Merry Christmas





Last night was our last big program-- our Christmas Eve Service(s). The people in our Worship Ministry at Orangewood are amazing. There were luminous stars suspended from the ceiling, and the thought and planning given to the lighting and set-up of the room was evident. The music and the preaching were wonderful, and the candle-lighting ceremony richly moving. It is such a joy to work with these talented, smart, fun-loving people and to know that we share the bond of faith in all our labors.

After the services we tucked Marla into bed with promises of Christmas morning dancing in her sleepy eyes, Christmas songs playing on a cd, and the excitement of what was to come making her flop all over the bed. That done we then set about assembling the easel and paints we had bought as her gift from Santa. It had been a long day for both of us, and we needed to de-stress in our own ways. Don headed outside for a cigar and a look at the night sky. I headed back to the bedroom and decided to do some yoga and stretch for awhile before bed. I had not gone into Marla’s room to turn off the music yet—I was enjoying the mix Daniel had burned for her earlier in the week; a nice compilation of Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, Enya, Johnny Mathis, and the Chipmunks. I decided to do my stretches to the Christmas music and enjoyed the surreal quality the music gave to a yoga routine.

Christmas Morning began with a tap on my shoulder and a sweet voice asking, “Could you button my dress?”

I foggily buttoned up a velvet dress. “Are you dressing up to see what Santa brought you?”

“Yes,” Marla replied, lifting her hair out of the way.

Shuffling down the hallway and turning the corner into the living room I watched Marla walk right past the easel and paints awaiting her discovery and stop before the tree. She looked carefully around and then looked at me in confusion… where were the presents?

“Look over here…” I coaxed. Her eyes looked past me and landed on the easel and paint. Score!

The day was wonderful. Daniel came over first, and we had an intimate family gift time, some venison sausage, eggs, and coffee. My parents came over just a little later and we exchanged gifts, had some lasagna, and enjoyed one another’s company. Our sweet friends the Berrys dropped by with some outgrown toys for Marla and the gift of great company.

The highlight of the day for me came in the thoughtfulness of the gifts my husband and children gave me. A few weeks ago, Don and I were looking at the state of the windchimes in our yard. They were falling apart with age. I remarked that I would love to replace the broken ones and get a few more. He arranged for every gift for me to be a windchime. They each had a different timber and mode—deep and sonorous, rich and melodious, and even one that sounded like temple bells. We spent the late afternoon hanging them in various strategic places for our enjoyment.

Now, it’s time to get our sweet daughter off to bed. It’s been a good holiday. Probably the best in years. Merry Christmas!

Preparing for big programs is always a little stressful, but I love the last few days of the process. If things have been done well, then these days are more fun than anything else. This week was truly so.

Monday morning the Elementary and Middle School music students gathered at the HS sanctionasium to rehearse for their annual Christmas Program. The rehearsal went well on the walk-through side, but we discovered we had not allowed enough time for our technician. When rehearsal ended I felt we still needed a complete run through, and was feeling nervous about the evening—the “what if” knot in my stomach was beginning to tighten.

That evening I arrived early to just spend a few moments in the room, reflecting on the objectives for the evening, and soon very energized students began to enter the building-- their excitement stirring the air. I made my way to the 7 and 8th grade green room and quickly warmed up the students, giving them a last minute pep talk before the performance was to begin, then moved to the 6th grade room to do the same.

A few minutes later I was just taking my seat as the Welcome began. Looking around I was amazed at the size of the audience-- the room was packed. The Combined 6th-12th grade band played the opening song and we were off and running. The concert went remarkably well, with just a couple of bumps. The children sang sweetly and the bands played well. It was great to see them stand tall and sing with skill, and to see the band students intently lifting their instruments and fixing their director in their sights. It was a very good night.

Tuesday morning was full of teaching and that night was the final rehearsal for the RTS Christmas Concert. The strings and organ were going to meet with us early on the night of the concert, so we ran all the numbers with just the choir, piano, and a substitute organist. It went smoothly, and we had time to iron out a few places in the music that were troublesome. Steve Brown read the Scripture passages and I could see the impact those beautiful words were having on the choir. Over the past two months we had prayed together as a group that the Lord would use this program to glorify himself and to reach the unchanged heart. Steve’s delivery was so well spoken that my heart surged with joy. The rehearsal went very well, and I prayed that the choir would adjust quickly to the strings and organ on Thursday night.

Wednesday night was rehearsal with the church’s worship team. These rehearsals are some of the funniest nights of my week throughout the year. Put Kyle, Reggie, and our team in the same room and pretty much all you do is laugh.

Thursday night came quickly. We met with the instrumentalists at 4:30 to run through the music. I slipped and fell on the risers just before they got there and hit my hand pretty hard on one of the metal chairs. I soon forgot about it as we moved through our pieces. The choir arrived soon after and we ran through a few pieces to make sure all the parts were working well together.

The program went very well. Reggie gave a warm and thoughtful welcome, the choir gave their all and sang with passion, the soloists sang beautifully, and Steve delivered the Scripture and Homily with dignity and humility. Reggie gave a moving Benediction, and I knew the Lord had answered our prayers.

Today (Friday) I had my hand x-rayed and found out that my ring finger was fractured. Ha! I knew that beat three in every song was just a little bit painful…

Busy

This has been an incredibly busy couple of months—I’ve been working on two huge programs on top of my regular hours and am now in the home stretch. On Monday we will have our school’s Elementary/Middle School Christmas Program, and on Thursday our church sponsors the Reformed Theological Seminary’s Christmas concert. Throw in some rehearsals and it’s an every night out week.

The Elem./MS program promises to be sweet—the cute factor combined with what I hope will be great performances should make it a great evening out for the Parents and Families of our students. It will be a debut performance for our 6th grade choir students, and they are very excited about performing. They have worked very hard on their music, and on the fine art of standing still and concentrating on their director and on what they have to do. It’s been fun to see their progress and their excitement grow. The 7/8th grade choir is a bit further along in their skills, as this is the third year I’ve had some of them, and they have a confidence and enthusiasm that’s cool to see. I’m hoping they’ll continue on in choir in High School. I’m also looking forward to seeing all the Elementary students perform. (Particularly one shy little Kindergartener named Marla.)

The RTS program consists of a 40 voice community choir, strings, organ, piano, narration by Steve Brown, and solos by Jonathan and Amanda Noel. The theme of this year’s program is “Jesus Christ: Prince of Peace, Hope of the World.” The music’s very beautiful and our goal is to point the listener to the hope we have in Christ. We’ve been praying as a choir that the Lord would use the truth of the song texts, Scripture, and Message to open the ears of the unbeliever and encourage those who might need encouragement in these times we live in. The concert will be at 7:00 pm in the RTS chapel in Oviedo on the 13th.

Adding these two events to an already busy schedule has made the past two months blur by… I’m looking forward to a brief respite over the Christmas break. After that, we hold auditions and begin rehearsals for our High School Spring production, “Cinderella” by Rogers and Hammerstien, begin working on Spring Festival literature at both schools, and put together a Broadway review show. I’m truly looking forward to this Summer’s slower pace, but am excited about the tasks ahead. Until then, it’s busy, busy, busy.