Tradition...Tradition!

Thinking about Christmas traditions, my family actually has quite a lot.

• Caroling with Dad's side of the family/talent night
• Dipping pretzels in white chocolate...mmm yum!
• Family dinner in which we pull out our Christmas china, my parents make a very fancy dinner, we turn off all the lights and eat by candle light, and then after dinner my parents also clean everything up. This is one of many ways to show us kids how much they appreciate and love us.
• Pulling out the Christmas puzzles.
• Watching the good ol' classics: White Christmas, Holiday Inn, It's a Wonderful Life, and Miracle on 34th Street.
• Picking good hiding spots the night before to watch Santa deliver our gifts! (This is a favorite of mine! The whole family hides from Santa and once or twice we have almost been caught!)
• Decorating sugar cookies.
• Watch The Christmas Story then go out to eat Chinese food
  
• Decorate our two trees together! Except this year they did it without me. (sigh...life of a hard working college student)

Oh how I love family traditions! I hope to carry many of these traditions on when I have my own family.

Home

After working and spending two weeks by myself at my apartment, I am finally home; and I didn't even need red glittery shoes to click three times. It can now start to feel like Christmas. Please.

7 things about me

I really am not a fan of these things...but I just got done with almost 3 hours worth of Christmas shopping...so I need a break!

7 Things I can do:

1-Read a book like nobody's business

2-Cook amazing pumpkin chocolate chip muffins (although I don't think I have quite mastered it like my mom has!)

3-Watch old movies over and over again! Especially Singing In the Rain

4-Sing in a racquetball court with roommie and make tri-tones!

5-Listen to a song for the first time and already have it pretty much memorized and also find the harmony to go with it!

6-Play the Piano

7-Write a GOOD 10 page paper in one day! Yeah...that's right folks!

7 Things I can't do:
1-Dance...I have two left feet when it comes to that

2-Can't talk to people when I am reading a good book!! I can't stop reading a good book for that matter!

3-Wake up at 5:00 to go running...not a morning person at all

4-Do math. I am mathematically challenged

5-Can't remember birthdays for the life of me!

6-Find an address without landmarks to guide me! Just give me an address and I am lost!

7-Say "toy boat" over and over without messing it up

7 Things I always say:

1-What the heck/What the guff

2-I concur

3-Pretty sure....

4-Seriously?!

5-Pish posh

6-Oh dear!

7-I don't know! What do you think?

7 Things I can eat:

1-Mashed potatoes

2-Chocolate

3-Clementines

4-CHEESE CAKE!

5-Turkey, Bacon, Avocado sandwich on focattie bread (pretty sure the bread is spelled wrong)

6-Pasta! I love pasta

7-Cauliflower

7 Things I can't eat: (Well I really can eat these...but I choose not to!)

1-Tomatoes (which is funny because I drench everything in Ketchup)

2-Fishy foods

3-Really spicy foods

4-Stuffing

5-Green peppers

6-Onions

7-Yams.....yuck!

7 Things I love to do:

1- READ

2-SING

3-play the piano

4-take random pictures of people and things

5-Run! (Didn't before but now I am a believer)

6-Collect books

7-Be with family and friends

7 People I tag:

1- Just who ever reads this and feels the need to share little things about themselves with others :)

Silent Night

I have been reading a book about all the many different Christmas songs and how they came about. I've really enjoyed it so far and am going to try to post a new one every day before Christmas.

How the world's most famous Christmas carol came to be written and set to music

While we were serving as missionaries in Europe we visited a small little church in Austria. That church was the birthplace of "Silent Night." Here's the story how this most famous of Christmas carols came to be written:

In 1818, a roving band of actors was performing in towns throughout the Austrian Alps. On December 23 they arrived at Oberndorf, a village near Salzburg where they were to perform the story of Christ's birth in the small Church of St. Nicholas.
Unfortunately, the St. Nicholas' church organ wasn't working and would not be repaired before Christmas. (Note: some versions of the story point to mice as the problem; others say rust was the culprit) Because the church organ was out of commission, the actors presented their Christmas drama in a private home. Even so, that Christmas presentation put assistant pastor Josef Mohr in a meditative mood. Instead of walking straight to his house that night, Mohr took a longer way home. The longer path took him up over a hill overlooking the village.
From that hilltop, Mohr looked down on the peaceful snow-covered village. Reveling in majestic silence of the wintry night, Mohr gazed down at the glowing scene. His thoughts about the Christmas play suddenly made him to remember a poem he had written a couple of years before. It was a poem about the night when angels announced the birth of the long-awaited Messiah to shepherds on a hillside.
Mohr decided those words would make a good carol for his congregation the following evening at their Christmas eve service. However, he didn't have any music to which that poem could be sung. So, the next day Mohr went to see the church organist, Franz Xaver Gruber. Gruber only had a few hours to come up with a melody which could be sung with a guitar. However, by that evening, Gruber had managed to compose a musical setting for the poem. It no longer mattered that their church organ was broken. They now had a Christmas carol they could sing without it.
On Christmas Eve, the little Oberndorf congregation heard Gruber and Mohr sing their new composition to the accompaniment of Gruber's guitar.
Weeks later, well-known organ builder Karl Mauracher arrived to fix the St. Nicholas church organ. When he finished, Mauracher stepped back to let Gruber test the instrument. When Gruber sat down, his fingers began playing the simple melody he had written for Mohr's Christmas poem. Deeply impressed, Mauracher took the music and words of "Silent Night" back to his own Alpine village, Kapfing. There, two well-known families of singers -- the Rainers and the Strassers -- heard it. Captivated by "Silent Night," both groups put the new song into their Christmas season repertoire.

Silent night! holy night!
All is calm, all is bright,
'Round yon virgin mother and Child!
Holy Infant, so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.

The Strasser sisters spread the carol throughout northern Europe. In 1834, after they had performed "Silent Night" for King Frederick William IV of Prussia, that king ordered his cathedral choir to sing it every Christmas eve.
The Rainers brought the song to the United States in 1839, singing it (in German) at the Alexander Hamilton Monument located outside New York City's Trinity Church.
In 1863, nearly fifty years after being first sung in German, "Silent Night" was translated into English (by either Jane Campbell or John Young). In 1871 the English version was published in an American hymnal: Charles Hutchins' Sunday School Hymnal.

Almost two hundred years later, Silent Night is still the most performed and recorded Christmas song in history! In fact, there is a wonderful story about the song that comes out of World War I. On Christmas Eve fighting was actually suspended on many of the European fronts while people turned on their radios to hear Austrian opera star, Ernestine Schumann Heink, sing Stille Nacht. She was not only an international celebrity, but Ms. Heink was also a mother with one son fighting for the German Axis and another son fighting for the Allies. Her rendition of this beautiful song had the power to actually bring a few moments of peace to a very troubled world!

Breather

Finals are finally over! Oh how much joy it brings me to say that! It's almost better than Christmas!!! I've been holding my breath all during finals, hoping that I would do my best! Well I did my best and I am pretty proud of the outcome! I always seem to get sick right after finals so we will see how this weekend turns out!

Work party of buffoonery

So today was my dental office's work party. I missed the one last year and they told me that I had to come this year. Well I wasn't going to make him come to this little gathering so I asked my very willing, (not really) roommate if she would come and be my date! She came and yes it was awkward for her at first, but pretty soon she was right at home! They had a very nice dinner set up for everyone and we both ate more than our share. Now there are around five dentists that work at this office and each of them have around 3-4 hygienists and around 4 assistants....so a lot of people! After dinner it came time for the initiation for those who are new to the office....which of course included me....blast! My boss came out with two golf clubs and two chairs and sat them across each other in the middle of the circle and sent me downstairs. My heart is pounding!! I really don't like doing these types of things but I kinda had to. So I sat downstairs for a couple of minutes and then heard them call my name for me to come up. I sulked up the stairs and had the most worried look on my face as I sat down. My boss then told me to sit down, gave me a golf club, and explained what I needed to do.
"Now I went to South Africa on my mission, and we had to be initiated into the Zoolo tribe before we could enter their house. So I have carried on that tradition here at the office. What you are going to do is mimic me in my movements with the golf club, which represents a spear, and repeat the chants after me. And be sure to match the volume and intensity."

(In my head...) oh dear....what am I doing here! I shouldn't have come!

I now will turn the time over to my roommate who was there to witness this glorious moment of my life.

Well...I only wish I would have had the foresight to bring a video camera to this blessed occasion. But I will do my best to relate all that happened. So Heather sat down with a face of sheer terror while the Dr. explained the origin of the initiation, he then felt inclined to make certain Heather knew that under no circumstances was the golf club to be used as a weapon. Dr. then proceeded to chant "za la ba zoo" while swinging the club precariously around his head. Heather laughed for a few seconds and then realized he was serious...a look of sheer determination came over her face as she repeated "za la ba zoo" Her performance was of such high caliber that she received a round of applause! Dr. continued to chant "ooh ta la!" and Heather resounded with the same fervor and zeal, "ooh ta la!" At this point Heather looked as though she felt relatively comfortable, if this was all she had to do, she could handle it. But the initiation was far from over. Dr. continued in his chant once again this time saying "aaaaah we we we!" and standing up with the club raised high above his head! Heather followed his example, but while her back was turned....one of the other guests snuck a sopping wet towel onto Heather's chair! She sat down and the look of confidence was replaced with the previous look of terror mixed with utter embarrassment. Bright red she sat there, unable to move from her chair as everyone just laughed at her....after about a minute she stood up and sheepishly made a dash for her chair covering herself all the way.

(back to me) With my behind sopping wet, we now got ready to exchange our white elephant gifts. We each took a turn opening a gift; there were some really funny gifts! One girl actually unwrapped a bag of Bath and Body hand soaps. It came to my roommates turn to either steal a gift, or to pick and unwrap a new gift. Well we were actually almost out of our hand soap back at the apartment so we both thought that would be perfect. So she stole it, and then I stole it from her so we could secure it make sure we got it, because after a gift gets stolen twice, no one else can take it. Hurray for yummy Holiday hand soaps from Bath and Body. Since my roommate had her gift stolen she had to pick another gift. She picked one from the middle and got a butterfly mat-making...latch....something...kit. We immediately started to make a devious plan to make the mat and ditch it at the boys house. After all, it would look lovely in their apartment. Unfortunately, several others thought it would be a lovely decoration and was stolen. She then picked another present and got really nice pair of Kermit the frog fleece gloves. These too were a hot item and were stolen. So she got up and spied a rubber duck shower radio to her right, and thought, "what a lovely addition that would make to our bathroom." But alas, that was stolen to put in a hot tub. Then she decided to steal a lovely Martha Stewart clock. I really dislike alarm clocks so this would be nice. But yet again...this was stolen. At that point in time, my roommate was exasperated and picked her last gift. She opened it to find a bag of chocolate, (a definite plus!) and three novels with death in the title. So we decided that the theme of the gift was "Death by chocolate!" Overall, the night was fantastic and we both had so much fun! I'm so glad to have all these awesome people to work with every day! It makes going to work so much fun.

Onward!

As this semester comes to a close, (thank heavens!) I am already looking forward to next semester! I'm all for change, and a new change of classes is very welcomed! After long periods of looking up classes and making sure that I have everything ready to apply for the dental hygiene program, I officially have next semesters schedule done! Feels great! I am actually really excited for my new classes....yes it's probably going to be another hard semester full of tests and what not, but I'm used to it so bring it on! Here is how my schedule is looking for next semester. No more 7:00 classes for me!!!

Monday
*9:30-11:20 Bio Med lab
*11:30-12:50 Bio Med

Tuesday
*8:30-9:50 Pathophysiology
*rest of the day will be devoted to my online art class (story on why it's online below)

Wednesday
*8:00-9:50 Pathophysiology lab
*11:30-12:50 Bio Med

Thursday
*8:30-9:50 Pathophysiology
*10:00-10:45 working with special needs kids at the institute!! I am so excited for this!

Friday
*8:00-9:30 Dance/Pilates (This is going to be hilarious!)

So story behind this art class...I actually had it set up for T & Th at 10:00 but today looking over everything, I realized I had signed up for that class at the Weber-Davis campus. Not a good idea. I freaked out just a tad because I needed to get this class done and out of the way, plus I needed the 3 credits to still be a full time student....therefore the online art class. It's going to be very interesting.