Terrapin Station

Friday Five: Christmases Past

A simple Five from Jan: 

Tell us about five Christmas memories you have.

1) I think my earliest Christmas memory is Christmas Eve, of Bill, Sarah, Nancy and me all wearing pajamas and sitting on the living room floor in front of the Christmas tree.  There's a picture of all of us grinning at the camera like monkeys...I was about four, I think.  What I remember aside from the picture is Bill giggling with glee, holding his feet and rolling on his back like a hoop, and saying "SandyClaws is coming tonight!"

2) My dining room table.  I'm not sure when my mother took ownership of that furniture, but it was before I can remember.  It and the chairs were built by my great-grandfather;  it's a gorgeous piece and I love it.Today while wrapping some gifts, I realized that this dining table is the only place I remember wrapping gifts throughout my childhood and until I left home...and then it came to live with me about 6 years ago. I imagine my mom continued to use it for that in the interim years.  Think of all the years of wrapping that entails...all the gifts bought with love and excitement and anticipation. 

3) My younger sister got married in May of 1989, and that year she and her new husband didn't come to our home for Christmas.  I can't remember what they did, actually, but I do remember that Nancy's absence left a ragged hole in what had been our family of four.  It is natural, it is life, it is what happens...but I remember a sense of loss and confusion on that Christmas morning.  (you makin' me cry)...

4) My "best Christmas presents ever"

Josie, 2002

Boudreaux, 2005

These two dogs have introduced me to what it means to love a canine.  I can't imagine my life without them.  When we went to pick up Josie on Christmas Eve, she was SO tiny.  Brandon wanted to hold her (in the backseat) and I let him.  He whispered to her all the way home from East Texas where we'd gone to meet the breeder.  That night, I put her in a crate by my bed, determined! to crate train that dog from the beginning!  Yeah, right.  She cried for a few minutes and I brought her into bed with us. 

At about 3 am, Brandon came knocking at our door!  Ken said, "what do you want?"  Brandon said, "It's Christmas!"  Ken said, "It's too early!  Go back to bed!"  Brandon said, "But I want to see the puppy!"  Well, so he came and got in bed with us (one of the only times) and all four of us slept together the rest of that night.  When he woke up, Ken went poking around in the bed to make sure neither of us had rolled over on the dog...but she was fine! 

5) No list of Christmas memories could be complete without Christmas Eve services at church (every, every, every year), and singing in the choir.  Once we were in junior high school and beyond, we always went to midnight Masses.  Beautiful...darkened sanctuary, and the light spreading from candle to candle as "Silent Night" is sung. 

6) Just one more!  My mom had a record album called "Organ and Chimes by Robert Rheims" and the record is RED, oh my gosh, it was the coolest thing ever.  I loved putting that on my mom's stereo and listening to it...so cool.  I need to get it copied to CD or mp3 format because I haven't been able to listen to it in years.  You can buy the one pictured below on Etsy, if you would like...

 Merry Christmas Past and Present!  Veni, veni Emmanuel.

Heart-stoppingly beautiful

The video for the day

If you want to sing out

National Bird Day

Reprinted from the Daily Devotion of The Cathedral of Hope, Dallas: 

Scripture
I know all the birds of the mountains
And every wild creature is in my care.  Psalm 50.1

A Word of Hope
Many of the national days of remembrance we honor are rather obscure and even unknown to most people, but today, National Bird Day, is an occasion that coincides beautifully with the last day of the Christmastide Season. The evening of this day is also called 12th Night, the last of the twelve days of Christmas, the eve of the Epiphany, and medieval British traditions appointed two birds to symbolize both this day and the January 6 arrival of the Magi.

The wren, a small and humble grey brown bird, is the symbol of the departed old year and the bright, red breasted robin is the symbol of the new hope, the coming of the influential, and we are to assume, colorful magi who arrived in Bethlehem to worship and adore the Christ Child on behalf of the entire gentile world. The robin’s migration also ushered in the bright light of the world as the long dark days of winter were grinding to a close. Medieval Christians were familiar, too, with the old legend of the robin’s red breast being God’s reward for its stalwartly fanning the embers of the stable’s fire all night in order to provide warmth for the Christ Child.
Birds, from the partridge to the seven swans comprised half of all the gifts my true love gave to me on the 12 Days of Christmas, but their importance as symbols trace back to the teachings of Jesus, who obviously had great respect and much knowledge of our avian friends. His birds of the air stories featured ravens, sparrows, roosters, doves, pigeons and he even compared himself to a mother hen: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem!...I have often wanted to gather your people, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.” Luke 13.34.

Prayer
May I use this Twelfth Night as a good time of the year to remember and honor all the wrens and robins of my own life, and respect them as Jesus did, as quiet memories of the past and vibrant hopes for the future.

Devotion Author:
Dan Peeler
Minister for Children and Families, COH

*****

Birds and squirrels are one of my very greatest joys.  When I went with Ken to his specialist visit last week, on the third floor of a very brick-y medical building, a wonderful singing sounded right out the window of the room.  The nurse said, "Oh, that's our cardinal."  Apparently this male cardinal comes day after day and sings there...it's not an openable window, so he's not getting any food from the gig...he just comes and sings there because he likes it.  Were we the lucky ducks or what?  Click here to hear what we enjoyed.  Thank you, little brother. 

Over the holiday, some new concrete sidewalk was poured on my path from car to work.  I was tickled beyond measure to see that, although it had been carefully blocked from human traffic by big orange barrels and yellow tape, the set concrete is full of squirrel tracks.  There's a lot of student-made art on our campus, and I'm so pleased to see our squirrels getting into that action.  I'll get a picture soon.  Fabulous!

We are not our own

We are not our own. Earth forms us,
human leaves on nature's growing vine,
fruit of many generations,
seeds of life divine.

We are not alone. Earth names us:
past and present, peoples near and far,
family and friends and strangers
show us who we are.

Through a human life God finds us;
dying, living, love is fully known,
and in bread and wine reminds us:
we are not our own.

Therefore let us make thanksgiving,
and with justice, willing and aware,
give to earth, and all things living,
liturgies of care.

And if love's encounters lead us
on a way uncertain and unknown,
all the saints with prayer surround us:
We are not alone.

Let us be a house of welcome,
living stone upholding living stone,
gladly showing all our neighbours
we are not our own!

Words: Brian Wren (1936-);
© by Stainer & Bell Ltd. (admin. by Hope Publishing Co., Carol Stream, IL 60188).  (not used here by permission, I got this from Oremus where it is... and where all ordering info can be found)

We read through this piece at choir rehearsal last night.  I love it; the rhythm and melody are simple but interesting; but the lyrics were what really grabbed me.  I have been thinking very much about ancestors (all the work on Ancestry.com I'm doing, and a family reunion for my husband's side this weekend) and how those who have gone before are a vital part of our great cloud of witnesses.  And also how the connections we have with others in our own time are our work of Christ in the world.  Liturgies of care, to earth and to one another.  This is how we are family in community. 

Listening to: Yes We Can!

 

You can buy it too!

1. Eternity - Lionel Richie
2. Signed Sealed Delivered - Stevie Wonder
3. Waiting On The World To Change - John Mayer
4. American Prayer - Dave Stewart
5. Battle Cry - Shontelle
6. Make It Better - Los Lonely Boys
7. Pride In The Name Of Love - John Legend
8. I Have A Dream - BeBe Winans
9. Am I All Alone - Suai
10. One Is The Magic # - Jill Scott
11. Love & Hope - Ozomatli
12. Looking East - Jackson Browne
13. Out of Our heads - Sheryl Crow
14. Promised Land - Malik Yusef with Kanye West and Adam Levine of Maroon 5
15. Hold On - Yolanda Adams
16. America The Beautiful - Keb' Mo'
17. America - Ken Stacey
18. Wide River - Buddy Miller
 

Edgar Winter

What an incredible show!!!  Here's a little preview article.  No reviews published yet.  Edgar Winter is an amazing musician, clearly with perfect pitch.  His vocal blues runs (scats?) were phenomenal.  He did duets and duels with every instrument on stage. 

Opening act was Rick Derringer.  Who?  He and his first band, The McCoys, recorded "Hang On Sloopy" in 1965.  Yeah, '65.  And he was there, playing it last night. 

I called Brandon's phone during "Frankenstein" so he could hear what he was missing (we invited him to go, but he declined.)  Later I heard his return voice message, "Hey, I think you just pocket dialed me or something...cause there's all this crazy music going on and I can't hear anything else!"  No, that's right, son...you couldn't.  :) 

House of Blues is an excellent venue...just opened in Dallas in 2007.  We'll definitely be going back. 

In the meantime...my ears are still ringing a bit.  I hope to spend a lot of quiet time today letting them recover. 

Tonight...

Ken and I are going with Fabulous Bookkeeper and his Lady to see Edgar Winter at the House of Blues, Dallas. 

Looking forward to a night out! 

Farewell to the Neels

This was the last Sunday after four years for our wonderful organist, Sally, and her family, Doug and Robert.  Doug was our interim priest for several months after our rector's wife died and has been doing Adult Christian Education for us, wonderful and inspired programs.  He has also been co-chair of the Stewardship program. 

Robert has been in our choir, youth programs, acolyte program, and I taught him to knit one Christmas Eve.

They have been a huge part of our parish for almost exactly as long as Ken and I have.

So, we had a super-fantastic "Farewell Sally" music-fest: The Mozart "Laudate Dominum" and Rudder "Psalm 23" with guest soloist and guest flautist, plus favorite hymns to show off the pipe organ: "King of Glory, King of Peace," "All Creatures of our God and King," "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty."

Postlude was the Widor "Toccata," and not a soul left their seat while she played it.

What a huge part of our musical and corporate lives they have been. Now they are on to fresh fields and pastures new (a parish in the mountains of  Colorado), and so are we; welcoming a new organist for the interim and interviewing candidates for the position. 

Our sun is shining, even through our tears.