2012...gee whiz.

You're going to read a gazillion and two posts on various blogs that show complete amazement at another year going by, so I'm not going to be repetitive. Let me just say, though, that it's like I'm climbing a cliff and I've reached a new ledge. I look down at the distance between the last ledge and this one and I see all the rocks, the handholds, the slips, the dust, etc.

This last year was pretty cool. I don't think any year is going to be absolutely perfect or ideal or stunning, but I've gotta say that it was pretty cool. Let's review.

In no particular order:

1. I turned fifteen.
2. I got my learner's permit (beating two older friends and hard on the heels of another...because that's what matters *sarcastically*)
3. I started my sophomore year of high school.
4. I took the practice pSATs.
5. I went to a Communicators for Christ Conference (highlight of the year!)
6. It's been two years (ohmygoodnesstwo?) since all the chemo/radiation that Dad went through.
7. I became an official student leader in my public speaking chapter (coolness, y'all)
8. Our turtle, Tintin, turned one!

And I'm sure there are other small things on the way.

I can't possibly imagine what this year will hold. And honestly, I really can't wait!

I am more reluctant to get back to school, however. *sigh*. It's going to be tough. *prolonged groan*.

Merry Christmas, Y'all

They say miracles don't ever happen. So when it comes time to celebrate one, they stuff it with other things--things with no meaning, no significance. Like gaudy, ribbon-bedecked wrapping paper on an empty carboard box, they manage to dance around the realness, the aliveness, the gloriousness of this special season with songs of gifts and happiness and everything being so perfect.

But there are two things that can't be danced around. We aren't perfect, and miracles happen.

Have you ever seen anything more messy, more broken, more strangled by darkness than us?

O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie, above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by...

What if they're right? What if miracles don't exist? What if nothing ever broke our deathly silence?

In that case, forget all about it. Just let us sleep, tossing uneasily, slipping back into the shadows until we stop twitching and finally let our breath die away. Let our hearts grow cold as they slow. Let death's grip tighten.

Because without a miracle, no little glimmer of light would ever shine. Nothing would bring us to life, no warmth would ever wash over us.

Funny thing is, it did.

Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light. The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.

The people walking in great darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. --Isaiah 9:2

Merry Christmas, everybody!

Craziness before Christmas

Yesterday was my piano/voice recital. Please don't ask me how it went. In my opinion, it didn't go so great, but the residents at the nursing home where we performed thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. My favorite part was seeing them tapping the rhythms on the armrests of their wheelchairs and nodding their heads to the tunes. =)

I'm doing the prelude music at our church's Christmas Eve service. Which means more practicing and arranging and hectic-ness.

And I'm also making cookies. =) Gingerbread, chocolate-brown sugar-saltine cracker-butter bark, and peppermint bark I cranked out on Monday. Yesterday I made dough for sugar cookies and I'll bake them today.

Gee, I really wish I could leave you all with something entertaining or profound or interesting. But my wrists are absolutely kiiiillllliiiinnnngggg me.

Actually, pain is a pretty interesting topic. So let's see. Yesterday I had a splinter in my foot, right where I press on the piano pedals. It felt like I was stomping on a needle every single time I pressed on the pedal or walked, and at first I had no clue what it was. As soon as I discovered the tiny little fragment of wood I operated with a sewing needle. It was ridiculously hard to get that thing out!

I think I'm going to gain five pounds before New Years. So many cookies!

I love cookies. I think my favorite are my mom's lemon bars. They are addictive. I would share, but I can't. So sorry. =)

Happy Birthday!

One week exactly from Christmas Eve, I will stop in my Christmas decorating and baking and gift wrapping and say 'happy birthday' to my one-and-only sister--Kara.

How old? Seven, today.

Goodness! Less than a decade from now she'll be driving!

Okay...now I'm scared.

Go to iDream to join!

One of my favorite Christmas memories is going to my almost-relations' house on Christmas Day. You know those friends that you've known for so long that you're basically considered family? Yeah, they were like that to us. Every single Christmas Day we'd drive over to their house. They were Mexican, so we'd always have Mexican food.

Mom and Dad met while working in a Mexican restaurant, and our 'almost-relations' were the owners of the restaurant at the time. Even after they retired and Mom and Dad moved on they'd get together on Christmas for Mexican food that the restaurant once offered.

A couple years ago the 'almost-relations' moved to Florida. Obviously, we can't drive that far on Christmas Day. However, we still have Mexican food. =)

Care to share some of your Merry Memories? Take the button and check out the link to iDream at the top of the post for instructions!

Happy Birthday!

Today my brother, Erestor (so code-named on this blog), turns...wait for it...oh my goodness. Thirteen?

*stunned silence and I stare at the computer screen*

That can't be right.

Unfortunately, I really think it is right.

So, Happy Thirteenth Birthday to my little brother, my best bud, and my closest sidekick!

Wow, this was a short post.

Busy and Lazy

I wish it would actually snow once in a while! I don't think it's ever snowed on Christmas that I can remember...actually, I think last year or sometime kind of in the past there was snow on the ground, but it didn't actually snow.

Now it's just raining. And it's, like, sixty degrees out. Kinda dreary, and it makes me want a cup of hot chocolate only hot chocolate gives me headaches, and I'm not in a tea mood. So I guess I'll just have to settle with water.

You know, I really ought to be doing schoolwork.

Instead I'll make a Christmas wish list. =)

1. A Pudge Rodriguez jersey. My favorite baseball player. =)
2. Dark chocolate. I got hooked this year.
3. Hogan's Heroes. Yeah, dad says we can just get them from Netflix but it's not the same as owning them. Oh, well. Like I said, this is a wish list.
4. Um...I think that's really all I want. Aside from the usual...books. But you know, this year I haven't really read a lot. I've just been so busy, and when I'm not busy I'm lazy.

Speaking of busy (and lazy...), I had better get on and stop being the other.