The Littlest Angel

My baby was in her first ever Christmas pageant!  She was cast as an angel, one of three, and she was the littlest and youngest on stage.  Maggie has been waiting all her life to be on stage.  Last year, at the end of the play, Celestia said, "Well, I guess that's all unless someone else wants to come up and sing." Maggie grabbed her friend Ben's hand and started up there, exclaiming, "Yeah! Me 'n' Ben!" (It should be noted here that Ben had no intention of going up there and provided anchor-like tendencies to slow her rise to stardom...)

Here's the angel, waving to her adoring fans (Daddy, Mommy, Angus and grandparents) while she sings. Not a drop of stage fright or hesitation in the child. 

They wear the wings with GREAT dignity. You've never seen such serious heavenly host!

Maggie, delivering one of her three lines.  You can see she talks with her hands, just like her mom.

Okay, these horses were just the greatest! The props for the play must've taken days, but they were so worth it.  The horses galloped, reared, jumped around, trotted....but nobody was thrown.

Singing "Jolly Old St. Nicholas"...the entire cast.  See the little banditos? They were raccoons! The students and teacher wrote the entire play themselves, and were able to customize the parts to the cast.  Those two raccoons were naughty, in the play, but quite contrite when caught. 

The other thing I really adore about this play, as well as last year's, is that the Christmas story is read from the book of Luke, within the plot. 

Santa!

I thought we were going to have problems here.  Mags wanted to see his sleigh and reindeer.  It's not good enough just to see the jolly old elf; she wants to have the WHOLE experience.  Fortunately, while we were in the bathroom changing out of the angel attire, Santa disappeared, so she didn't get to corner him on his mode of transportation....

Angus was thrilled to his toes, by Santa.  When he first saw St. Nick, his arms started flapping and his feet were dancing in one spot.  Even after he got to sit on his lap, he'd run over to Santa and give him a hug, whether there was another kid there, or not. 

And, of course, there was LOTS of food. Tons of appetizers, cookies and candy....most of us made two trips, and there was still food left over. Most of the kids just ate staggering amounts of candy, provided by Santa.   

It was really a great evening and I think everyone had a nice time.

I wish you all could've been there!

Not All Fired Up...

...about the Kindle.

In the comment section of the "Rescued" post, my friend Pam brought up the Kindle. For those who don't know about it, it's basically a little computer-ish device that allows the owner to download entire books to take with them.  The big selling points (from what I've read and can understand) is that the downloaded books are cheaper, easier to transport 200 volumes in your backpack, and allows the owner to choose what format to read them in (large print, fine print, making notes by keyboard, etc.) among other things.

I am not known, first of all, for my technological aptitude. It's all I can do to run the toaster, competently, and at the news of my blogging, my friend Traci sputtered coffee and swooned in her chair. "But you don't USE the computer," she gasped. Then, in a moment of reflection, I could tell what she was thinking..."No, Traci, my computer screen doesn't have eraser marks on it, either."  What a relief!

It's not that I'm opposed to technology. I rather like electricity, and I whole-heartedly embrace dishwashers, washing machines and coffee makers that allow me to stumble out at 4:33 a.m. and push a button for sweet nectar from Heaven. AND if I ever have the great privilege to meet the person behind the invention of 4-wheel drive on the fly and heated car seats, I will fall on the ground in gratitude and kiss their blessed feet. (I'm pretty sure it was a woman from the gumbo hills of Eastern Montana who got good and mad about having to get out and put the hubs in, dressed in clothes for church, who invented the 4-wheel drive on the fly.)

Are you still with me?

Pam asked whether I would own a Kindle, all cost aside. (That's a pretty big aside.)

And my answer is....

If I go back to college, maybe.

(Traci just spit coffee all over her computer screen, again....Sorry!)

But I won't own one just to have one. 

1. Technology changes so quickly that they will soon be obsolete....like the first cell phones that weighed 25 pounds and came in their own briefcases on wheels.  And when I say "obsolete", I don't mean they'll be going away, per se. Just that they will be advanced, tweaked, shrunk, changed and pretty soon, the Kindle will be on the pile of "well, it was fun for a couple years", while the consumers get the newer version.

2. I'd never remember to charge it. And that would make me spitting, throw-down, stomping, pseudo-cussing mad, to not be able to read the new "book"  I purchased! AND, invariably, I'd short the dadgummed thing out with my internal electronic impulses and there'd be the most expensive paperweight ($800 device + $350 downloaded, fried books) you've ever seen.

3. Don't you just love the smell, feel and essense of books? Don't you just feel rich, to have them? Isn't it great to find someone's handwritten comments in the margin? How the heck would I share my books? ("Here, Fontie, you can borrow my Kindle...")  You can't have an author inscribe your Kindle, can you? These are questions I can get really sarcastic and cutting on, but I won't.  I'll let you leap to that, yourself.

4. This is a completely dumb thing, but I don't like the idea that not everyone can have them.  I couldn't send a box of Kindles to Africa or Afghanistan to help others. Well, I could, but then a bunch of folks in Africa and Afghanistan would have some expensive paperweights. Or something. 

I can see how they'd be completely life-saving, in college, to be able to have texts and reference materials in one lightweight, portable spot. 

I'm not all fired up to own one, otherwise. 

And I'm not likely to find one in a second-hand store, with mementos tucked into its buttons, unless it's left by someone like me. Someone who couldn't retrieve "Little Women" and tried to get it out manually....

Rescued

(That's a pretty dramatic title for what I'm about to write...)

A couple mornings ago, I was having my coffee and opening my Bible when I noticed how FULL it was getting.  I am easily distracted, like a chicken, and started looking at all the flotsam and jetsam stuffed within the pages. I found, in no particular order: a feather, my brother's engagement announcement, my first Mother's Day card, a bookmark my Mom gave me in high school, my grampa's obituary, the reciept for my dog Molly, my old Weight Watcher's card with my weigh-ins (has since been relocated; don't even look) and other little bits of sentiment and memories.  It's like an informal scrapbook. And sometimes the memento is placed with a particular chapter and verse, but other times it's just in there and moves around like the Israelites in the desert. 

As I sifted through these things, I remembered a Bible I bought at St. Vincent De Pauls a couple years ago. It, too, had little treasures in its pages. I don't know whose it was or how it came to rest on the shelf of a thrift shop. I'm guessing it belonged to someone's bachelor uncle and they had to go through his stuff hurriedly, not taking time to open it, tossing it in the box with his old, threadbare shirts and the out-of-date hat he always wore to the Senior Center bingo and sandwich days.  

The Bible was old and brittle, and must've been cheap, because the pages are rough and thick, and the cover is not a premium leather, by any means. There was no publishing date, so it's just a guess.  In the book of Numbers, I found a crumbling, pink chrysanthemum and a slip of paper with the name "Mrs. Ellefson" written in shaky cursive. In Deuteronomy, there was a postcard from Defenders of America, depicting the USS Canberra, Number 6 in a series of 24 cards from the Nabisco Company. In the First Book of Samel, a little Christmas greeting in the form of a church bulletin, from The Church on the Hill.  Later, still in I Samuel, was a tiny little white cross that looked like it had been cut out of a greeting card. 

II Kings held a proclamation that "Samuel Alexander & Charles D. Penrose Have bought from George Gaullagher his Large and very extensive stock of MERCHANDIZE, (sic) composing a most extensive assortment of GOODS...etc." Within the listing were Irish Popolins, Sarsnett Silks, Bengal Chintz, Straw and Gimp Bonnets, ALSO Brandy, Gin, Molasses, Salt, Fish...and it goes on. Quite impressive! The date on the bottom is August 17, 1825, but I believe it's a reproduction. What an odd little thing to tuck into Scripture!

Psalms revealed a tiny tin star, with the three wisemen painted on it. Isaiah produced a little booklet of patriotic songs, both Norwegian and American. On one cover was the American flag, on the other, the flag of Norway. It was Printed in Norway by Emil Moestue A/S and I dearly wish I could read Norwegian!

I stood there in the second-hand store with this little black Bible, a little sad that no one knew whose it was and trying to picture the former owner. I had to rescue it, of course. 

Now it sits on the bookshelf in my bedroom, with an ancient book of Bobby Burns on one side and a turn-of-the-century volume of Faerie Tales. Quite a little group of literature, they are.  I think they're happy. I love to rescue books and give them a home.

I wonder what my Bible will reveal to my kids or grandkids, when they go through it after I'm gone. (And knowing my kids, I'll just be gone to the grocery store, not dead....) I hope there's more happy than sad, more hope than heartache. And I hope they give it a good home. 

In which the Duttons get together and exalt the blessed confection, the Cookie...

In a moment of insane inspiration, I suggested we all have matching aprons for Cookie Day.

Karen made ALL these!

(Mine is still not cut out or stitched, residing still in it's little Copper Thimble sack. I always have SUCH good ideas....just end up baking instead of sewing....)

We visit a lot, and catch up on everyone's lives. Here my sister Jen and Bonnie are discussing world affairs, I'm sure....

Auntie Jolene, Kamryn and Jentry, decorating the sugar cookies.

They were true artists!

Careful, careful....

Isn't that red pretty?

Maggie's paint horse.

Grammy Karen, enjoying the day.

Auntie Cari and baby Javon, relaxing.

(Secretly, Cari was trying to put her down for a nap....eventually she succumbed, but not without a fight.)

We end up dividing up about 15 different kinds of cookies and 4 or 5 different types of candies, in buckets for everyone.

PopPops gave Maggie and Angus two of his old hats, to their great delight!

At the end of the day, when everyone was frazzled, we heard a bawling from the basement.

I ran down to check out the situation and Maggie was sobbing, "I don't WANT to be a farmer, anymore! I want to be a COWGIRL!" PopPops assured her that she could be both, and she got the hat. She's still thrilled!

YUM!

Bookclubbin'

We are VERY serious about getting wine bottles open. You don't mess around with our merlot.

I wasn't supposed to take any pictures of people (even though everyone there HAD showered AND worn make up...) but this was blurry because of the action, and I decided no harm done in posting...

Our book was Jan Karon's Home To Holly Springs.

Our meal consisted of kraut bierrochs (not sure on the spelling), buffalo wing flavored eggrolls, cranberry/raspberry jello with whipped cream, some sort of phenomenal snickerdoodle cream cheese ball with pretzels, a Greek-style pasta salad, several different types of wine (Malbec being our new favorite), coffee and French Silk pie.

The kraut bierrochs are this sweetish, light bread that encases a filling of hamburger, onions, cabbage, salt and pepper. They are quite possibly the most wonderful thing I've ever eaten. I had two and a half....and lamented that I didn't have room for more.

At one point, in the meal, Clara made the comment, "Isn't everything here just the best food you've ever eaten?" and we all enthusiastically nodded, our mouths being too full to talk politely...

Seven of our ten members made it, and baby Everett joined us, too. He's the best baby I've ever been around, and a delight to cuddle. (We all did our share. His little cheeks were probably chapped from all the kisses.) After the food and discussion around the table, we retired to the living room and sang Christmas carols. I know, it sounds kind of corny but it was really fun! These girls can carry a tune!

The next book is Penguins and Golden Calves by Madelyn L'Engle.

We'll be meeting here at my house, and when it's at my house, I photograph people. So next month, you'll see some of the faces of the Underground Bookclub.