Merry Christmas

I heard the bells on Christmas Day

Their old familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet

The words repeat

Of peace on earth, good will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come

The belfries of all Christendom

Had rolled along

The unbroken song

Of peace on earth, good will to men!

Till, ringing, singing on its way,

The world revolved from night to day,

A voice, a chime,

A chant sublime

Of peace on earth, good will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth

The cannon thundered in the South,

And with the sound

The carols drowned

Of peace on earth, good will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent

The hearth-stones of a continent,

And made forlorn

The households born

Of peace on earth, good will to men!

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 doth he sleep!

The wrong shall fail,

The right prevail,

With peace on earth, good will to men!"

God bless us everyone!

I turn my collar to the cold and damp...

ugh. I don't like wet. Although, it is kind of nice to not get shocked every time I take off my lab coat and touch my desk. And my computer. And the door handle.

static is worse than damp.

for it's one, two, oops wrong season

So Saturday Bob and I celebrated my birthday, part II. We were going to go tour the Pettingill-Morron house and then go out to eat. Except we got there and there was a sign that said "please call to schedule a tour." um... nowhere on the historical society website does it say that, it lists Saturday tour times and when they're closed. *sigh* So then we were in Peoria and it was way too early to eat, so we stopped at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate factory. We passed Lakeview museum and decided to see if they were open... yeah, they close at 4 and we would have not had much time. *sigh* They did have a used book sale going on in the lobby. Which we love. And now we have more books. :)

We also stopped at Barnes and Noble and Best Buy since they are there, and we were there, and it was still early. Good times. We did go for supper eventually, at Seven on Prospect. It was really good and they gave us lots of food. And then we went home and played DK for a while. I'm so bad at it... o well, it's great fun.

Sunday we went to Gridley for Christmas. Jesse got a lego power pack so the boys played with that all evening.

Christina got a tea set, so she served tea and whatever food you wanted. So funny.

Bob loves taking pictures...

Last night I got to hang out with the W-ton girls at Katie's new house. So much fun... we laughed a lot and talked a lot.

And then when I got home and started packing our lunches I discovered that the turkey was slimy... ick... and we haven't eaten at home much so we didn't have any leftovers. *sigh* I'm a failure as a wife. :D O well, I'll just have to go to Jimmy John's for lunch... bummer. haha.

Blessings.

merry birthday to me

So Tuesday night I went down to Champaign just because. I haven't been there in ages! And I don't get to see the C-U girls nearly as much as I would like. And Bob was busy. It was great. I got to meet Natalie's two cute "foster" puppies. They came with Amber, Sarah, Natalie and I to Sonic... I had to order... it was scary. :P They had the rest of the UIYG over to decorate cookies and sing Christmas carols which was great fun. Jakey was busy studying so he didn't come... I stopped by on my way home to bug him. Lots of things are different since I graduated, but one thing never changes- the smell of the Saltshaker. :)

I didn't get home until midnight. Wednesday was a sleepy day. Totally worth it though.

Yesterday was my birthday. I'm officially 25 and old now. *grin* Or something. When I got to work I found approximately 300 paperback books covering my desk, and balloons and streamers. My coworkers borrowed them from the bookshelves in the cafeteria (people bring all kinds of books they don't want any more and leave them for anyone to read)... so then we sorted them all by genre. It was interesting to note what science people read- half were sci-fi/fantasy (lots of TOR novels) and half were harlequin romance and chick lit (aka bodice rippers). Only three westerns, a handful of suspense/thrillers, and few non-fiction books.

When I got home from work, Bob had gotten me flowers and beautifully wrapped presents. He's amazing. :D And I was maybe so excited about getting Donkey Kong and "A Midsummer Night's Dream" that I forgot that I had bought cream on my way home and left it in the bag on the floor... and we went to Mom and Dad's for supper. oops. It's ultra pasteurized right??

Mom made steak and mushrooms and cake. It was great. I rescued the rest of my tree ornaments and looked at all their Christmas cards. And then Shelly dressed up like a Russian.

Bob and I both have work Christmas potlucks today, so I spent the rest of the evening making party potatoes and Bob made jello. Woot. And cupcakes because I forgot to take doughnuts to work for my birthday. (I thought that was over after grade school...) I even made buttercream frosting- so yummy.

It's kind of crazy to think how much has changed since last year. I love birthdays for looking back and remembering. Blessings.

Here we come a caroling...

So we were busy again last weekend. Hooray for December! :)

We went to the H.S. Madrigal Dinner last Thursday; Matt was in it. I was quite impressed... the food was good, the music was good, and the company was excellent. :) I always used to go to Morton's to see Katie, and since Tremont is waaay smaller I wasn't sure how it would compare.

I was pretty excited to go caroling on Friday. We were in a pretty small group, we all fit in one big van, but we sounded good. And the people we sang for were very appreciative and teary eyed. :) I always forget to eat something before we leave so I was starving by the time we got back to the fellowship hall. (and they don't serve sloppy joe's! happy day! sorry to all of the very hardworking w-ton food committee, I just don't like them, especially after Christmas caroling.)

Saturday I worked very hard all day to get ready for having Gab and Brian over for supper. Or something. :) I went simple and low stress and made chili. It was good to hang out with them... much interesting hypothetical conversation, nintendo, and scrabble.

My family was in church for the wedding on Sunday, along with half of the w-ton church. It was good to see everybody and eat cake.

Two days until my birthday... woot.

Blessings.

Christmas time is here...

Such a busy, Christmasy weekend!

We got a tree on Saturday. It's pretty, but somehow it looks a lot bigger in our house than it did on the lot. :) Now I just need to get my ornaments from home so it won't look so bare!

I made spritz and we frosted gingerbread and sugar cookies. I think I made way too many of everything, but they're just sooo good. :)

Shelly called me last night and read me "Davey and the First Christmas," which is pretty much the best! I don't have any Christmas books... it's very sad. I'll just have to go hang out at home sometime and read Davey, and the Grinch, and the Night Before Christmas.

Blessings.

sugar and spice

Our house smelled good last night.

I made chicken tikka masala for supper.... garlic, turmeric, cumin, coriander, garam masala.... heavenly.

Then I made springerli.... much sugar and the wonderful aroma of anise...

Blessings.