Hodie

So, my amazing sister Emily is one of the more talented people in the world. Seriously. She's a gifted musician, and can play at least 6 instruments. I still remember one day when we were both living together going to college. I had a piece of music I had been working on for quite a while that was pretty technically challenging. After weeks of work, it was starting to sound a little closer to something someone might actually want to listen to. She came strolling through while I was practicing, and asked what I was working on. I showed her, and she asked me if she could borrow my violin for a minute (not her primary instrument--she plays the viola). My jaw dropped as she breezed through the piece of music, making it sound better than I ever had.

Anyway, Emily has always been one to get involved in musical things, and even though she is in med school has still found a way to get her music fix. Her recent gig has been singing with the Salt Lake Choral Artists. We went to a performance they did in November, and thoroughly enjoyed it. When we found out they were putting on a Christmas program, we jumped at the chance to go. I had never heard of Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Hodie" before, but figured it would be good based on prior experience. It was amazing! I now have a new piece of music to add to my "must listen to during Christmas" list. Thanks, Emily! We had a lot of fun.

Christmas

We had a great Christmas. The best part was spending time with family. Christmas Eve ended up being super busy. I had to work all day Tuesday, so it was the first day all week I had a chance to get out to do some last-minute grocery shopping. Turns out I wasn't the only one with that idea. Before I left to go shopping, I wondered if any of the stores would be open on Christmas Eve. Were they ever! What a zoo!

We went to see my side of the family at Heidi's house that afternoon.

While Heidi was busily cooking up a storm, Katie was quietly and methodically making the rounds of the kitchen, looking for anything she could take apart, open, dump or play with.

We wanted to stay longer, but Ryan's side of the family was having their big Christmas Eve bash at Grandma and Grandpa W's. We left a little early so we could make it to both.

We had dinner at G&G W's. Prancer (the family grand-dog) was roaming around, on the lookout for anything someone might be careless enough to drop. LaRae asked the boys to be very careful not to drop anything, because Prancer could get sick from eating people food. My nephew Ian was sitting in a chair that was kind of awkward to get in and out of. He dropped an olive on the floor and saw Prancer heading for it. He couldn't easily get down, so he had to go with plan B. "Alert, alert, alert, alert!" he yelled. The funny part is that we all understood exactly what was happening.

After dinner, we had gifts. Ian and Kai were positively dancing with excitement waiting for their cousins to open what they got them for Christmas. It's so fun to watch those boys play together. They know how to have a good time.



The biggest news this morning is...snow. Lots of it. I'm not sure what we got more of, wind or snow. Here's our nicely covered back porch, covered in snow. The closer it was to the house, the deeper it piled up.
While I chipped away at the ice on the front of our north-facing house, Ryan worked on blasting away what the snow plow left for us in our driveway. We are so thankful for that snowblower!

Hope everyone else had a wonderful holiday. We are so grateful for our family and friends. We love you, and appreciate the time we have to share together.

An experiment

I was in the mood for something different on my salad tonight, and this is what I came up with:

Pomegranate Salad with Citrus Dressing
Salad:
bowl full of a spring mix blend lettuce
sprinkle with a handful of raisins and pomegranate seeds
top with grated cheese (the stronger the cheese the better) and orange zest

Dressing:
3 Tbsp olive oil
juice of one orange (squeeze the orange you just zested)
1 tsp orange zest
1 splash of lemon juice
1/8 tsp cardamom
1/8 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp sugar

I loved it! Ryan wasn't wild about it, but I thought it was really good.

Holy Ham!

'Tis the season for Christmas gifts from the administration. (I really do appreciate the effort they make, and realize it's impossible to please everyone. It is entertaining, though, to compare notes on the obligatory Christmas gift.)

So, after 2 interruptions into 4th period for various announcements from whoever has the controls for our PA system, someone broke in again to tell the teachers that we needed to hustle out to the parking lot the moment school got out so we could pick up our Christmas gift. I had kids in my room after school, so I hurried out as soon as I could (after yet another announcement over the intercom). Lo and behold, I was given a ham--a rather large ham. I think it will take me and Ryan a month to eat through it. I didn't have any place cold to put it, and I still had another 45 minutes of work to do in my room. Hope the ham is still okay. I think the ham was frozen. It was still kind of cold when I finally got it home... I think its odds are better than the turkey I was given in the MORNING one year that I had to hang on to until school got out at noon.

My personal favorite for quirky administrative Christmas gifts was the year we got faculty shirts at the beginning of the year, and then a card at Christmas time: "We hope you continue to enjoy your shirt." I should have kept the card, because no one believes me when I tell them that story. The shirts weren't that great, either. We were asked to wear them for parent-teacher conferences, and all of the female staff had an extra shirt/turtleneck on under the faculty shirts because the fabric was chintzy and thin.

Anyway, I'm not a total cynic about Christmas gifts. I realize it's difficult to please everyone, especially when you feel obliged to give a staff a gift that ends up being the same for all. It does bring up a few vital questions though. Do they really need me to give me something? I think I would feel just as loved if they skipped the ham and donated the proceeds to a charity. And the most pressing question of all--what the heck am I going to do with all that ham?

Two is company, three is a party

...and it's a good thing it only takes 3. Yesterday we had a Christmas party at school for the ASL club. I had a whopping 5 kids show up, three of them officers who helped plan the party. Actually, I guess you could say we had 6, because at about 4:30 (well after what time I should have been there) one more student showed up and asked what time the party was going to start. Going to start!? The only reason I was still there was because I was finishing midterm grades (which I hadn't done earlier because of the party).