A few December pictures

Table decorations by night

 Picnics in the living room

Reading with Grandma

A trip to Carpinito with Daddy to see the reindeer.  They had a camel this year as well.

Two cats napping in the sun

Homing in on the Holidays

This is our last week of teaching before the holidays, and it's full of tying up loose ends.

We arrived home late Sunday night from a lovely and restful weekend in Oregon, needing to get going early on Monday with work stuff.  Except I woke up Monday with a stomach bug, on top of not quite having gotten over my three-week-long cold.  In case you needed to know about that, in the week-and-a-half surrounding our Messiah performance, I went through three *family size* bags of cough drops BY MYSELF.  I did not need that much sugar, but I needed to not cough my lungs out during various events involving other people...  Anyway, the cold is really almost completely gone now.  Back to Monday - I rescheduled my first three students, and by taking a two or three hour nap and not eating much of anything I was ok enough to teach my Monday evening students and my Tuesday students.  I guess a stomach bug was a good way to get rid of my lingering pregnancy weight before the holiday goodies hit...

About that. Number Two was to have been at twenty weeks today, half way to full term.  Long ago I passed through the stage of being sad all the time, and then through the stage of not being sad all the time but still crying each day.  I'm down to crying maybe once a week, and under very controlled and private circumstances.  It's strange how you can miss someone so much that you never got to meet, and who was around for such a short time.

Because of the impending holidays I've had some added activities, although we did have Tuesday morning off from Bible study.  Making cookies for our neighbors.  A dinner get-together with Jeff and Linda.  A Christmas tree smack in the middle of group class followed by a rehearsal and chat with Anita.  Working on Christmas presents for people.  Writing a letter to my new pen pal in Lesotho.  A trial lesson with a potential student.  Doing some homework for the Suzuki Principles in Action course we're taking in January.  Looking for a cat sitter.  Also, I think I've finally gotten the Bach E Major Concerto memorized, although it needs some more work to become dependable.

Starting Monday evening, my inner night owl has been going crazy, maybe that long I'm-exhausted-and-sick-to-my-stomach-and-have-a-low-grade-fever nap got me off to a bad start.  I've been good about staying in bed in the dark for hours and trying to turn my thoughts toward the uplifting, but tonight a little after 1:00 am, I decided to use the bathroom and make some tea, still being nowhere *near* sleep, and then type up this blog I've been thinking about.  I debated with myself, because backlit screens are *not* supposed to contribute to good circadian rhythms...  I might go read a real book for a while until Anne calls for milk.  And then maybe I'll be ready to sleep.

Tomorrow evening is the candle-light communion at our church, and I love it.  First of all, I'm kind of a sucker for candles.  And also, I like the sort of sedate Christmas decorations found in church.  And, I've probably mentioned this before, but I *love* the Adventist communion which always includes foot-washing and singing and prayers in small groups.  We only have it four times a year, and I hate to miss it.  Saturday morning is the special Christmas music program during the church service, and Jared and I are playing two Christmas carols with two of our students.  I imagine Anne will stand up there and play along.  We'd offered to let her bring her box violin, but we discovered tonight on the way to group class it was missing - I think we must have left it at group class on Fox Island on Tuesday.  Her box cello is around, so maybe she'll come complete the quintet at church that way...

American Holidays: Christmas

This is another one for my lovely Afghan friend!

December 25 is Christmas Day, but as you've already noticed, people find a way to celebrate for the whole month of December.  Christmas was invented in Europe almost two thousand years ago, and our American Christmas is a mix of many different traditions.

Part 1: Winter solstice traditions from Europe

Lights

Decorating with evergreen trees and branches

Parties

Lots of food

Giving gifts

Music

Yule logs (burning a large tree trunk)

Christians, as well as non-religious Americans, and even some Americans of other religions, enjoy many of these traditions.

Part 2: Christian Holy Day

The Bible talks about Jesus' birth, but it doesn't say what the date was or require a special day to remember it.  However, around the year 350 CE, Pope Julius of the Catholic Church declared that Christians should celebrate this event on December 25th.  Here is the main Bible passage about Jesus' birth from the book of Luke:

It was about that same time that Augustus Caesar sent out an order to all people in the countries that were under Roman rule. The order said that everyone’s name must be put on a list. This was the first counting of all the people while Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone traveled to their own hometowns to have their name put on the list.

So Joseph left Nazareth, a town in Galilee, and went to the town of Bethlehem in Judea. It was known as the town of David. Joseph went there because he was from the family of David. Joseph registered with Mary because she was engaged to marry him. (She was now pregnant.) While Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem, the time came for her to have the baby. She gave birth to her first son. She wrapped him up well and laid him in a box where cattle are fed. She put him there because the guest room was full.

That night, some shepherds were out in the fields near Bethlehem watching their sheep. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord was shining around them. The shepherds were very afraid. The angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid. I have some very good news for you—news that will make everyone happy. Today your Savior was born in David’s town. He is the Messiah, the Lord. This is how you will know him: You will find a baby wrapped in pieces of cloth and lying in a feeding box.”

Then a huge army of angels from heaven joined the first angel, and they were all praising God, saying,

 “Praise God in heaven,
    and on earth let there be peace to the people who please him.”

 The angels left the shepherds and went back to heaven. The shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this great event the Lord has told us about.”

So they went running and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the feeding box.  When they saw the baby, they told what the angels said about this child.  Everyone was surprised when they heard what the shepherds told them.  Mary continued to think about these things, trying to understand them.  The shepherds went back to their sheep, praising God and thanking him for everything they had seen and heard. It was just as the angel had told them.

When the baby was eight days old, he was circumcised, and he was named Jesus. This name was given by the angel before the baby began to grow inside Mary.

And the other story from the book of Matthew:

Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea during the time when Herod was king. After Jesus was born, some wise men from the east came to Jerusalem. They asked people, “Where is the child who has been born to be the king of the Jews? We saw the star that shows he was born. We saw it rise in the sky in the east and have come to worship him.”

When King Herod heard about this, it upset him as well as everyone else in Jerusalem. Herod called a meeting of all the leading Jewish priests and teachers of the law. He asked them where the Messiah would be born. They answered, “In the town of Bethlehem in Judea, just as the prophet wrote:

‘Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
    you are important among the rulers of Judah.
Yes, a ruler will come from you,
    and that ruler will lead Israel, my people.’”

Then Herod had a private meeting with the wise men from the east. He learned from them the exact time they first saw the star. Then he sent them to Bethlehem. He said, “Go and look carefully for the child. When you find him, come tell me. Then I can go worship him too.”

After the wise men heard the king, they left. They saw the same star they had seen in the east, and they followed it. The star went before them until it stopped above the place where the child was. They were very happy and excited to see the star.

The wise men came to the house where the child was with his mother Mary. They bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened the boxes of gifts they had brought for him. They gave him treasures of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. But God warned the wise men in a dream not to go back to Herod. So they went home to their own country a different way.

Many American Christians celebrate Christmas by going to church (usually on the evening before, called Christmas Eve), singing Christmas carols, and by putting up nativity scenes.  Here is a photo from last Christmas of Anne looking at her little nativity set:

You can see baby Jesus with his parents in the barn, angels, some shepherds with sheep, and some wise men who have come from the East.

Here are some famous Christmas carols...

Joy to the World:

Silent Night:

Hark, the Herald Angels Sing:

What Child is This:

Go Tell it on the Mountain:

Many secular Americans celebrate Christmas without any of the religious traditions.  A few small groups of Christians choose not to celebrate Christmas, because the Bible doesn't tell us to or because of the non-religious traditions associated with it.

Part 3: American traditions

In the Catholic Church, December 6th is the feast day of St. Nicholas.  Nicholas lived in the 300's CE in Turkey, and he was known for giving gifts, including putting them into socks and stockings hung out to dry.  

An American invention, based on St. Nicholas, is Santa Claus.  

Santa lives at the North Pole with a bunch of elves and reindeer.  They spend the year making gifts for children around the world, and on the night of December 24th, Santa flies through the air on a sleigh, led by the reindeer.  They land on the roofs of people's homes and Santa slips down the chimney into the fireplace to leave gifts under the tree and in stocking hung by the chimney.  Some kids will leave out milk and cookies as a gift for Santa, and their parents will eat and drink it up after the kids go to bed.  

We have lots of movies and songs and stories about Santa Claus, especially for kids.  You might enjoy watching "The Polar Express" or "The Miracle on 34th Street" from Netflix.

Some Christian Americans do the Santa story, too, and some do not.  Non-religious families often do the Santa story for their kids and celebrate with lots of gifts.

Felt isn't just for Sunday School teachers...

We spent Thanksgiving break in Oregon, which was ascertainable from our last post.  Having Grandma and Grampa and Uncle Jeff and Aunt Linda available for Anne and no teacher for several, meant I got a lot of projects done.  I feel so accomplished!

The first evening we were there I finished getting bowings in the Bach Concerto parts!  The back story on this, is that I am playing a recital in January.  Contents: The Mirror Duet (attr. to Mozart) with a 12-year-old.  Three Bartok Duets with a 15-year-old.  A Brahms Hungarian Dance with Anita and my neighbor pianist.  And the three Bach violin concertos with two lovely college ladies, Linda, and Jared as my orchestra.  And a 9-year-old will play the second violin part on the Double Concerto.  So now I can hand out the parts to my mini-orchestra.

Wednesday I was able to get some of October's medical bills and insurance billing taken care of.  Insurance did more than I expected.  Hallelujah!

Between Friday and Saturday I made our Christmas tree.  My mom told me about these felt Christmas trees which can be continually redecorated by a toddler, and bonus, fit really well in an apartment.

I googled "Christmas tree silhouette", and when I found one I liked, I copied it freehand with the scissors.

Candles - we found pink/yellow/orange tie-die felt, which made awesome flames.

If anyone has a suggestion about something better than Elmer's school glue to keep these flames glued on, I'd love to hear about it.  They fall apart daily and are getting reglued with the same stuff.

On these brown ornaments, I again googled silhouettes of the images I wanted and freehand copied with scissors.

My finished ornaments.  I decided to go with names of Jesus.

Living Water = water pitcher

Holy Spirit descended on him at his baptism = dove

He is the Beginning = alpha

"..and on this Rock I will build my church" = rock

Prince of Peace = crown on peace symbol

"God is love" = heart

Bright and Morning Star/star of Bethlehem = star

Lawgiver = tablets of the commandments

He ascended in the clouds and will return the same way = cloud

Bread of Life = loaf of bread

Lion of the Tribe of Judah = lion

King = crown

He is the End = omega

Word = Bible

Lamb of God = lamb

Judge = scales

Good Shepherd = staff

Root of David/Son of David = Star of David

He died on the cross = cross

Sheep Gate = gate

Our High Priest = ephod

Not to mention all the of candles... meaning the Light

I initially tried hanging it with command strips as the various tutorials suggested, but it was a total bust, so I got flat-head thumb tacks and nailed them in.  Works well, and I don't think there's much danger of Anne taking them out of the wall and stepping on them.

Also, I took the 1000 piece puzzle Claudia sent me for my birthday to Oregon, and we got started on it.  I left it for Nancy to enjoy finishing.  It's a cartoon orchestra, and Anne's favorite part is the baby in the choir loft peeing into the tuba below.

Jared helped me big time on Sunday in getting our travel arrangements figured out for the Suzuki Principles in Action class we're taking in Loma Linda in January, and we made the tough decision to leave Anne with her grandparents for two days.  I know the nights will be hard for her, since she's still nursing, and I think they will be hard for me, too.  We've never spent a night apart since she was born.

And lastly, I borrowed Nancy's sewing machine, and for my third ever machine sewing attempt, I put together Anne's airplane dress.  After I finished, I discovered a couple of important alterations I should do at some point: 1) add a zipper, because the skirt is not stretchy, while the shirt portion is, and 2) deal with the internal seams better at the hem to prevent unravelling.  Not tricky propositions, I don't think.

She can still wear the Christmas dress I knitted her two years ago.  This is her standing on the table "helping."

Sauvie Island Holiday with Willamette Addendum

It was a clear, clear Thanksgiving, and we could see four mountains from Aunt Julie's back porch.  Zoomed the lens just a bit...

Rainier and St. Helens

Adams

Hood

Zoom back to the porch

Hand-me-down dress, hand-me-down doll

Cute!

Peek-a-boo!

Sunset reflecting on St. Helens

Sisters.

Back "home"...

Aunt Julie loaned Anne an old dress of hers

Wearing (Great-) Aunt Julie's dress, sitting in Great-Grandma Cole's baby chair