Christmas, Primary, Theatre and other thoughts

          The ward Christmas dinner is tonight - it's going on right now, actually.  And so is the light parade - which I will be missing this year - am missing.  It's barely past 6:00 and I am hearing fireworks - are you kidding me?  Why so early?  I suppose the answer to that would be because we have more hours of fog than we have seen - this being our forth Christmas in Myrtle Creek. 

                It's been so dry, only a few days of rain,  and the fog lingers so much longer than I have ever seen.  Sometimes we have a couple of hours of sun but once it goes down (quite early by the way) the fog makes its way back.  I think there may pieces of smog mixed up in it.  Perhaps that is why it lingers.  It doesn't look as clean as it used to. Anyway, I guess if they don't set the fireworks off right now, they won't be able to see them.  Fog is already starting to thicken.  We'll most likely be covered by 8:00.

                The ward dinner is being held at the Grange this year.  That is where it was held last year.  I thought it was tight - like on conference when they pack us in tight like sardines.  I didn't wish to deal with that this year - though I enjoyed seeing the light parade with my ward friends last year at the Grange.  I was hoping to see it from Riddle this year, but something disagreed with me this morning and so I have not left the house all day.

                Tomorrow is the primary program.  I don't recall ever having a primary program in December before.  Holy Cow.  We haven't had to prepare lessons for the last two weeks due to practice nor do we have to have one for tomorrow as the stake leaders have promised treats for the primary and they will be watching a movie (possibly Daniel and the Lion's Den?) while eating ice cream.  I remember how overly crowded it felt in primary last year - with no clue as to why.  We have a small primary.  Those who come to see the kiddos perform need to be sitting on the right side of the chapel.  The pulpit will block the view for anyone sitting in the middle.

                There are a few of us that purposely do not sit in the middle due to weird lighting.  It seriously hurts my eyes to try and look at the speaker from the middle section.  Roland and Jenna have a performance tonight at the local theatre.  I took my friends to the dress rehearsal. They enjoyed the first half of the play but didn't seem as spirited during the second half.  I don't know if it's because it was late or if they thought it was lame humor.  I think they needed to shorten it by cutting out a few of the acts. 

                Looking forward to the "Come Follow Me"outline for the next four years and losing an hour of primary. 

Let's Get Rid of Random Already!

               

            City noises are very different from the sounds in the country.  I definitely wasn't raised in the country, but it wasn't a part of the city during the 60's either.  Mom may have thought as our newly developed neighborhood as "hick country" as even the busiest part of SLC was nothing like the quietest part of San Francisco (was there ever a quiet place in San Francisco) but I called it a town.

            We lived far enough from the city that we were not really a part of it, but close enough that we could drive to various places.  There was a 7-11 within walking distance.  It was built before any business was open 24 hours a day.  7-11 hours were from 7 in the morning until 11 at night.  I don't recall any restaurants or other establishments to walk to other than the corner gas station - but there wasn't a convenient store connected to it, so what would have been the point?

            I don't recall any specific sounds from my early childhood.  Sometimes I would hear trains in the distance or hear planes flying overhead.  Gradually the city built its way up around our little neighborhood until it was eventually swallowed up in the mass.  There were 30 - 40 food places within walking distance after I had graduated high school.  The sounds were provided by traffic flow, often barking dogs - perhaps something else.  I really don't remember.

            I had heard animal sounds (other than dogs) at Wheeler Farm.  We lived far enough that I didn't hear them constantly -  I knew roosters crowed.  I thought it was a morning thing - to let everyone know the sun was up - or what have you.  I didn't know roosters crowed ALL DAY LONG!!

In our first house in Oregon, we would often hear goats bleating and a rooster crow.  We called the rooster Random as he would go off at various times of the day.  There didn't seem to be a pattern.  We have been in our second house for almost two years now.  I don't know how long the rooster has been around, but Jenna is always first to hear it.  He'll go off at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning.  What is up with that?

            At first I thought he might be boasting, "Oh, yea.  I just had myself another hen . . ." but just before it rained, Random was crowing like he had gone loco and WOULD NOT SHUT UP.  But again, maybe that's normal.  I don't know roosters.  Until I moved here, I hadn't heard the constant echo of their sounds.  I don't know how many roosters may live in our neighborhood.  It sounds like only one, but to my ears, he has definitely got a problem.  Perhaps to the average country folk, the sound is normal.  But I don't like it.  Put Random and my family out of his/our misery already and make some rooster stew!

150 Words More To Go

The topic for this mod's final assessment is

to write 1000 to 1250 words on the topic:

major disclosure and conceptual objectives of 

consolidated financial statements. 

How in the world does is an instructor able

to get through 15 - 30 assessments. 

The topic alone - let alone an entire paper

- is enough to put me to sleep. 

I know that there are instructors who might

not even read the paper, just

scan through it, make certain that

everything meets APA standards -

does not seem to matter what the

contents are.  I hate that!  What

difference does my APA paper make if

I don't understand the material I'm

supposed to write about?!

My current instructor doesn't seem

like a stickler about keeping the

paper in third person and boring.  Thus I

am keeping it in first person - unless he

says otherwise.  The lecture is at 10:30.  Hopefully

there will be enough insight that I

will be able to come up with at least

100 more words.

Almost There

I heard this for the first time last year.  I think it is my new favorite Christmas song.  

Rain and Cold

                It has rained the last three days

which is a good thing. 

            Put that water back

into the beds and

cover the earth until

            it's green again and

the rivers are flowing and

            not just puddles. 

I am usually hot on

            the inside when it is

raining outside, though

            I don't know why. 

But the last three days have

been cold. 

Salt Lake's November cold. 

            I think it should be warmer.

It is nice to

have the rain.

I Would Rather Hear It Fresh

            I have mentioned before that both my mom used to  use her children as her sounding board before giving a talk or presenting a lesson.  For my mom, it was a lack of confidence in herself.  She needed the feedback, the practice, the input to build up her confidence.  She yearned for ideas on how to improve.  She would go over it again and again until we knew it better than she did - or at least in the case of Corey and me.

            Roland does the same thing - only he does not lack confidence.  I thought he did it for validation - but he says it is because he values my opinion.  Talks and lessons are one thing, but lately his ideas and thoughts have had to do with his participation at the theatre.  I am not in the theatre.  I am not part owner in the theatre.  I don't manage, perform or have any input with the owners.  I know my personal preference varies with theirs and certainly with Roland's. 

            It isn't his job to write the skit, but he was asked to emcee and somehow feels obligated to contribute more.  He'd like to do a "Burns & Allen" type skit while reading a story to a seagull puppet.  I suppose my input was helpful as Roland's first choice of story was out of the Bible and suggested he change it to "Twas the Night Before Christmas" as it is a familiar one, and cracking jokes (even a childish innocence) after every other line would go over better with the audience than offending several audience members with lines like "Why did the wisemen bring gold and frankenstien and not diapers?" or "espoused wife?  you mean they weren't even married?"  and gear his jokes toward Santa Clause and the reindeer.

            Some of the jokes were funny.  I smiled at a few of them, but never laughed out loud.  I certainly wasn't providing a belly laugh that I suspect Roland was looking for.  Jenna provides more sincere laughter, and is able to re-laugh at a joke she's heard before - but each time he tells the same joke, I give a weak smile and sometimes roll my eyes when he isn't looking.  The freshness has worn off for me.  Though he is proud of his contribution and shares the praises and compliments he's received for creating laughter, it has gotten stale.  I don't even smile anymore.

            When Corey and I give talks, we practice on ourselves.  It's rare for each of us to call on another to sit through something that he or she will be sitting through in church or elsewhere.  We want it to be fresh for them just as we would like to hear it fresh.  Neither way is wrong or right.  They are just different is all.   

Christmas Makeover

            At no time of the year do I believe in Disney's Toy Story than between Thanksgiving and Christmas - although it isn't so much the toys that move and form personalities, but rather the Christmas decorations that I am certain I had packed and carefully labeled each box.  I know exactly where they were located in January - the beginning of the year.  But by the end of the year, I notice that the decorations have moved around.  They have managed to move from box to box, shelf to shelf and all figure that it's been so long that I won't remember where I had put them in the first place.

            As I mentioned in an earlier post, Jenna had retrieved four boxes of decorations - yet I knew that a whole slew of ornaments were missing, and Christmas socks and . . .  lights.  Where are the lights?  And how is it that lights always manage to tangle themselves no matter how carefully they are put away?  It's a personality thing.  Lights are notorious for having parties when we aren't looking.  They dance, they play twister, and then they laugh when we open the box to pull them out.  They are definitely the most ill behaved of all Christmas decorations.

            Roland and I returned to the shed while Jenna was in school.  We found four more boxes of decorations.  Why in the world do we have eight boxes?  And where are the nativities?  I can't imagine that Joseph, Mary, baby Jesus, the wise men and shepherds would be as naughty as the light strings.  Or bows.  How are two decorative bows able to undo themselves in a box with the outside ornaments - which, by the way, Jenna insisted on putting up last night - in the dark.  Why couldn't she just wait until tomorrow when she gets home early?

            The rain came.  Still quite misty outside.  Perhaps she was smart about decorating last night.  It adds brightness.  We still have to do the inside tree.