The Adventures of Kinky Reggae: A Vagabond for Beauty

Christmas this year was definitely a success. On Christmas Eve I spent some time with three of my favorite girls. We decided not to exchange gifts, and I had the idea that we should make lists of our top ten favorite things about each other. It ended up being pretty emotional. We kept saying that we never realized people thought those things about us. It was definitely one of the best things about Christmas this year. Except that Nina told Rachel she wasn't going to do it, and then when she saw us she lied and said she forgot. That really pissed me off. If she didn't want to do it, she should have just said so in the first place. I almost called her out on it, but I didn't want there to be a big ugly scene. And I felt that some justice was served in the form of mousse from a bakery that Rachel bought for us, which she told Nina was gluten-free, even though it was not. Haha. For church that night, we went to my old church, the church my great-grandfather was past

Tears are falling, hearts are breaking How we need to hear from God You've been promised, we've been waiting Welcome Holy Child Welcome Holy Child Hope that you don't mind our manger How I wish we would have known But long-awaited Holy Stranger Make Yourself at home Please make Yourself at home Bring Your peace into our violence Bid our hungry souls be filled Word now breaking Heaven's silence Welcome to our world Welcome to our world Fragile finger sent to heal us Tender brow prepared for thorn Tiny heart whose blood will save us Unto us is born Unto us is born So wrap our injured flesh around You Breathe our air and walk our sod Rob our sin and make us holy Perfect Son of God Perfect Son of God Welcome to our world

We sang this song one year for Lessons and Carols at Concordia, and I think it is one of my favorite choral pieces ever. I think our director did a better job conducting, but I think this choir probably sounds better than we did. My favorite was the "beautiful virgin" part. A lot of the time, when you're singing in a different language, you're not thinking about each word that you're singing. But with this song, I knew what all the words meant in English, so it was really meaningful. And I think the text is just beautiful. Original Text O magnum mysterium et admirabile sacramentum, ut animalia viderent Dominum natum, jacentem in præsepio. Beata virgo, cujus viscera meruerunt portare Dominum Christum, Alleluia! English O great mystery and wondrous sacrament, that animals should see the newborn Lord lying in their manger. Blessed is the Virgin whose womb was worthy to bear the Lord Jesus Christ. Alleluia!

Silent Night was always the last hymn we’d sing at our church’s candlelight service on Christmas Eve. Sometimes we’d sing in German, which my grandma loved since she grew up speaking German. One year my whole family went to Willow Creek’s Christmas service, which also ends with Silent Night. Their tradition is that you have to tell the people you’re with that you love them by the end of the song. I thought, “This is not happening.” My family is not very demonstrative. I was shocked when my brother (who, at the time, was causing all sorts of trouble and was angry at all of us all the time) hugged us all, said “I love you,” and put his arms around us as we sang. All four of us stood there with our arms around each other singing Silent Night, and it was one of the most beautiful moments our family has had.

Okay, I chose this one more because I love the movie. This is the second time I've gone to see it at the Music Box Theater. This year I took my mom, and we had a lovely time. My dad dropped her off last night, and she did my dishes and rearranged my closet with the Huggable Hangers she brought me. This morning I took her to see Jorge, the guy who does my hair, and for the first time in her life, she has a fabulous haircut. She's always just gone to Great Clips before. Just as I suspected, she loves it and says she will never go back to Great Clips. It was so fun to see her so excited. After the haircut, we met my friend Kelly for lunch at Uncommon Ground, one of my favorite restaurants. Then we walked to the theater, which was just a few blocks away. Before the movie starts, there is caroling led by Santa. It's very festive; everyone has jingle bells and antlers or Santa hats. The crowd cheers when the movie starts and is very vocal throughout it- singing along,

I have always thought this song was just so beautiful and peaceful. You know when it snows at night, and it's flakes that are so huge they look like cotton balls, and everything outside is so quiet? When it snows like that, my mom always says it's just like this song. My parents have a gorgeous backyard. The back of it is lined with huge evergreen trees, so when it snows, it is picturesque. When I hear this song, I picture snow falling in my parents' backyard. Here's another random video. I'm kind of enjoying looking for all these videos on YouTube. I'm finding some pretty hilarious stuff.

This hymn isn't anything original or unique. It was always just something we sang every Advent in church. I always liked it because there's something about the melody that made it feel good to sing. But last year I really listened to the words and fell in love with it. The words are so full of hope. It makes me think of how eagerly people were anticipating the Messiah and the expectations they had for him. Emmanuel means "God with us," and the Jews desperately wanted God to be with them again. So here's a random recording I found on YouTube. O come, O come, Emmanuel And ransom captive Israel That mourns in lonely exile here Until the Son of God appear Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.

So I just started listening to Christmas music yesterday. Not sure why, just haven't really been in the mood. But I heard one of my favorite songs at the store and couldn't wait to go home and download it. I started downloading other favorites and thinking about each song's significance. So I decided that each day, from now till Christmas, I will write about a favorite Christmas song and post the lyrics on my blog. I'll try to post a video too, so the song can be heard and not just read about it. The song I heard yesterday was "Breath of Heaven (Mary's Song)" by Amy Grant. I grew up listening to Amy Grant and singing her songs in church. Looking back, many of them are so awful, but I still love them. But this one has withstood the test of time, at least for me. I sang this song several times for Christmas at my church when I was younger. The first time I did it was freshman year of high school, and I remember my voice teacher making me get down

My mom found my copy of A Very Brady Christmas. I can take that off my list. The crayon throwing stopped today. I told my kids it would be an automatic after-school detention if they were caught throwing crayons. That seemed to work. I'm almost done with my Christmas shopping and gift making. In two weeks, I will be in Florida- drinking cherry limeades, shopping at Dillards, wearing my favorite white flowy skirt and flip flops, eating my uncle's cooking, laying on the beach, and going to Disney World.

So you know how I said that for the first time in my life, I was choosing to not complete an assignment? That didn't work out so well. The prof called me and left a message last Thursday listing the assignments I needed to turn in last night. (I was a little behind since I missed a week.) At class last night, she went around and checked each person's folder. When she asked me where Reflection #4 was, I was like, "I'm sorry. I couldn't do it. I've never purposely not done an assignment before, but I just couldn't do it." She said, "Well, I can give you till Friday..." And I was like, "Thank you, but I'll just take whatever grade I deserve without that paper." But she kept insisting that I email it to her by Friday. So today I came home from work, seriously considering not doing it, telling myself I wouldn't have to face her again. And there in my inbox was an email from her reminding me to do the paper. I submitted

My principal observed me today, and I was so nervous about how my students would behave. But two of my worst kids transferred out, and another one was sick, so it actually wasn't that bad. God was really looking out for me. My principal had a few suggestions for improvement, and I'm excited to try out some of her ideas. I don't mind being evaluated by her because I know she's not out to get me; she honestly wants to help me be a better teacher. She gave me the best compliment today. She said, "What I like about you, Miss B, is that you have lots of great ideas and are passionate about what you do. You're always willing to try new things and you never give up." That really meant a lot to me. I love Ms. Franklin like Ramona loves Miss Binney.

1. Dress from Anthropologie 2. More bookshelves for my apartment. 3. Hat 4. Pure Grace perfume 5. I want my dad to shave his mustache. 6. Spending money for Florida 7. Homemade Rice Crispy treats with vegan marshmallows 8. Someone to clean my house 9. Desk from Crate and Barrel 10. A Very Brady Christmas (I lost my copy!) 11. Dixie Chicks c.d. 12. A Disney painting 13. Debrett's Etiquette for Girls 14. Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir for DS 15. Orange slices 16. Another tattoo 17. Tickets to Madama Butterfly at the Lyric Opera

Okay, I think I figured out why the crayon thing was so funny to me. It reminded me of this article in the Onion from years ago. I don't know why it stuck in my head, but it's hilarious.

My Charlie Brown Christmas Tree has met its demise. I would share a picture, but my camera's broken, too. I knocked it over yesterday and the red ornament shattered everywhere. I wanted to take a picture of a scene in my classroom today, too. I heard someone mention crayons and jumped all over them, but it was too late... the idea had been planted. There was a sniper attack. Broken crayons littered the landscape of my classroom. They were all concentrated in one corner- all colors of the rainbow, some smeared across the floor. Jordan was yelling about getting hit in the face, and I imagined him saying, "I'm hit! I'm hit!" My classroom is a war zone.

I'm doing something I've never done before. I'm choosing to not complete a homework assignment. I've gotten perfect scores on everything else, and I figured that without this paper, I could still get a 96% in the class. It is a strange feeling. I've always done all my work. I've always wanted to get the highest grade possible. With my first master's, I was determined to get straight A's. With this master's, I just want the certification so I can be a reading teacher. I don't care if I get straight A's. Well, I guess I kind of do. Because I wouldn't skip this assignment if I couldn't still get an A without it. But I just can't handle writing this stupid paper on top of all the other stress in my life.