december calendar

Today, a little update on what's been happening in our lives.

Last week was the 'decorate for Christmas' week. That was fun because this is the first time we've decorated our new home. When you've been in a place for 20+ years, you know where every decoration goes. That was the case in our old home. Not so here. Every decoration demanded a decision. Add to the mix red kitchen walls, against which some of the bright red decorations looked quite jarring. The result was a job I stretched into several days.

I did eventually get everything up somewhere - including my snow village. To display that along with the manger scene, I rescued from the garage a little old table on wheels that we moved from the other house but were planning to take to the thrift store with the next load. That little piece of furniture is so packed with Christmas, top and bottom, it reminds me of one of those desert trolleys that they take from table to table at some restaurants.


All the evenings last week, beginning from Tuesday on, were taken up with the Christmas production. E. and I are in the choir and so needed to attend the dress rehearsals Tuesday and Wednesday. As has happened so often before, we left rehearsal Wednesday wondering how the huge machine that is such an endeavor, would ever be made to run smoothly. The production this year had a lot of media involved (pictures projected against a large screen at the back of the stage which became the scene changes) along with a band, the usual cast of dozens, plus lighting, sound, prompt words up on the screen, stage crew hustling props on and off etc.

Thursday through Sunday we put on six performances of the two-hour "Mr. Goodman's Manor" - a play written and directed by Ben Wylie, one of our own. Its theme was all about the father heart of God.

One of the highlights was a scene where Ben used animation to show Jesus' life as a plant which started out as a tiny seed, then grew into a large tree, then wilted and drooped in the storm, then came to life again.

Another favorite part was when soloist Michael Larson sang Joseph's Lullaby (MercyMe version) against the backdrop of scenes from the Christmas story with the occasional foreshadowing glimpse of Jesus on the cross. (I didn't really get the full effect of this, only sneaked glances, as we were on stage at the time but the little I saw was moving.)

Thursday went surprisingly well - and each performance after just flowed smoother. Friday and Saturday nights we had friends, whom we'd invited to the play, over here for coffee and snacks later. Sunday night after the last performance, when the friends we'd invited didn't show, we crashed. Monday wasn't too productive either. I kept falling asleep!

Now, after a whole day of resting up, I'm feeling more myself again and getting ready to tackle more Christmas stuff - like writing the Christmas letter and shopping. I've only just started my Christmas shopping!