7 Quick Takes: Here Comes Christmas!

Ugh, apparently stupid Blogger erased my entire post.  And any history of it ever existing... gone.  How does this happen?  I don't know, but this is me trying to recreate it.  :-p

1.  Last night we went to the Christmas party for Matt's work.

I don't generally feel like I live under a rock.  I mean, you know, I get out there.  I talk to people.  But it was really fun to get together with friends and not-yet-totally-friends-but-nice-seeming-people.  And educational.  Having a thirteen-year-old in the house, I learn a lot about what's going on in the world, if I'm not already paying attention to it.  But some things still manage to slip through the cracks I learned last night about Gangam Style, which I hadn't heard of I guess because I don't watch t.v., and yet today I'm seeing it everywhere.  I talked tattoos with one couple and homeschool with someone else and Stuff That Makes Us Cry with some girlfriends.  It was just a lovely night that left me feeling like, I need to do this more.

2.  I wore a dress from Modcloth that I loved!  If I said that I didn't want anything for Christmas, it would just be a big, self-righteous kind of lie, I'm afraid.  I don't need anything for Christmas.  But if someone wanted to buy me, say, this or this, (or if they were feeling particularly generous, this), I would be just thrilled.  

3.  Matt wore the Ralph Lauren suit we bought ages ago.  As in, before the Navy.  I think Jayna was a tiny baby when we got it... maybe I was even pregnant.  That's how long ago it was.  He has worn it for every non-uniform dress-up event we've gone to, like this Christmas party two years ago

or this cruise my grandmother took us on to celebrate her 85th birthday six years ago.

(Yep, same shirt, too.)  Plus, countless other events that I don't know where to find the pictures for at the moment.  Last night, we decided that 2013 would be The Year of a New Suit for Matt.  I think it's definitely time.

4.  Lilly has her first dance recital on a stage tomorrow!!!  Yipee!!!  She has been looking forward to this forEVER.  As in at least 2 1/2 years when she was first fully cognizant of her sisters being on stage but not her.  There is a DVD from that recital that forever recorded her scream of frustration at not being allowed up there with her sisters.

Just a few more hours, Lil!

5.  I have made little to no progress on my Christmas shopping since November.  It's been such a crazy few weeks, and I need some time with no one looking over my shoulder at the computer.  I'm not even trying to get to malls or stores for what I need.  For some reason, that's really hard to come by.  Maybe it's one of the downsides to homeschooling.

6.  Despite my very best intentions for this season, I have felt nothing but harried, I think.  I did take the time to really enjoy our family's visit for last weekend's Nutcracker, but there was still plenty of running around.  I had some great intentions for the month of December -- like our Jesse Tree Advent and 25 Days of Giving.  Not only have we not managed to observe Advent every day, I've turned the latter into 25 Acts of Giving (more on this another day)... and still I'm behind.  And so I'm feeling sort of like... I'm failing at Christmas.  I mean, these were my priorities: giving my kids the meaning of Christmas, and enjoying the act of giving.  And I'm not even doing that well.

7.  But today's tragedy in Connecticut... The photos and stories in the news are stomach-turning, heart-wrenching -- truly painful to see.  We prayed for the victims and their families -- everyone affected by it -- and Jayna asked, "Is anywhere safe any more?"  Such a tough question, one that I'm asking myself.

And at Christmas... the season of "Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men!"

But I cling to the words of "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day"

And in despair, I bowed my head.
"There is no peace on earth," I said, 
"For hate is strong and mocks the song,
Of peace on earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells, more loud and deep,
"God is not dead, nor does He sleep,
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men!"
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Peace to you.