Saturday Before Christmas....

'Twas the Saturday before Christmas
and all the day long
My head kept repeating
the same Christmas song.

My thoughts were all spinning
with things left to do,
The pageant to practice,
and cleaning the loo.

More shopping and dusting,
the relatives are coming!
And still "Silver Bells"
I just kept on humming.

"If I could just get that
song out of my head,
I might be a sight more
productive," I said.

But Bing kept on singing
(he does a great job)
and soon, oh my goodness!
My head it did thob.

Now Shopping, Now Cleaning,
Now cooking with butter,
Now wrapping, (not napping!)
My heart gave a flutter.

To the top of the Store
at the end of the mall
my feet made a path
(oh the ache of it all!)

But I heard the song still
as I shopped til I dropped
Silver Bells kept on ringing
'til at home I had flopped.

As I put my feet up
And relaxed in my chair
The Silver Bells stopped!
and what did I hear?

The sounds of the silence
were loud in my ear
I hope that the bells
don't come back 'til next year!

Banqueted Out

I don't go to many banquets, thank the good Lord, but it seems they happen all at once. This weekend I attended two in a row! Lot's of sitting, yakking and eating but too many hours of the sitting.

I was saved from boredom at the office party by the presence of my most precious son. He gave up his Saturday night to escort me, what a marvelous boy I've raised (sound of arm breaking from patting myself on the back...I had help, lots of it!) The food was fairly good and I do see alot of the spouses of my co-workers that I only see once a year so all in all the party was a sucesss (don't ask my backside, it's still smarting from all the sitting).

The second banquet I attended was our church Christmas banquet, a nice party. The food was good and this time I had quite a few family members there to enjoy. I especially liked sitting with my son and his wife. Some other seats at our table were filled with not so wonderful people, but I digress. A very nice part of the celebration was the presence of my niece and two nephews flitting around being the social butterflies of the hour. The smallest nephew, however, was fighting a cold and spent a lot of time cuddled on laps (my own included) and eventually fell asleep on my shoulder. I enjoyed this banquet more also because of the theme...we celebrate the birth of Christ and the singing reflected our praise and worship of the newborn King.

At the end of the evening I was banqueted out and ready for some relaxing. I picked up the box of Sees ( a gift from our Pastor every year) and headed for home. The weather had turned especially cold so I went home to huddle under my blankets until the blasted alarm woke me this morning at 5:30. I woke up to the sound of pouring rain...what a way to start the new week!

Hemming and Hawwing

Friday nights are usually relaxing after a long week. Sometimes Haley B. visits with me while her parents and elder brother have committments at church. We like to read and play games, but most of all we relax.

This week was especially busy so I was very happy to be home and relaxing. Then my son called and reminded me of my committment to hem his wife's dress they made for the Christmas banquet we're going to on Sunday. They dropped it off on their way to choir practice. So I spent the evening sitting in my big easy chair all right, but I was hemming the sleeves and very full skirt of the dress. It was all pinned and ready to hem so that made the job much easier as far as hemming went but very "sticky" for me. (Sara uses very large pins.) It's a very nice, soft, red dress and I'm sure it will look very nice. I don't mind doing hand sewing once in a while....I wouldn't like it for a job...but as a favor to my daughter-in-law who is very good to me, it's just fine. I'm happy to help. (Besides, my son has graciously offered to escort me to the office Christmas Dinner Dance at the Sheraton Hotel tomorrow night, it's the least I could do for him! ) Hopefully there will be some pictures taken of the two of them with Sara in the red dress to post later.

And the Hawwing part...well, hem and haw go together and I'm sure I made a "haw" sound a couple of times by yawning....so there you go.

Tagged as a Bookworm - I'm It!

I was an athletic child, but that faded very quickly when I discovered books. So when I was tagged "It" by my younger sister on her blog today I was less than amused until I realized there was no running involved and lots of reading! So here goes....page 56 of the book I picked up (one of my favorites that I read to Miss Haley B. often) and line 5 - 9?

"Well?" demanded the King again. "Do you or do you not take off your hat before your King?"
"Yes, indeed, Sire," answered Bartholomew, feeling greatly relieved. "I do take off my hat before my King."
"Then take it off this very instant," commanded the King more loudly than before.
"But, Sire, my hat is off," answered Bartholomew.
"Such impudence!" shouted the King, shaking an angry finger. "How dare you stand there and tell me your hat is off!"
"I don't like to say you are wrong, Sire" said Bartholomew very politely, "but you see my hat is off." And he showed the King the hat in his hand.
"If that is your hat in your hand," demanded the King, "what's that on your head?"

From The Five Hundred Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, by Dr. Seuss. My mother read this to me as a child and I have loved the story ever since. I've read it to any child that would sit still long enough, and some that wouldn't!

I'm ready for my close up, Mr. Demille....

.

We're practicing for the Christmas pageant. I am (thankfully) not the leader so I get more of a chance to notice the kids while we're practicing our singing. Tonight I watched in amazement as my little Haley girl belted out the songs word for word with a natural gusto that came from somewhere deep inside. At one point I think she almost hit a falsetto, but her pitch was perfect! And her delivery was a joy to watch, she was so enthralled with what she was singing. She's the only one that has already memorized the entire CD of songs for the pageant and won herself a solo for sure. I've watched her grow from the tiny little girl with the big brassy off-key voice that was way too loud to this amazing reformation. I was stunned...and thrilled.

Now if we could just get her to sit still once in a while...