gotta post something

Apologies again for being a lame blogger. I don't even get to read my friends blogs very often anymore. I just am so tired and the boys are so busy, I don't make much time to be on the computer.

I thought I could at least post something quickly though.

We're well into the swing of things with the Christmas season. It is a wonderful time of year. It's not all magic and sleigh bells all the time. It's way too gray outside for that. But we have had some great moments. Here's a few.

We went to Jason's Christmas party last weekend. It was actually really fun! They do put on a good party. It was in the Navy Pier Grand ballroom, there was a live band, the food was delicious, I loved my dress (but I forgot to take a single picture!), and we actually saw people we knew. That was the best part.

Another thing we did last weekend was go to the Wheaton College Christmas concert, which was a tradition for my family while they were living here. Lately I've been thinking about how my mom did so much to enrich our lives culturally. She knows a lot about the arts and music and is a very fun lady. I remember several special concerts that she took me too growing up: the Nutcracker, Chicago symphony orchestra, front row Yo-Yo Ma concert of the Bach unaccompanied cello concertos, Renee Fleming in her earlier days, Ravinia, Hansel and Gretel Opera, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor dreamcoat, and many more. That's one reason I love living in the Chicago area. There's always something to do. Now if only we had the money for the tickets! I'm really glad my mom made it a priority to expose us to music and art. Oh, and art! I remember going to the Art museum occasionally. My legs always seemed to turn to lead as soon as we got there. But as I got older, I started to enjoy it more. One time we went for a Degas exhibit and I was so enthralled and took so long I got separated from my family. Even though I was a teenager, I still cried when I finally found them. That was a turning point for me though. I wish I knew as much about the arts as my mom. She's had a lot more time though. Just recently she took a trip around Europe, the focal point being a visit to Malta to a Caravaggio exhibit. Maybe someday I'll be like that. In the meantime, I get in what I can, like a local College concert.

Here's the lyrics to my favorite song they performed:
What Sweeter Music by John Rutter

What sweeter music can we bring
Then a carol, for to sing
The birth of this our Heavenly King?
Awake the voice! Awake the string!

Dark and dull night, fly hence away,
And give the honour to this day
That sees December turned to May.

Why does the chilling winter's morn
Smile, like a field beset with corn?
Or smell like a meadow newly shorn
Thus on the sudden? Come and see
The cause, why things thus fragrant be:

'Tis he is born, whose quickening birth
Gives life and lustre, public mirth,
To heaven and the under-earth.

We see him come, and know him ours,
Who, with his sunshine and his showers,
Turns all the patient ground to flowers.

The darling of the world is come,
And fit it is, we find a room
To welcome him, to welcome him.

The nobler part of all the house here, is the heart.
Which we will give him: and bequeath
This holly, and this ivy wreath.
To do him honour who's our King
And Lord of all this revelling.

(It's even more beautiful to music)

Merry Christmas!