My Favorite Day of the Whole Year!

My favorite day of the whole year Used to be Christmas Day...

Christmas Eve was lots of work and lots of being at church and oyster stew (blech!) and--because you were dressed up all day between church services and therefore not bundled up as usual--it was also the Coldest day of the year. Now I rather like my dad's Christmas Eve service and as a child I thought it was the best church service of the whole year. But as I've gotten older and taken on more and more responsibilities, it has unfortunately lost some of its magic. Last year, for instance, I sang solos at all four services. I also helped set up for all four services. I did the children's sermon at the early morning service and spent the rest of the day passing out candles and stars, ringing bells, singing with the choir, cleaning up after services and turning off the lights for the candle lighting in the evening. It was, to say the least, a very full day.

In contrast, imagine the wondrous indolence of Christmas Day. With nowhere to go and nothing that has to be done, Christmas Day is traditionally the one day that my family is allowed to stay in our pajamas, bask in the warmth of a fire, open stockings and presents, eat all manner of Christmas goodies and play with our new toys.

And there were always toys to play with! Even once Kurt and I outgrew our Star Wars action figures (or, I should say, Mom and Dad stopped buying them for us... One is Never too old for Star Wars action figures!) there were always computer gadgets and games. Videos, books, and electronic bumblepuppies of all sorts. Lots of fun things to share.

But not this year... With the coming of in-laws and babies our traditions have perforce changed and as a result Kurt and I did not even get to Mom and Dad's until Christmas afternoon. Then there was much to do to have Christmas dinner and catch up and open stockings and presents and to prepare for the trip to see the extended family the next day. And actually, there was very little in the way of toys to play with anyway. In my old age I asked for practical gifts like extra sheets for my massage table and warm socks and anatomy flashcards for school... and that is exactly what I got...

So it was that this year Today, December 30, 2007, became my favorite day of the year.

Dan and I woke up this morning to the wonderful realization that it was a day when we didn't have anyone to visit, no presents to buy, no parties to attend, nothing to wrap or open, no school to go to, no classes to teach. Just a blissfully grey and rainy day with nothing to do but play. And, bless his heart, Dan Did get a toy for Christmas that he has been sharing with me.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I now know what my two degrees in classical voice were for. As Mom always says, "Nothing you learn is ever wasted." Those six years of higher education were for the sole purpose of preparing me for my newly found vocation. I have spent the whole day sitting on the couch in my pajamas, playing Guitar Hero II and becoming a rock goddess.

It's a tough job. Fortunately I have all day. And now I really must get back to it. I want to master Mötley Crüe's immortal classic "Shout at the Devil" at medium difficulty before Dan pulls an intervention, pries the little plastic guitar from my frozen fingers and hides it somewhere.

Frostalgia

I've had a sentimental pang recently for the wonders of Christmas in Chicago…

The tree in the Sears Tower lobby, Kristkindl Market in Daley Plaza, the windows and Walnut Room at Marshall Field's (it will Always be Marshall Field's to me!) and the trees and bushes all up and down Lake Shore Drive outlined in gorgeous white lights… Going to The Music Box to see White Christmas and It’s a Wonderful Life and the Broadway Christmas concert and Heike's Cookie Exchange party and Zoo Lights. There were so many kitschy, cool things to do with my single friends.

The office where I worked was beautifully decorated and there were festive events and the big office holiday party… Then I would hop on a train after a crazy last day at work and chug through the snowy wonderland to my parent's place in Princeton. It was like taking the Hogwarts Express and I always saved a really good book for the trip, or napped. Napping was also a favorite train activity!

Down here it was in the high 70's all last week and there doesn't seem to be much in the way of decorating. There’s not even a Hint of snow. Even I, never without my down comforter coat, haven’t broken out a winter coat yet! (The King Singers are singing "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" as I write this!)

I haven't seen that many trees and lights up. Mostly what I see is the madness of over full parking lots and crazy traffic. We do have cards up in the office to decorate but one of my bosses started putting up the Sample cards way back in September when they first arrived so I've kind of learned to block them out which undermines their festive spirit.

So I've been thinking fondly of my Christmases in Chicago... And then a friend reminded me of the unpleasant reality of frozen boogers… and I snapped out of it! : )

I hope all of you, no matter where you might be when reading this, are having a Joyful and Blessed holiday season. Much love to you all.

Final Lee

I made it! My last final of the semester was accomplished today. Whew! (So far the grades I've gotten back have been good too!)

You Know You're Old When...

Sometimes it hits me at the strangest times. Like when I'm sitting on the couch at 10:30 after a long day and I just want to chat with a girlfriend and after waking up a couple of people I realize that there is No One that I can safely call at 10:30 to chat with anymore.

Move mountains to help me out of a crisis? Yes. Chat with me at 10:30 on a Wednesday night... No.

Bravo!

I saw Dan's one man version of David Sedaris's The Santaland Diaries last night and I have to send some props out his way...

He was fantastic! The characters were hilarious and over the top. And his narrator was disarming and frank. The staging was smooth and he left us wanting more. There were a couple of moments where even I was eating out of the palm of his hand (and I've heard him running lines for weeks now so I wasn't expecting too many surprises.) The audience loved him!

And so do I.

Fallosity

Last week I thought I had experienced the ultimate fallish experience that North Carolina had to offer...

It was one of those magical days when the clouds, instead of hanging sullenly in the sky, come down to earth and add an intimate magic and stillness to everything. The now ragged fall foliage was smoothed out and given fresh glamour, the flaws hidden and just the last colorful bits peeking through. Even the giant mulch piles in the road construction sites sent up mysterious wreaths of steam.

I got to school early as I usually do, and (after lamenting a tragic lack of camera in the face of the most beautiful mauve bush covered in perfect dew drops) decided to go on a walk and get a little exercise and studying in. I grabbed my dampish exam study guide and headed down the trail through the woods that is part of the school property. It was so still, just my feet crunching on the gravel path and the anxious lowing of cows at neighboring farms. Something about tromping through the misty fields and down the path felt so right to me on such a deep level. A very Galbreathy thing to do… And the smell! I couldn’t get enough of the dark, loamy, woodsy smell. I stopped several places just to breath in that air.

And then I came around a corner and there were four wild turkeys huddled just at the point on the path that students aren’t supposed to pass. They looked for all the world like they were secret agents planning some covert action that would take them into the no man zone. As soon as they heard me they fled in pairs to opposite sides of the road and simply disappeared.

It was a perfect fall day and I thought it might be impossible to top… until this week.

This week I was once again at school early but not at such a propitious time for a walk. It was much colder and the sun was very close to setting… It took some convincing to get me out for a walk but I wanted to go over my massage sequences again in my head before class so I headed out, just for a short time. This time I stuck to the fields and had already gotten pretty far from the class building when things started to look a little pink in the sky in front of me. I looked over my shoulder and the whole western horizon was the most vibrant crimson color with delicate rose further to the south. It was so pretty, I kept checking over my shoulder as I walked, not wanting to miss anything. I finally turned around to go back and just stopped dead in my tracks. The pinkish hues were gone and it now looked like a giant golden hand was reaching out of the sky toward me. The reflection on the pond before me was stunning and I stood there, motionless, drinking the moment in while the muskrats swam across the pond sending golden ripples across the water, listening to the last few dry leaves of a nearby tree rattle in the breeze.

As the gold turned again to rich pink and began to fade, one brave muskrat soul began to nibble in the pond just below me. As if this wasn't already a beautiful scene, I heard geese over my left shoulder and a dozen or so flew right by me, so low that I thought for sure they were heading for the pond at my feet. They ended up banking sharply and flew off in another direction instead of landing. Just as I turned to trudge back to school, feeling the nip of the night chill through my jacket, the lights on the school porch came on in a most inviting way.

Experiencing both the passing of the fall foliage and the short lived beauty of the sunset recently have caused me to reflect on the necessary fact that beauty is fleeting and cannot last forever. Which is good. If it did, I would still be holding my breath in that field...