I've Gone Over To The Dark Side...

I finally gave in and bought an e-reader.  Since it does more than just allow me to read e-books, I figured it was worth getting.  There are a few books I would like to own, but would not necessarily like to pay $25 + for the hardcover edition, or find space in the house to store said hardcover.  So, the Nook Color was Matt's big gift to me this Christmas, and I also got one for him.  (Technically, we bought them together, and today, so they were an afterthought as far as Christmas goes.)


The Nook is simple enough to use, but the touch screen keyboard drives me nuts.  I am a touch typist, and having to tap one letter at a time is MUCH too slow and painstaking a process for me to endure it for more than about five minutes.  I can post short updates to face book from the Nook, I can also download free e-books from the library, either the public domain ones I can keep, or the newer ones that I can borrow.  They check themselves back in, evidently. 
Of course, I get this new contraption, and right away I've loaded it full of Nac Mac Feegles.
Crivens!
What have I done?!  Why, I've purchased and downloaded all the Tiffany Aching stories, that's what I've done!  Books I read the first time from the library, and would like to own, but don't have room to keep.  Now I can own them, and even better, I can find them when I want to read them, and I can even search for certain passages electronically! 
(Hm, for some reason the grammar checker on this program doesn't like the previous paragraph much.  The Feegles must have frightened it!)
(There.  I broke it up.  It likes that much better!)

I shall add some photos of the Nook, and of the quiche I made this evening, and the other Christmas gifts I opened yesterday.  They consist mostly of fitness related games for the Wii.  This is a (probably) vain attempt to get my ever more flabby old body back into some semblance of shape.  If I play the fitness games regularly, and do my time on the treadmill, I may just manage to reign in the mddle aged weight gain.  (I hope!)
All in all this has been a good holiday season for me so far.  (I think Matt has found it enjoyable also.)  It has certainly involved a LOT of consecutive church services!  We more than made up this year for not being together as a congregation last Christmas!  We were at church Friday night, Saturday morning, and again this morning!  I love my church family at St. Paul's, and it was a special joy to be able to spend our Christmas with them again this year.  Every Christmas since 1995, except last year when the snowstorm prevented it.  We also got to spend time with Mike and Nancy Rogers, good friends also of long standing, and always a welcome sight.  I suspect the gift cards they gave us are going to be consumed by the wee electronic book devices. 

That is about all my still somewhat sleep deprived brain can come up with this time out.  As you can see, I was busier this season than I thought I would be, so I didn't make it with the daily gratitude posts.  But I am grateful for the people who make it worthwhile to celebrate.  For friends and coworkers and family.  All of you are treasures, and I try to keep you close in my heart.

Advent Day 14: Today I am Thankful for Books

As you can see, books are pretty important around here.  I have four that I am reading right now.  The items in the bookshelves actually belong to us.  There are LOTS more books in Matt's office.  Books provide inspiration, entertainment, escape, knowledge, guidance, and just plain fun.  All of the books I am currently reading are checked out of the library where I work.  I deal with books several hours a day.  Still, I love books.  I may eventually obtain an e-reader, simply because I fear that actual books may no longer be printed.  I LOVE the feel of books, the heft of them, the fact that they do not require batteries, the fact that my cookbooks (which collection I did not photograph), can be splashed on with little damage done, provided I clean them off promptly.  (I don't think an electronic device would fare so well.)  Besides, curling up with an electronic device is just not the same as curling up with a book I've had for years and enjoy re-reading. 
Sometimes, I find things stuck in my books that I don't remember putting in them.  They are not always bookmarks, but sometimes just something I got out of the mail the day I happened to be reading that book. 
There are sometimes things left in library books.  The most unusual one I ever came across was a car payment, all stamped and ready to mail.  We called the customer and asked if they wanted us to go ahead and mail it, and they did, so we dropped it in with our outgoing mail.  I try to not leave things in the library's books. 
I cannot believe how fast Advent is going this year, and I don't know how I'm going to get all my library books read in time.  There are still cookies to be made, packages to be mailed, and gifts to be wrapped.  Most of all, there is still the need to stop and reflect on the meaning of the season, and the things that are in my life that mean the most. 

Advent Day 13 - Today I am Grateful for Our Little Traditions

We have a few little traditions unique to our (very small) family unit.  I usually buy a holiday sweater, and retire by giving away the oldest and/or rattiest of the sweaters.  The ones pictured above are the best ones, and the Cardinal sweater is the newest.  I know, holiday sweaters are much derided, but I taught elementary school, and worked in a preschool before that, so I have a love of things like that, and that will probably never change!
Another tradition Matt and I began when we were married is to buy at least one (often two)  Hallmark ornament(s) every year.  (Some years we haven't been able to , and we bought or made an ornament those years)  This year's Hallmark ornaments are Father Christmas, shown in the last picture above, and The Eastern Bluebird, shown in the picture immediately above that.  This year, the annually purchased ornaments, 27 Christmases worth, plus a few special ones, are the only ornaments on the tree.  Among the special ones are the two made by Julia DuBreuil, a friend and coworker.  She has made ornaments and pins for some of us on the staff most years.  These are the two most recent, and they are always going to be on our tree.  Julie is very talented, and very generous to share her art with us.
As is traditional, Skye had to be chased away from the tree several times while I was working on it.  I have several soda cans with pennies inside, taped shut, and ready to throw at her if she gets too nosy about the tree.   We usually only have to put the cans on the piano, and she won't get to the tree, because the cans fall off and make noise and scare her.
I will post more photos of the tree, our stockings and the Christmas Eve dinner.  The dinner is the same every year:  Matt's brown sugar glazed ham, Betty Crocker Au Gratin potatoes, sweet potato balls, my Aunt Clara's baked beans, Mom's rolls, and for dessert, pumpkin pie and chocolate angel pie.   This is just what we started out doing every year, and it has pretty much stuck.  It makes for easy to reheat leftovers.

While decorating the tree, I could tell Pop was around because when I had my moments of the multi-focal lenses in my glasses driving me nuts, or my fingers not cooperating with the little ornament hooks, I swear I heard him say "You're as bad as I am, Katie Didder. You remember what your Mommy Mo told you about my magic words, now.  They backfire if you use them!"
Pop would be hanging around here right now for sure.  Matt is smoking a pork butt tonight.  Going to be some good eatin' around here tomorrow evening!  (We are taking  most of it to a party, so we won't be gorging on it and gaining all kinds of weight.)
Guess that's about all for this post.  I haven't had much time to think, let alone write this week. 

Advent Day 9 : Today I am Grateful For Warm Things

Today has been a very cold day.  Had to wear my thermals under the workout wear to walk the dog this morning.  The dog was limping, even though he was anxious to be out and about, because the cold got to his stiff and achy joints. 
One of the first things I did upon returning home was make a small pot of coffee.  The nice, hot coffee warmed me up and of course it helped keep me awake. 
One of the next things I did was put on a nice, soft fleece shirt.  I've been wearing it all day.  Keeps me toasty if I don't sit still too long.
My coat came in handy when I went for my voice lesson and when I went out again later.  Also, when Matt came home, he made barbecue soup, which was perfect for this very cold day.
I sat and did a little reading after dinner, and during that time, I had a nice, warm cat on my lap.  After I fed the cat and the dog, I turned on the electric mattress pad on our bed so it would be nice and toasty when we crawl in.  The cat likes to curl up between the pillows I stack on top and sleep until we get ready for bed.  She then sleeps between us, where she can best pin down the covers over both of us.  (Making it difficult to move.)
I was thinking about all these warm things I have to help me make it through a cold day, and remembering as I set up the manger that Jesus didn't have much to keep him warm, and even in that climate, nights are cold.  The animals in that stable surely provided some warmth, but to quote an old movie "Boy, that's not all!" 
Many children in the world today don't have enough to keep them warm.  Physically in some cases, emotionally in others.  I want to try to do what I can to help keep others warm.  Maybe donate to a charity that will give them something to keep their body warm, and maybe smile a bit more and be kinder to help warm their hearts. 
The pictures above are our manger that we set up every year.  We purchased  it at the Base Exchange at Rhein-Main Air Base.  It was the last one, and didn't have the right box.  We are still using the one they gave us to carry it home in. ( That was probably in 1989.  )  For those of you not from liturgical traditions, you may be wondering why Baby Jesus isn't in the manger.  Simple.  We are still waiting for him to get here.  He gets here on Christmas Eve, and that's when he goes in the manger.  (Right now, as you can see, He is resting comfortably  upside down in a shot glass in the drawer in the wine cabinet in our living room.  Yes, that is a little weird.  But hey, we never forget where he is!)

Second Week of Advent: Advent Day 8: Today I am Thankful For My Childhood Memories

As I get ready for another Christmas, I think a lot about the people who made Christmas special for me over the years.  I was very lucky, I grew up in a very traditional, very loving family.  Christmas was Pop's favorite holiday.  That first picture is my Pop in front of the fireplace mantle that he built in our house in Compton, CA.  This was the year of my first Christmas, when I was 10 months old.  (And I said my first word: "Pretty!" for the Christmas tree.)  My brother Walt made all these photos.  He was 12 the year I was born. 

The second photo is my Mom, my sister Susie holding me, and my biggest brother, Butch.  This was in our side yard in Compton, by the avocado tree.  I feel like I had extra parents more than siblings.  Let's just say I had plenty of supervision while growing up.

The third photo is Ernie, who lived next door with his wife Blanche.  Their last name was Craig.  They were some of many older neighbors who functioned kind of like extra grandparents for me.  The Oelkers, who lived down the road, owned a dairy.  They were lots of fun to visit because I got to see the cows. Ernie and Blanche sent me postcards from every place they traveled to.  I kept those for years, and I think I only parted with them when we moved to Europe in 1989.  There was Nelda McGinn who lived next door, who entertained me for hours with her stories and her zither and her songs.  She was very special to me, and I miss her still.  I would love to have been able to tell her about Germany when we lived there, and it would have been fun to tell the Oelkers about it too.  (They were German.) 
The last photo is my Pop, my Uncle Dick, and Aunt Clara.  Uncle Dick was Pop's older brother.  He also really loved Christmas, and every year we had Christmas Eve with him and Aunt Clara, and all the cousins.  Uncle Dick was one of the few people I have ever known who could really be said to be jolly, especially around little kids.  He loved me a lot, I know that.  I miss him so much, even now.  He and Pop were like little kids themselves at Christmas.  Their excitement and joy rubbed off on all of us.  The year Uncle Dick died was hard on all of us, but especially Pop.  Christmas just wasn't the same without Uncle Dick.  (I used to half suspect that he was Santa Claus.  He would have made a good one, even though he didn't have a beard.)
Of course, I miss my Pop most of all.  I was his baby girl, and I was spoiled accordingly.  One reason I haven't put the tree up yet is that I know I need time to do it right, which means waiting to feel Pop's presence around me to supervise, like he always did when I was 10 or so, and first helped him put up the tree.  Every year, even lately, I have felt Pop near, have almost heard his voice when trying to decide where to put ornaments, or adjusting the garland. 
I also remember him when I bake the pies, when Matt slices the ham, when I wrap presents, always remembering how he used to wrap extra stuff in the box to throw us off if we shook our packages. 
Of course I remember Mom when I do the baking and make the fudge every year.  Mom is still with us, but she lives far away, and so I must settle for calling her on the phone to ask about the finer points of making the infamous chocolate pie, or how to tell if the fudge has cooked enough. My rolls never do come out quite as good as hers, though.  I think I don't let them rise long enough, and perhaps our kitchen is a bit too cool for them, as we keep the heat low to compensate for all the work we are doing in there!
The musical memories of Christmas for me are many.  I've been singing in church every year since I was tiny.  These days the caliber of music I get to sing is much better than what I once sang, but I still remember all those pageants with joy.  I listen to Bing Crosby's Christmas album, and Andy Williams, because Mom always played those while we decorated cookies.  I have yet to find the Doris Day Christmas Album like Mom had.  Once I do, I will have all my childhood auditory memories of Christmas!
I never realized when I was little how very lucky I was to have such a family.  It felt normal to me, and yet, it seems it was all too rare to have a family that always gathered more or less harmoniously for holidays.  We did also go to church, on Sundays and during the holidays.  As a family.  You didn't get out of going to church until you moved out on your own.  Live in Pop's house, go to church.  Those were the rules. I suppose because of that, I feel totally lost if I am not a part of a church family.  I am also thankful to have found St Paul's here in Oklahoma.  I still have an extended family to see at Christmas, and every Sunday thanks to St.Paul's. 
I do seem to remember having to wait rather impatiently a couple of Christmases for Walt to get up before I could  open my presents or see what was in my stocking.  Well, he WAS a teenager then, and you know how hard it is for teens to wake up.
So, though it is easy to feel like a grinch this time of year with all the crass consumerism going on, I am still able to see magic and wonder and feel love and goodwill, thanks to the early training I got from my family.
Merry Christmas, Pop.  I'll be expecting your help when I get around to putting the tree up. Uncle Dick and Aunt Clara, you can drop by any time.  I wish I could give each of you a big hug for Christmas like I used to.

Butch, Susie, Walt, and especially Mom, you know I love you.  I always have.  You guys very much WERE my world for a lot of years. Thanks for putting up with me.

Advent Day 7: Today I am thankful for my friends.

A lot of today was spent in preparation for an evening with two of our good friends:  Mike and Nancy Rogers.  We get together pretty much every week during football season to watch the OU games and share good food and fellowship.  We have known Mike and Nancy since 1995, when we started singing in the choir at St. Paul's.  Over the years we have had lots of fun together going to movies and on day trips and watching football and cooking together.  (I swear, I cannot have a party without Nancy.  Not only would I miss her company, but she is always so willing to help.  She keeps me organized and helps keep the kitchen going.)
We also have some old friends on face book that are friends we met in Germany when we were stationed at Rhein-Main.  Rich and Stephanie Rosenfeld, and their son David shared many fun afternoons and evenings with us watching old Allo, Allo episodes and talking and laughing and sharing stories.  We don't see the Rosenfelds much anymore, since they live in Texas, but we do keep up on face book, and Rich shares his sense of humor regularly there. 
Friends like these are true treasures.  Mike and Nancy have been there for us when we really needed help, and we have done our best to be there for them.  Likewise, Rich and Stephanie were always there.  They are still constant in their care for us.  We also keep them in our prayers.  I truly hope that we return at least as much love and care to all these good friends as they have shared with us over the years. 
Friends are the family you choose for yourself.  I think we have chosen wisely.  I am thankful for the years of shared experiences and history and caring we have.
I am also grateful for all the new friends and the old friends I have been able to find and keep up with on face book.  I have met most of them in person, but some are friends I know from years-long email correspondence.  I lost one such friend earlier this year.  Christi Mead Nielson left this world due to complications after a surgery.  I still miss her name in my inbox, and her comments on face book.  She was witty and caring, and also a major Nebraska Cornhuskers fan.  (Since Mike and Nancy are OU alums, and Matt works for OU, we tend to have different loyalties where football is concerned!)  I thought of Chris a lot tonight during the game.  I can't help but think that she was there, and as much on pins and needles as we all were, watching that very closely matched game.  Every time Nebraska scored, even though it was bad for OU, I was happy for Chris.  I told Nancy that it wasn't fair, really.  Nebraska has an angel cheering them on.
I have a sampler on my living room wall that says "Make new friends, but keep the old.  Those are silver, these are gold.  New made friendships, like new wine, age will mellow and refine."  It is true.  The best friends are old friends, but new friends can add to the richness of life.  I hope to keep all my old friends, even if, like Chris, I someday have to keep them only in my heart.

Take good care, all of you, of yourselves.  You are important to me.
Above is a picture of my cat, and Nancy and Mike Rogers who prove that true friends will even put up with your Ubiquitous Cat.  (Madame Skye, who seemed to be everywhere and into everything today.)

Advent Journal - Day 6 : Today I Am Greatful For Music

Music has always been a part of my life.  I fell in love with singing at Sunday School.  I have been in church choirs since the age of 5.  I took piano lessons for 10 years.  I never got very good at playing because I never practiced enough.  My real motivation was to learn to read music.  (And that is easier when you have an instrument like the piano to relate to.) 
I take voice lessons now.  I have for more than eight years now.  There is always something new to learn about a voice, especially your own.  I have discovered a depth of  sound that I never thought I could produce.  The technique isn't easy when you are learning it, but the results are worth the hard work!  (And it IS work to sing well, it only LOOKS effortless.)

So many songs run through my head all the time.  When I am fretting over something, I will often hear the refrain of an old hymn running through my mind.  Usually,, it is very appropriate to what I am fretting about, and usually, it makes me feel better.  I call that phenomenon Holy Spirit Radio.  The Spirit supplies the message I need to hear by sticking a hymn in my brain. 
Whatever anthem we are working on in choir that seems to need attention, I will find that running through my head a lot, also.  There are arias I have worked on that continuously show up.  Non Mi Dir, Deh Viene Non Tardar, Les Oiseaux, , the Trees on the Mountain, to name a few.  My head seems to constantly have music playing somewhere in the back ground.  Strangely enough, I don't listen to music much at home any more.  Perhaps it is because the world at large is so full of sound that I like a bit of quiet at home, or perhaps it is just too difficult to decide what I want to listen to when there are SO many choices in my collection.
Music can set a mood, it can lift spirits, it can get people moving, or it can lull them to sleep.  Music can be a cultural identifier.  (Bagpipe music, for instance.  You know immediately that there are Scots around!) 
Singing means so much to me.  I feel I can get lost in the music, become part of the sound, my whole being is an instrument.  To sing well, it makes me feel alive!  That is why I get so testy when I have a cold and lose my voice.  I NEED to sing! (Also, I think about the progress I have made in recent lessons, and fret over the lost ground that will need to be made up when the voice is back enough to use.)  I am always praying that I don't catch a cold close to a singing occasion.  So, I better not have a cold anytime in the next two months!  I have choir every Sunday, an Evensong AND a recital on the 19th, then of course the special Christmas services, and then there is a special Evensong in January.  I really need my voice to be here and in good shape until all that is over.  If I can]t practice, I won't perform well, and I really would rather perform at my best.

I am so grateful for music, for all the composers and lyricists, for all the musicians over the centuries that have made the very air rejoice with the sound of their music!
The ladies in the photo above are from the Handbell Choir at St. Andrew's Catholic Church in Moore, OK.

Advent Day 5 - Today I am Thankful for my Husband

Today, more decorations went up around the house, and the cat snoozed through it. 

Today, in thinking about what I have to be thankful for this Advent, I thought how fortunate I am to have my husband.  Matt and I have been married for more than 26 years now, and it is still a very good thing to be married.  Matt is my best friend, the one who can always make me laugh, the one who puts up with almost ALL of my crap.  He's the one who expects the best of me, and unlike my parents, doesn't make me feel like pond scum if I miss the mark. 
Matt is a very accomplished person.  He hasn't had as much formal education as I have perhaps, but he has taught himself more than you would expect any human being to be able to master on their own.  He remembers most of whatever he reads, and can pick up new software programs faster than anyone I have ever seen.
A few years ago, Matt had a health scare.  I could have lost him then, but God was merciful, and Matt is able to function pretty much normally.  (Well, as normally as he EVER HAS functioned!)  (We met in a Star Trek fan club.  We are NOT normal!)  Since that time, Matt has had to deal with things that would drive me insane, but he handles it pretty well.  He has gained a lot of weight because he had to take steroids for awhile, and at our age, any weight that shows up almost NEVER leaves, no matter what you do.  (Doesn't help that we both love to cook and eat!)
Matt has such incredible focus when he is involved in a project.  I can never stick with something that intensely.  I wander off and do something else for awhile.  Sometimes his focus borders on obsession, but I have my own obsessive behaviors, so I really can't complain TOO much. 
We have a very nice life together, Matt and I.  We share so many interests:  music, cooking, gardening, our faith, and our friends. 
I'll tell you another reason I am so grateful to have Matt in my life.  He was fully prepared to cook dinner this evening.  I had something easy planned, and he agreed that he wanted to eat that, too, so I guess he'll get to make me a late supper tomorrow when I get back from the Gala at the library. 
Oh, yes.  He also puts up with all my Advent decorating and other projects, even the ones that make work for him.  (Like hanging up the outdoor lights.)

Day 4 - I am thankful for my church

I started to write about music today, but instead things have been bringing my thoughts back more specifically to my church.  Matt and I are in the Cathedral Choir at St. Paul's.  Have been since July of 1995.  Matt sings Baritone/Bass, and I sing first Soprano.  That's a lot of years of liturgy and song.  A lot of years with most of the same people week in and week out.  They are like family, and indeed, we spend all our major holidays with them! 
The choir is a wonderful group of people, but the whole church family is that way at St. Paul's. 

I was reminded of this again today when the Friends of the Library representative was asking the name of the man playing Santa at our Gala this year.  It is a gentleman who has been a member of St. Paul's FAR longer than we have.  He grew up in the parish.  He will make an excellent Santa, as he is kind, and usually of cheerful mien, and he is, well, round.  I called the church office to confirm the correct spelling of this gentleman's name so the Friends could get a little token of appreciation for him.  (That was our Friends lady's mission at the library today.) 
That our church, even though the parish is 10 miles away in Oklahoma City, could touch so many lives right here in Moore, is very telling.  Not only is the love in our church abundant, but the size of this metropolitan area is largely an illusion.  There are ties of friendship and kinship all over this area. 
I have written essays about St. Paul's in the aftermath of the Murrah Building Bombing.  Those can be found on my Face Book notes, if you are on my friends list.  It is still very true that love is in the very buildings there.  So many years of liturgy, song, and prayer.  Caring for one another and worshiping together, and praying for one another year after year, we and our predecessors have sanctified that place. 
Tonight we go to choir rehearsal, once more with our choir family, preparing to enrich worship for our larger church family.  Some weeks, rehearsal is difficult, because I am tired, and my voice isn't at its best, but usually the music Scott chooses makes the cares of the day go away.  The texts and settings we sing are beautiful and challenging, both musically and spiritually.  What seemed like a chore often becomes a very uplifting experience.
My Advent prayer for you is that you have a spiritual home as loving and as satisfying for you as St. Paul's is for Matt and myself.  (If you have a chance, come visit.  Corner of 7th and Robinson, downtown OKC.  Sunday services are at 9 and 11.  See our website www.stpaulsokc.org.)