Over Zealous....Again

Well, it's Christmas Eve....10:00 p.m., and I think I may have overplanned and stretched myself too thin, yet again. I promised to blog as soon as we arrived in Rochester, but in my defense, I was not counting on flood number....oh....10 or 11 in our basement. You're viewing the aftermath on the left. The beanie babies that I use for rewards and what not in my classroom were overcome by the meltage and water that seeped into our basement while we were away celebrating the holiday season in Hord. Nothing can zap the holiday spirit out of ya faster than two inches of water standing in your basement. Don't worry...we're battling through. The water is cleaned up and SOME of the gifts are wrapped. As I looked upon my angel, while visions of sugar plums danced in his head this evening, I thought about the things that made me "feel" Christmas. I've always found there are a few things that really perk up my holiday spirit, no matter what kind of mood I'm in....all be it foul from dealing with a flood. Here are some of the things that always make me stop and sigh and rest my thoughts upon something much bigger than we are....Christmas.

1. The Charlie Brown Christmas Special. When the spot light turns on Linus and he reads those verses from the Bible, my heart melts....year after year after year. And now it can melt several times in one season because we are now the owners of the special on DVD....courtesy of Mom and Dad.

2. The Christmas service at my home church in Effingham, where at 11:45 in the evening, everyone in the church holds one lit candle and the whole congregation sings "Silent Night" with no piano/organ. It's been a few years since I sat in the pew and participated in that service, and it will probably be a few more before I do again, but that's definitely a spot where my heart feels Christmas.

3. Any kind of Christmas program where my students sing. Since I started teaching, I've always been "required" to attend the school Christmas program. This is the first year that hasn't been a requirement, since Rochester is so big and the only grade that has an official Christmas program is the third grade. But on Friday, the last day of school before Christmas break, I witnessed something even better. Our janitors and a few other volunteers, came in to our cafeteria at lunch time, and played live Christmas music. We had a piano player, several guitar players, and even a couple of violinists. As I was seating my class for lunch, I was serenaded by about 160 first graders singing "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" at the top of their lungs. If that doesn't put you in the Christmas spirit, nothing will.

4. And now you're about to see something that has given a whole new light on how Chad and I see Christmas. In my opinion, there's nothing sweeter than an almost two year old singing "Away in a Manger." I'm positive I would think that even if he weren't mine, but since he is, it's even sweeter.

On Sunday there will be an ENORMOUS blog posted, starting with Christmas at the Cash's and the Kutscher's, and concluding with a 2nd birthday celebration. Until then, I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas.