I'm teaching myself to sew!

Even though we didn't do a bunch of gifts for Christmas, I decided to give each of the kids one gift. I knew Laine's little purses were falling apart, and purchasing them was out of the question. Instead, I found a video on youtube on how to make purses. After watching it a few times, I made my own pattern and tried it out. It worked!! Here are the two purses I made for her:

My first attempt...it turned out well, despite having to rip and resew
a few areas. This is the one Laine likes the best.

This is my second attempt. I made this one taller and added the black band at the top.
This is the one I like the best. :)

Stake Choir Festival

Today, my son asked me what my second favorite thing about Christmas was. I thought that was an interesting question because it presupposed that he knew what my first favorite thing about Christmas was. I asked him what he thought I loved best about Christmas. As it turned out, he nailed it...the Christmas lights! Christmas lights are a visual reminder of the light of Christ, and having all the bright lights around just cheers my spirits. When we put away the Christmas lights in January, I spend the next month feeling depressed because it's suddenly so dark in our home. I can live without Christmas presents. I can live without a fancy Christmas dinner. But lights are mandatory!

Of course, I can hear those who know me well chuckling, because they know how I feel about Christmas in general. Not about Christ's birth, but about the way our society celebrates Christmas now.

Anyway, my second favorite thing about Christmas? The music, of course! I spent a great evening enjoying the musical presentations from choirs in our stake. It was so beautiful! I was lucky enough to be in the Stake Choir in addition to participating in our ward choir. The Van Ness Ward Choir sang "On Christmas Day." The Stake Choir sang "O, Holy Night" and "Was I There." I loved, loved, loved "Was I There." Then we sang a joint piece with the Stake Children's choir called "What Shall we Give?"

I had the opportunity to bring a new non-member friend, Pat. She really enjoyed the music, too! I met her a few weeks ago when Elder and Sister Brinley invited me over for Thanksgiving dinner. I always like making new friends!

The Pizza Tree

I
had not
allowed money in
our Christmas budget for a
Christmas tree this year because
I was planning on using our little four foot
plastic tree. The kids complained that it didn't feel
like Christmas without a real Christmas tree, so I asked them
what they were willing to do about it. They said they would give up their
Friday pizza nights. And so it was. No break from cooking for mom on Friday nights,
but we all get to enjoy the beauty and aroma
of a REAL
Christmas Tree.

Writing Adventures

I've been doing a little creative writing recently, and I thought I'd put a few excerpts online for my readers to comment on from time to time. Here's the link:

Adventures in Writing

Young Womanhood Recognition

Kelly did it. Much to her own amazement, she finished all the requirements to earn her Young Womanhood Recognition Award. She received the award at the same time as Hannah, who she was baptized with when she turned 8. I thought that was a cool coincidence. :)

Naturally, I forgot my camera and so ended up taking this photo with the crappy camera on my phone. You can't even read the certificate! We're very proud of her for all of her hard work. I know she will continue to make spiritual progress throughout her life. She's an amazing young lady!

My First Apple Pie

I learned to make apple pie for the first time, completely from scratch. First, you plant an apple tree....

Okay, just kidding. :)

But truly, I've only ever used premade crust previously because I didn't know how to make my own. Last night, the Van Ness Ward and Riverview Ward had a joint "pie clinic" taught by Doctor Jones. He taught us how to make the crust, the filling and everything. Then we took it home and baked it. My kids loved it!!

I forgot to take the photo before I began to slice it, but it looks lovely, doesn't it?

Filters

With this most recent election, I have been very grateful for the freedom of speech we have in our country, even though the ones who seem to use it most spend most of their time slamming the other side instead of having persuasive discussion. However, it seems like anyone who holds a conservative position, as I do on some issues, lacks the same freedom to speak freely about the positions held. Name calling, berating, and downright hostility are the result in most cases. For the most part, I have held my tongue during all the election-related discussions even though some of the comments were painfully off-base and often off-color as well.

I myself lack the self-restraint to do that long-term. I admit this freely. That's why I have been so grateful for the filters on Facebook that allow me to limit the posts I see on my news feed. All day, every day at school, viewpoints contrary to my own are espoused and recited as mantras in the classrooms. I have no desire to be subjected to the same kinds of mindless passion when I check in on FB. Further, I have a few friends that are radically the other direction, whose constant predictions of doom and gloom, as well as name-calling, further depress me. (Where, oh where are the reasoned discourses I once believed adults should and did have about issues and candidates??) I can suspend temporarily or permanently the posts I see from these friends, and give my mind relief from the constant "warring" when I am in my own home.

Goodbye, Abby.

Our beloved Abby-dog was hit by a car and killed on Monday afternoon. She was only four years old. She had a perpetual smile on her face, and loved to run and chase things, lounge in the sun, kill possums, and protect her family. She was a fast runner, and as stubborn as a dog can be. She was easily coaxed by love and attention, though. When I would feed her in the morning, she would always wait for all the bowls to be filled before eating, and then when I put the last bowl down, she would kiss my cheek. She kissed me whenever I asked her. She was very well loved by all of us, but most loved by her favorite person, Johnny.

I had someone working on my sprinklers on Monday. While he worked, I had the dogs in their kennel. By the time he left they were begging to go outside to potty. I neglected to double check that the gates were completely closed (sometimes people think they are closed when they are not), so the dogs took advantage of the open gate to go exploring. They were in an apartment complex around the corner from us, and ran out in front of a driver, who tried to miss Syrah, but didn't see Abby run under his truck. For about an hour after the accident, I couldn't locate Syrah, either...then she turned up in my locked yard just before Kelly walked in the door. Her back leg appears to have been injured, whether because she had been hit by the car or because of how she got back in the yard, I don't know. It doesn't appear to be broken, but she favors it. Since Abby was killed by the car in the afternoon while the kids were at school, I had to tell each of the children separately as they came home from school that their dog had been killed. I didn't think I would have the strength, and it was very difficult. All of them (except Joe, who is stoic) broke into sobs and wails, but it hit Johnny the hardest. He cried on my shoulders for almost thirty minutes in the garage, and while he spent the day at home on Tuesday due to a bad cough/cold, he sobbed many times throughout the day.

This morning I was remembering how Johnny had given the dogs a bath on Friday. Abby didn't enjoy her baths, but after she was clean, she loved running around and rubbing her wet body on all of us, demanding kisses and pets. I had washed the bedding for their kennel and I was trying to fold it on the floor before I put it inside. Abby recognized her blanket and began to lay on top of it, sniff it and "snuffle" happily, as if she was  glad it was clean and fresh. She was most happy when she was running, and so I imagine that when she ran out of the nearby apartment complex (chasing her buddy Syrah), she was in her element. Since she was dead instantly, I know she must have blinked her eyes and found herself in Heaven, wondering where in the world Syrah had gone. I know Syrah has been wondering where her pal Abby is. She has been morose and clingy since Abby has died, like all of us. We will certainly miss her!!

Day 5: ♫ ♪ Music!! ♩ ♬

I am so grateful for the gift of music~ I love all kinds of music. My kids will tell you that I only listen to church music in the car, but that's not so. I love international music, classical, rock, alternative, country...just about any music has something in it to like. These days, I do like my music to be clean. (Though my penchant for Def Leppard might not indicate that...what can I say...it's a flashback thing to my youth!)

I love to sing, too. I'm not a great singer. I can carry a tune if there's music, usually. Part of me believes that the singing voice I have here on this earth is very different from the voice I had when I lived in heaven. But either way it doesn't matter...what matters when I sing is the testimony I have in my heart, and that's the part that I'm sure Heavenly Father hears perfectly.

Music has helped me through some tough times. I'm so grateful for LDS artists who made music that spoke to my soul during times of crisis. I also love to hear my kids making music on their guitars, ukulele, clarinets, french horn, and piano. I love to hear my kids sing. I think music is one of the best gifts we've been given to bring joy to our lives and express our feelings. I'm so thankful!

Sunday, Sunday!

It's Sunday, and it's fast and testimony day! What better day than today to say that I'm immensely grateful for my faith, which is both a compass and an anchor in this life. Knowing where I came from, why I am here, and where I am going gives meaning to the mundane. I'm thankful to be His. ♥

I joined the Stake Adult Christmas Choir today, and was blessed to learn a new song that had me crying because it touched me so deeply. It was called, "Was I There" and it captured so perfectly how I have always felt about Christmas. The music is so beautiful. Here are the lyrics:

Christmas time fills the world again
Happy voices sing, Good will to men. 
Then a feeling of music forgotten 
Stirs my soul like a dream veiled in time.
Somehow do I know a heavenly song of long ago.
Burning bright in the heart of me
Like an ember in my memory.
Was I there in a chorus of angels when he came?
Did I sing out from heavn Glory to his name.
My Lord and my brother still the same.
Though I can't recall the scene,
The cold or balmy air,
Still somehow it must be so that I was there.
Did I weep for the love of him
On that holy night in Bethlehem?
Did I sing with a chorus of angels when he came?
Did I cry out from heaven glory to his name,
My Lord and Brother still the same.
Heav'n and earth together bound in wonder at the sight.
Nowhere else would I have been but there that night.
Did I weep for the love of him 
On that holy night in Bethlehem? 
Did I sing with a chorus of angels when he came?
Did I cry out from heaven glory to his name,
My Lord and Brother still the same (still the same).
Still the Same.