The End of A Good Snow Day

I just swept the last dusting of snow off our treacherous north-side sidewalk before I call it a day. (After Kaitlin and I spent an hour shoveling it earlier.) It was just so beautiful that I had to take some more pictures. Nothing more breath-taking than fresh snow and Christmas lights.

A Good Day To Stay Home

It's one of those days for a good book and a bowl of soup. My camera can't quite capture how hard it is snowing. I'm thankful for a warm home. Now I just wish I had a good book....and some time to read it!

White Christmas

Don't have to dream about it this year, we have a white Christmas. Richfield doesn't usually get that much snow, but this week we had a good storm. One of my favorite things is to go walking while it is snowing. It is so quiet and seems so clean and pure. For a minute nothing is polluted by dirt or noise. Love it.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ME

It does sound selfish to give yourself a Christmas present doesn't it?

Every year for the last 17 years (with two exceptions) I have sung Handel's "Messiah" with a local choir. The choir started out as a small choir formed by friends, then expanded to a bi-stake Richfield choir, then to a regional stake choir, and now as the Sevier Oratorio Society which includes participants from all religious affiliations in Sevier County. We used to invite Snow College orchestra to come from Ephraim to play for us, but now we have our own musicians from the county. With the orchestra and the choir combined, we have over 145 participants this year.

A friend and I had missed all the practices this year and had decided that it was a year we would sit out. Yesterday in Church I told her I was going to go crash the last practice just so I could sing through it once this year. She went with me. We were a little nervous that the group wouldn't be too happy to see us show up at the end, but they were so welcoming to us and encouraged us to come perform it next week. We were a little skeptical, but at the end of the first song we both looked at each other with teary eyes and said, "That's It! We're doing it!"

Unless you have ever sung this oratorio, I can't tell you of the emotions that it makes you feel. It is a time when you can sing with your whole heart, the loudest you can manage, that you KNOW that there is a Savior who came to rescue us from our sins of this life. It is a time to shout, "Hallelujah!" It is a time to know that "Surely, surely, He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows." It is almost painful to sing, "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities."

Singing "The Messiah" each year has become my Christmas present to myself. Singing "The Messiah" makes Christmas CHRISTmas for me.

Holidazed

How did it get to be December so quickly? All of a sudden, I am feeling the panic gear kick in. No lights on the outside of the house, no trees in the house, no decorations in the house, no presents bought to bring in the house and here it is, December 1st already. We haven't had any time to do all these things because we have been having too much fun doing other things. Two weekends ago, we enjoyed an afternoon cutting down Christmas trees. Last weekend, we enjoyed family at Rockville for Thanksgiving. I guess I had better quit having so much fun and get to work....

Here are some pictures of our Thanksgiving fun: