Christmas Music

Music has always been an important part of the Christmas Season for me.   Growing up, our parents provided all of us children with the opportunity to take both piano lessons and to learn an another instrument as a member of the school band.   We weren't always the best at putting in our required practice time every single day, but hardly a day went by without music of some sort filling our little house.  In addition to practicing our instruments, the house was filled with record albums and radios.  My mother were usually have the radio on when we woke in the morning and would do her morning chores to the music of the radio.

At Christmas time we of course had Christmas Music on most of the time.  We would sing together every Monday evening as a part of our Family Home Evening.  On Christmas Eve Daddy would gather us all up into the car along with plates of cookies and fruit cake and we would travel around to the homes of various widows and widowers who he knew would be home alone.  We would sing them a few carols, visit for a few minutes, and leave them with some Christmas Eve goodies.  Reading the Christmas story from the New Testament and singing a few more carols before hanging our stockings was always a tradition too.

During Junior High School and the first few years of High School I was always involved with the High School Christmas Concert, first playing flute with the beginning band and later singing Alto with the Chorus.  Unfortunately during my Junior and senior years I elected to not take any music classes in school in order to fit in more business classes along with all of the Math and science that I could fit into my schedule.   I'm not sure that I would have chosen differently if I were to go back, but I often wish that I had continued with my music.

Since DH and I have been married, we have usually been involved with some sort of musical group and have attended Christmas Concerts of one form or another almost every year.  Most years one or the other or both of us have participated with the Ward Choir at Church.  For several years we had season tickets to the Symphony Orchestra and enjoyed our dates to those concerts.   Once our children became involved with music in school, most years we have had multiple concerts to attend each Christmas Season.  For several years DH sang with a local community Choir and the whole family would attend one or more of their Christmas Concerts each year.   We play Christmas music often during the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas and enjoy listening to Christmas music while commuting and traveling in the car.

One Christmas we were living in Cincinnati, and while shopping for Christmas we came across these fun books published by The Willis Music Company.  We bought all five copies that the store had in stock and have used them every December for our own Family Home Evenings and Christmas Eve sing alongs.

We no longer have children in school participating in musical groups, so have not attended any school Christmas Concerts for a few years, but in recent years DH and I have been blessed to attend wonderful Christmas Concerts presented by The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Manheim Steamroller, and the Piano Guys.  Saturday night I was blessed to return to my home town and escort my dear father to the local Community Christmas Concert that was coordinated by my dear brother, who also sang with the community choir  The concert was presented free of charge in a brand new venue in my hometown, the Dejoria Center at the High Star Ranch.  Yes, it was a small town, local production, and yes, my photo taking skills are definitely lacking, but the venue was lovely, the performers were talented and the music was beautiful and uplifting,

I'm grateful for Christmas Music. How haave you been enjoying music this holiday season?

Thanksgiving Day and More Thankfuls

The Thanksgiving holiday is over and the kids have all gone back home.  Things are a bit quieter now, but we have some good memories and have been enjoying lots of leftovers!   We had some good times, some good food, some fun games, and some great company for our Thanksgiving Day, and we also took a few moments to share some of our "Thankfuls"  with one another.  

 

Everyone at the table was given the opportunity to write the things that they were grateful for on different colored leaves that DD1 had cut out for us.  We then taped the leaves to our "Thankful Tree"  that was drawn by DS1.  This idea has been around ever since our Joy School days when our kids were in pre-school, but we haven't made a Thankful Tree recently.  It was a good activity.

 

The weekend also included a visit with my dear Daddy and a nice drive and shopping trip with DD4 when I took her back to college, a wonderful day enjoying the wedding of a dear niece and the company of more family, the opportunity of speaking in church on Sunday, good help with Christmas lights and a new bathroom upgrades from visiting DS1 and DD3, all topped off with a fun visit with DD2, DD4, DS2, DD in law, and DGS via Google Hang-out on Sunday evening.  I am feeling very grateful. 

 

Photo Source

 

 

Here is a summary of my end of November Thankfuls as posted on my Facebook page:

 

Gratitude Day 23: I'm grateful for reliable transportation!   Two years ago we were limping along with a driveway full of barely functioning vehicles.   Various members of the family ended up stranded in various places at various times, and we were often calling upon friends, neighbors and family members for help with said vehicles.   We now have three good, reliable cars in the driveway and are feeling very very blessed!

 

Gratitude Day 24: I'm grateful for Books!  I haven't done nearly as much reading in the past year or two, but I still enjoy a good book and a warm blanket.   We've done a bit of rearranging of the bookshelves recently, and I must say they are looking pretty fine.   What have you enjoyed reading lately??   Six Science Backed Reasons to Go Read a Book Right Now

 

Gratitude Day 25: I'm grateful for Pie! Pumpkin, Mincemeat, Key Lime, Apple Crumb, Chocolate Chip, . . . .and any others !!  I always say I'm going to cut back on the pies every year.   Then I start making the pies (always pumpkin, of course, and this year mincemeat for DH and a lowfat key lime for me), and then each of the children asks . . . well, what about such and such?  Everyone should have their favorite pie on Thanksgiving Day, right??  Especially since I usually only bake pie three or four times during the year  (Pi Day in March, Cherry Pie in July when the cherries are ripe, and then Thanksgiving, and usually for Christmas too.)  So . . . I make a huge batch of pie crust dough and keep on baking until the dough runs out.   This year I also bought a frozen Razzleberry Pie (it was a good deal and had a free can of whipped cream thrown in), dear Mother-in-Law brought banana cream pie, and DS1's friend brought strawberry rhubarb.   Dear sister-in-law also brought yummy homemade caramels and DH had baked date nut bread, so we were surrounded by goodies this Thanksgiving Day.

 

Gratitude Day 26: I'm grateful to have the world's best Mother -In-Law!. She comes for dinner, brings food, helps in the kitchen, does the dishes, gives everyone wonderful loving hugs, always has a cheerful smile and positive attitude, gifted us her car when she gave up driving, and always always is looking for other ways to help us out.
I'm also grateful for all of the dedicated health care workers, policemen, and others who sacrifice holidays and family time to provide necessary care and services for us all.

 

Gratitude Day 27: I'm grateful for Google!  Many years ago when the internet was still very young, my DH posted a comment in a public chat room about what a great search engine the new and upcoming company called Google provided.   Someone from Google saw the comment and sent my DH a Google T-Shirt.  Both DH and I have proudly worn that T-shirt on many occasions.  A little over a year ago DS1 became an employee of Google on one coast, and a month ago DS2 became an employee of Google on the other coast.  Google has been good to our family.

On Friday I grabbed an old T-shirt out of our downstairs closet for DD4 to use, and guess what shirt I found?   That old beloved Google T-Shirt!   Needless to say, DD4 was given a different old T-shirt to use, and the Google T-Shirt was moved back to  a place of honor in the master bedroom closet. 
 

Gratitude Day 28: I'm grateful for temples and forever families.  There is nothing better than gathering together in the House of the Lord with your family to witness and/or participate in sacred Temple Ordinances that bind families together in love for the eternities. 

 

Gratitude Day 29: I'm grateful for a day of rest, Sacrament Meetings (even when I'm asked to speak with only two days notice), and chocolate!  (The chocolate chip pie and the fudge stripe cookie and reeces peanut butter cup pilgrim hats were both big hits at our Thanksgiving dinner.)

 

Gratitude Day 30: I'm grateful for Christmas lights and dear daughters who put them up and take them down! I'm grateful for Skype and Google Hangouts!

It's been a wonderful month full of blessings, and a few challenges to help us grow too.   I hope it has been a good one for all of you!!

photo source

Gratitude This Week

Those of you who are also my friends on Facebook  may have already seen these posts there.  Yes,  I am still grateful for my daily blessings, and am truly trying to recognize some significant blessing in my life each day.  However, this past week I have not taken the time to transfer these gratitude posts here to the blog.  So, here in one fell swoop are the remainder of my "gratefuls"  for this past week:

Gratitude Day 17:  I'm grateful for appliances large and small that help to make life easier and more enjoyable!

Gratitude Day 18:  I'm grateful for my sewing machine and for friends who encourage me to be creative and use it!

Gratitude Day 19:  I'm grateful to have fresh fruit readily available:  Apples, oranges, bananas, pineapple, melon, grapes, etc.

Gratitude Day 20:  I'm grateful for a loving, intelligent, kind, fun,  dedicated husband who shares his life and all he has with me.
 
Gratitude Day 21:  I'm grateful for grocers, food wholesalers, food producers, farmers and all who help to make our food procurement and preparation easier.  I'm grateful to not have to grow, hunt or gather it all on my own!

Gratitude Day 22:  I'm grateful for scriptures:  our "letters from home!"

May we all continue to find things to be grateful for!

Ponderize: November 22nd

 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands . . . Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise:  be thankful unto him, and bless his name . . . For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

Psalm 100:1, 4, 5

Gratitude Day 16: How Did the Garden Grow?

I'm grateful for my garden and the fresh veggies, berries and flowers it has provided us with through the years. I always miss it so much during the winter months!

 

 



So, how did my garden grow this year?   Well, as you can see from the photo above, the garden is becoming quite the hodge podge . . . tomatoes, strawberries, mint, grass and weeds all intermingling with a few other veggies that have braved the mess, and the heat of the summer.  

 

We always plant lots of tomatoes of course . . .  .

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the collection of tomatoes, onions, and peppers that became this last month:

 

Four pints of delicious Chili Sauce.



Perhaps my best crop of sweet peppers ever . . . still most were not very large, but still a nice reward.

 

 





A few nice little cucumbers every week or two towards the end of the summer.

 



We had some nice little zucchini plants and some crookneck squash too.  The crookneck always seem to get tough skinned before they get very large.   Any suggestions?

And of course, we can't do without a few sunflowers . . . .

We had a few grapes this year too, but not as many as last.   I didn't get to them in time, so the birds enjoyed most of them this time. 

 

Our Big Max Pumpkin plant grew up into the tree this year, and then onto the fence.  In August I decided that this pumpkin needed a bit of extra support.

 

 Here is the smaller pumpkin where it was growing on the fence just before the October frost.

And here is the lower one sitting on it's pot, now all nice and orange.

 

The frosts have now come, and most of the garden is gone, except for the grass and the weeds and the berry plants.    On Saturday I finally dug the carrots, and this is what is left tonight . . . .about a third of the crop.   Not as pretty as they were on Saturday, but I forgot to snap a photo then.

 

 

So that's it for this fall.   It's been better, it's been worse, but I'm grateful.

 

So how did your garden grow?

 

 

 



Gratitude Day 15: Parents

 

I'm grateful for my wonderful parents. I'm grateful for the beautiful Mother who gave me life, cared for me and taught me so many things, and sacrificed so much for each of her children. We love and miss her. I'm also grateful for my kind and wise Father who continues to nurture his family any way he can. I always feel uplifted after a visit with my Daddy.

 

 

Gratitude Day 14: Land of the Free

Gratitude Day 14: I am blessed to live in a country where I have never had to personally experience war, famine, or poverty. I'm grateful for the many blessings of freedom and of living in this beautiful country. May we all be able to do or share something to help others in need.