The Holiday Season

So, Thanksgiving is definitely over, but I'm sure the leftovers are still in your refrigerators!

As you continue to pick at that leftover stuffing and pumpkin pie, you might start to get ready for the upcoming holiday season with your family and friends. My family started yesterday and finished today, decorating my house with various strands of garland, lights, decorative Santas and snowmen, and putting up our two Christmas trees. It was a TON of work, but lots of fun, as the Charlie Brown Christmas CD motivated my sister and I to continue decorating the huge tree in our family tree and continue to run up and down our stairs with boxes.

At my school, the holidays start this week and continue through December with the annual holiday Crystal Concerts on the 29th and the 30th. All curricular and extracurricular music groups come together and play a seamless concert of holiday music. I attended my first one last year and it was really quite impressive!

This year, my sister and I will both be performing in Chamber Singers, an extracurricular/co-curricular women's group and I will be performing in the Symphonic Bands performance, as well. The Crystal Concerts occur over two days, with two performances per day. Even though it will be a great experience and I can't wait, I'm sure I will be exhausted afterwards!

Throughout December, our school will hold a Holiday drive to help families in poorer parts of the United States to have gifts for Christmas. I participated last year and it gave me a really great feeling to be able to be helping someone have a great Christmas! I will definitely do it again this year, and I'm sure my sister will too!

Enjoy the last week of November, those few Thanksgiving leftovers, and the beginning of the upcoming holiday season!

Appreciations

I love my family. But it's days like these that I really appreciate that they're MINE and no one else's. 

Today was a day that we planned to have family portraits taken for our Christmas card and just to have. We dressed nicely, took our dogs to the park where we were taking pictures, and just started with our friend who was taking them for us. 

As I watched my parents take pictures together and my sister take individual shots in the sunshine with that late afternoon shadow that is so unique to fall, I realized that I had a pretty awesome family: parents who care about me and push me to do whatever I want to, and a sister who is my best friend. 

I can't wait to see how these pictures come out and see how great we look together. I will treasure them for years to come!

War Of 204....Part 2

Because Neuqua Valley High School is undefeated, 11-0 record, and the winner of their game last night, AND Waubonsie Valley High School has a 10-1 record (their one loss is to us), we will be playing them, our biggest rivals, in the football playoff quarterfinals this Friday at home. AGAIN. 

Be prepared, because if you thought the first War of 204 was something.....you ain't seen nothing yet. 

But personally, I wish we lost a while ago. I mean, it's awesome we have a great football team, but the music kids have this annual, private event called Swing Dance where the jazz groups play big band music and everyone is super classy and dances the night away and it's WAY too much fun. 

Well, this year, it's scheduled for this Friday. From four to six pm. Then I have to go play in the freezing cold with the band. 

I was so excited for this. I mean, doesn't it sound lame to hold it from four to six instead of, say, seven to ten? Like it's supposed to be? 

Four to six is not classy. Because of the football team. That's all I'm saying. 

Go Wildcats.