What I Love About Christmas

I made this list a long time ago...and it still holds true.What I love about Christmas:

100. trimming our tree
99. drinking hot cocoa (even when sweating in the Philippines)
98. Typhoon Season
97. No school
96. Candlelight 11pm communion service on Christmas Eve
95. then coming home and eating eggnog pie with friends
94. sleeping in
93. ham
92. scalloped potatos
91. crazy uncles
90. crazy brothers
89. unbuttoning pants after the meal
88. decorating hundreds of cookies with paintbrushes
87. giving them away
86. eating the leftovers
85. eating the raw dough
84. making the other 100 types of cookies
83. the fact you're still reading this
82. candy canes that I never eat but always admire
81. Christmas concerts
80. Christmas music
79. Handel's Messiah
78. a time when everyone loves classical music
77. mom's candy cane bread
76. vacations at the beach on Puerto Galera
75. advent on Sunday nights as a family
74. dad reading the Christmas story
73. are you still reading this?
72. singing "All I Want For Christmas Is You" with the roommies at the top of our lungs
71. Christmas parties with 'the gang'
70. shopping for others
69. watching people open carefully thought-out gifts
68. secret santas
67. hiding presents before Christmas
66. trying to find where mom hid mine
65. While You Were Sleeping
64. White Christmas
63. bending pine needles and breathing the scent in
62. hugs
61. wrapping presents
60. lighting candles
59. untangleing twinkle lights
58. stringing garland on the banisters
57. stockings hung with care
56. opening the stocking on Christmas morning
55. laughing at last year's christmas morning bed-head pix
54. laughing at any pictures from the past
53. crazy malls with the decorations
52. driving around looking at all the lights
51. hearing the fireworks start going off on Dec. 1st by the neighborhood drunks
50. then realizing it was a coup attempt by the rebels to overthrow the government
49. which meant no school for a week
48. nativity scenes
47. 4 hours of daylight in Sweden
46. fika in Sweden
45. crazy cousins in Sweden
44. those occassional Christmases spent with Mom and Dad now that I'm grown
43. realizing I'm over half-way done with this list!!
42. Why-oh-why did I start at 100?
41. snuggling up in blankets
40. making snow angels
39. playing in the mounds of wrapping paper after opening our gifts
38. realizing that was more fun that half the presents I got
37. but still loving what I got
36. unwrapping the melted gum balls GrandE sent me from the US
35. finding that the ants beat me to the gum balls
34. learning how to braid on My Little Ponies
33. getting my pet mice from my brothers
32. learning how to torture the poor things
31. then saying, "But they LIKE it, mom!"
30. going around to other people in our mission and carolling as a family
29. those awkward mission Christmas parties
28. Uncle Doug terrifying me by saying all little girls grow up to be boys and vice versa
27. watching Dad break his tail bone while showing us how to REALLY sled
26. yup, we didn't try it after that...
25. freezing by the fireplace while my cousins tried to convince me that skiing is fun
24. fruitcake...I know, I'm weird
23. getting sick from all the sugar
22. singing Christmas hymns in church with the organ
21. I'm almost done!
20. shouting so my grandparents can hear me
19. babysitting my cousins
18. hearing my grandfather ask when I'll ever get a boyfriend
17. and promising to introduce him when I find 'the one'
16. the smell of grandma's house before they moved
15. city decorations up in September
14. down in August
13. coming home from church at midnight on Cmas Eve and realizing it really does only take 15 minutes to get home when there's no traffic...instead of the usual hour and a half
12. tying bells around the poor dog's neck
11. and throw on that santa hat, too
10. tasting snowflakes
9. stepping into a warm house from the cold
8. fireplaces that roar
7. and burning my butt from standing too close
6. peppermint mochas at Starbucks
5. homemade gingerbread cake
4. gingerbread houses that never get built because we eat it first
3. Christmas ornaments
2. laughing out loud
1. you...because you read the whole thing!

Rain and Christmas Parties

Today I am stuck at home...I got all ready to go to the hospital: iced the Christmas bread for my preceptor, printed out the final evaluation forms, the paper, dug through the closet to find my umbrella, and bundled up for the cold wetness. But see, here's the thing - I grew up driving in rain...Southern Californians do not! I don't understand it!!! Slow down, keep a light hand on the wheel, keep a good distance between you and the car in front, and you'll be fine. But NOOOOO...there were three accidents before the halfway point to my destination! I turned around and came back home. It took 20 tries to close the stupid garage door. Really? When it rains, there's a short in the system? Oh well...I'll just stay home and listen to more Christmas music and start studying for my finals. I could think of worse places to be stuck. :-)

Every year, my nearest and dearest friends get together for a Christmas gift exchange. We started in 2001 during our freshman year at Biola and haven't missed a year since! We decided to change things up a bit this year and exchange board games... Kristi was EXTREMELY proud of her game!

Bobby came this year!...and ruined my picture, again. Shocking, I know. And here's the group in 2001... ...and 8 years later! I don't know where I would be right now without you all. Life hasn't been easy, but it's never been boring! I LOVE you!

The Final Stretch...

The paper is DONE! Now it just has to be edited, and edited, and edited so it resembles nothing like the first rough draft... :-) Ahhhh, this is why I'm not a researcher.

Last night I went to Disneyland with Sara to get a bit of relaxation before the final paper writing. A great idea...but wrong night. There were 80,000 people in the park! On a normal summer day, during a very busy time of year, there are about 60,000 people in the park...so 80K is insane. After the fireworks, during the mass exodus, they were herding people out of the park "backstage"...a BIG no-no because it destroys the "magic". We weren't allowed to take pictures during Candlelight because they didn't want other people to see what "backstage" looks like.

But the fireworks were pretty, a Christmas version of "It's a Small World" was fun, and "Indiana Jones" was as jerky as normal. :-)

One week left!

Candlelight 2008!

Ever since starting nursing school, I've had very little opportunity to use my BA in music...all that changed last night. When the opportunity presented itself to sing in Disneyland's Candlelight choir, I couldn't refuse...even at the risk of getting a "B" in my classes.

Candlelight has been a tradition at Disneyland, started by Walt Disney, since the second year of opening. This was Candlelight's 50th year. It consists of an 800 voice choir, orchestra, and narrator. What makes it especially significant is that it tells the story of Christmas...the TRUE story of Christmas. The narrator (John Stamos this year) reads the account of Luke in between traditional Christmas carols such as Joy to the World, First Noel, Angels We Have Heard On High, and the Hallelujah Chorus.

Here are a few of the pictures I took from the night. Unfortunately I don't have one of the whole choir because we technically weren't supposed to take any pictures "Backstage". Clearly I didn't follow the rule to closely... :-)

Let the fun begin!

Here I am getting ready to process into the park from Toons Town to Town Square...and yes, that is an electric candle. boo.

The roommies with our choir conductor...the REAL celebrity of the night!

In between performances...we were pretty exhausted. It was a lot of singing!

This is where we performed in Towns' Square. You can't see it very well, but it sure was beautiful!

And lastly, some kind soul uploaded a video of us singing the Hallelujah Chorus onto Youtube...

A Birthday!

Today we celebrated my nephew's birthday at the park with the required pizza. I seriously have the cutest nephew ever...and I'm not a bit biased. Here are some pictures from the fun afternoon. (PS - did I mention I LOVE SoCal winters?? It wouldn't have been an outside party in North Dakota!)

Boy and dog, like iron and a magnet

Playing on the Swings

This is my model pose...There's a grin!Playing with my auntieOpening Presents!Oops, bigger and better things to doBirthday Pie!And last, but not least, a fun birthday video. :-)

Christmas Trees, Candles, and Nostalgia

I love Christmas. One of my favorite memories as a kid is of driving down Roxas Blvd on Christmas Eve and "ohhhing" and "ahhhing" at all the pretty lights. (...while Mom and Dad were thankful they didn't have to pay for the electric bills!) So it comes as no surprise that I LOVE attending the Christmas tree lighting at my alma mater every year. There is this huge pine tree in front of the music building (my second home for three and a half years) and every year on the first Friday of December the student body, alumni, and surrounding neighborhoods come together and listen to Luke's account of Christ's birth, sing traditional carols, light candles, and light the enormous tree.
So this year we all bundled up (as much as necessary for SoCal) and sang to our hearts' content. While there we ran into our beloved retired chaplain, Ron Hafer and took this shot...just for you, Mom!

T-18!

After a lovely week off, I have just three weeks left of nursing school. I can't wait for it to be over. But then I've said that before...it's not a new concept. The good news is all my careplans are finished. The bad news is I still have my 10-15page paper to write and my group project to finish. But it's all do-able within three weeks.

On a side note, at twilight we had the alignment of the sliver of moon with Jupiter and Venus. I was running around outside with my socks on trying to find the best view away from the city lights. (yeah, these socks will be having some bleach join them for the next round in the washing machine!) It's mind-boggling to think of how much bigger Jupiter is than Earth. 1,317 Earths could fit inside Jupiter. When viewed from our perspective, however, it's tiny.

This is how my huge, looming paper is. Right now it seems like this unattainable, horrible thing hanging over my head. But when viewed 20 years from now, way back in the distance of nursing school, it will merely be a tiny speck in the road. Perspective is everything, isn't it?

"When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?"
Ps. 8:3-4