downstairs saying she couldn't sleep. :)

Heard Recently

This past Sunday was the lovely, joyful, beautiful annual Christmas concert at my parents' church. I've had the honor of joining their choir to sing in it for the past few years, and have gradually been adding my singing friends to the choir as well, so it is like this wonderful shot of so many things I love all at once--music, singing, friendship, Christmas--and it starts off the Christmas season for me.

After the concert the church hosts a dinner, and typically the tables of desserts are as long as the dinner buffet tables. Alan and I were enjoying visiting with some friends, when our girls and their cousins ran past. Amelia stopped and said, "Mom, do I HAVE to have any dessert?"

I had this sudden vision of putting on a stern face, pointing my finger at her and saying, "Young lady, you MUST eat your dessert!"

Who's child is this, anyway? :)

2014: The Year of Harry Potter

I confess, for a long time I felt that Harry Potter couldn't possibly impact me like other series had--The Chronicles of Narnia, The Little House Books, Lord of the Rings. 

But I was wrong. I'm reading these books for the first time as I read them aloud to the girls. We started them last year, right before New Year's Eve 2013 on our road trip down & back to Florida. We've been watching each movie as we finish each book. We're in the last book now.

I am going to re-read them all again when we finish...which will be very soon, sadly.

This is our Halloween picture from this year. I think I've posted it already. Since then, Aunt Becky has given the girls their Christmas presents early--"real" versions of Harry's and Hermione's wands, which would authenticate this photo even more. (So would a scar--would you believe both Amelia and I forgot to put a scar on her forehead??)

Here are some of my favorite things about the Harry Potter series:

- Harry and his friends seem real. They have real quirks, real faults, and real strengths. They fight and they make up. They work at love. They struggle, they fail, they experience victory. They grow into teenagers who have attitudes but also feelings and that unique maturity of unadulterated youth.

- Harry's unique power against the dark lord has nothing to do with himself, but with the fact that his parents--his mother in particular--sacrificed their own lives to save his.

- Most of the characters have a very real depth. For protagonists, their faults eventually show themselves and there are always consequences. For antagonists, there is always something that makes the reader empathize, understand, and gain insight into what makes them who they are. 

And...some of my favorite quotes:

It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. (Albus Dumbledore, Sorcerer's Stone)

It is our choices...that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities. (Albus Dumbledore, Chamber of Secrets)

Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light. (Dumbledore, Prisoner of Azkaban)

If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals. (Sirius Black, Goblet of Fire)

Indeed, your failure to understand that there are things much worse than death has always been your greatest weakness. (Dumbledore to Voldemort, Order of the Phoenix)

Age is foolish and forgetful when it underestimates youth. (Dumbledore, Half-Blood Prince)

2014: The Year of the Wedding

Cousin Savannah married Mel in May--the girls were flower girls, which made a GREAT memory for them. So lovely of Savannah to include them, knowing they'd never been flower girls before. They got married in a lovely little town in Connecticut, just north of NYC, and did everything themselves--set up the church's banquet room (below) for the reception (staying up all night the night before the wedding!), did all the decorations, and even made their own hard lemonade for each guest (which came with a warning label.) Dad beautifully officiated the wedding, and Mom and Alan ended up providing music--what a bonus that we have such a talented family. Savannah's friends (opera students like herself!) provided music, too--glorious voices!

Then, in July, cousin Jennie Bisset married Jed in another little town in Connecticut. As you can see, Evelyn enjoyed using her fan in the 200+ year old church that had no A.C. We stayed overnight in a hotel and enjoyed walking around the pretty little town. We also had GREAT cups of coffee with Uncle Steve and Aunt Joan the next morning in a coffee shop they discovered.

In August, our friends Paul and Carol saw their oldest daughter, Emily, married to John Patrick. They very graciously asked Alan and me to do some music for the wedding--a big compliment since so many of Emily's family members play in professional orchestras. Actually, I sang at Paul and Carol's wedding, 25 years ago! I think brides who use the same singer their PARENTS used should get special prizes.

The wedding was at a monastery near the University of MD, where John Patrick and Emily met. It was SO beautiful!

It is a strange feeling when you are attending a wedding because you are friends of the bride's PARENTS....