Fa la la la la la la la laaa.

Give me a bad Christmas sweater and some Bing Crosby, because this girl is ready for the holidays.  I have my peppermint bark recipe all ready to go, some popcorn already strung for the tree, and enough wrapping paper (thanks to a killer sale at Hobby Lobby) to cover a VW bus.  Trust me, I’ll be needing it because we have nine, count ‘em nine, people flying in from all over to spend the holidays at our house.  Now, having that much family under one roof is bound to get hairy, but it will be nothing a few dozen batches of Christmas cookies can’t smooth over.  Yes, my plan is to subdue them with food.  Fudge bars, gingerbread men, chili, pot roast, coffee cake – these are a few of my favorite things… and the weapons in my arsenol of holiday harmony.  If I can just keep them stuffed, there can be little disruption to the Norman Rockwell-esque plans I have in my head.  Plans like sing alongs and family pictures where we are all wearing matching turtlenecks… yes, yes, yes!  Have another slice of cheesecake, Bob!  Mwwwaaaa mwwaaa mwaaa!

Alright, so maybe I do have slightly high expecatations for the perfect family Christmas.  I suppose buying everyone blinking reindeer antler headbands was a bit too much to hope for.  I will probably be wearing them by myself… again.  Either way, it will be a blast to have everyone here.  The holidays just put an extra spring in my step!  Even my 120 sullen, angst-filled adolescent students can’t ignore or deter my contagious joy!

Another delightful aspect of this time of year is the semester’s end.  Adolescent Literature was great and really interesting, but I’m ready to end it.  I’m taking two online courses next semester (yikes!) so I can finish up this master’s in Library Science by the summer of 2011.  What did I register for again?  Collection Development and Children’s Literature through the Ages, I think.  I heard the first is a killer and the second is lots of fun; I’m glad they will balance each other out.   The further along I get into this program, the more excited and optimistic I become about being a librarian.  Change is vital to my well-being as I get pretty antsy after doing the same thing for awhile.

Speaking of trying something new: here’s my favorite holiday recipe for easy peppermint bark that everyone will die for.  Don’t thank me, thank Martha.  Enjoy!

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/perfect-peppermint-bark?backto=true&backtourl=/photogallery/edible-gifts#slide_1

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Mr. Ray

This has been a really cool week.  First off, I must give some background info: I am #1 Ray LaMontagne fan.  I listen to Trouble when I run, when I drive, when I do the dishes.  Lyrics from Gossip in the Grain, on a daily basis, guide my decisions, choices and prove to be the soundtrack as I blaze forward in this crazy world.  So, last week when KBCO was giving away Ray tickets every morning, I knew we had to win – by “we” I meant my husband who has a longer commute to work.  In fact, I told Bernie not to bother coming home on Friday if he hadn’t won me my tickets – jokingly!  Of course I was kidding… kind of… totally goofing around… maybe.  Anyways, my sweet hubby spent a couple hours researching Ray LaMontagne trivia, and on Wednesday morning he won!  Third row seats, Baby!  What a hero.

The concert was out of this world.  Ray was solo – just a guitar and his black and white photography behind him.  Although it may sound cliche, I really did cry through half the songs.  It’s just that the quality of his voice, his lyrics, his style – it’s all just so raw, but not raw as in rough: raw as in organic.  I hesitate to tell you that several big-life decisions I’ve been chewing on were made that night while I was 10 feet from Mr. Ray.  I want to move home.  I want to get back to Northern Michigan.  I want my little girl to grow up someplace quieter and simpler – a place where ice fishing and blueberry picking are taken into account when making the weekly grocery list. 

 Ray\’s Trouble

Ray LaMontagne’s music is so stripped of pretention, so poetic and intimate, that I was allowed to stip away my own complex walls, and multi-leveled thought processes.  Corny?  Perhaps.  But I walked out of there feeling clearer and more positive about where my life needs to go next.  Amazing art does that to a person. 

Now, I don’t necessarily have a plan on how to sell our house in this market, get a new job in a state that is economically devastated, and make this happen.  However, when we were leaving the concert, and I asked my husband, “Can we go home now?”  He said, “I thought you would never ask.”  So, I’m pretty sure we can do just about anything. 

It’s a good thing my degree is online.

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Some things are inate; the girl is a natural.

This was my little girl’s first time really celebrating Halloween.  Sure, we got off to a rocky start: she refused to put on the Elmo costume – actually shrieked and ran away each time we brought it out – and so, I assumed the holiday would be a bust.   No way.  One new candy corn costume later and with hardly any coaching at all, she owned this cul-de-sac.  All it took was one house.  She was kind of pulling at her costume, didn’t want to hold the bucket, but when our next door neighbor, Ron, put that tootsie pop in her bowl, she was golden.  I could literally see the light bulb go off over her 20 month old head.   Annoying costume+bucket+smiling=candy.

I was really proud of her.  I mean, to see the candy instinct come alive in your child is powerful.  We expect amazing things in her Halloween future; we’re imagining pillowcases (no wimpy bowls) full of candy.  She’s a natural for sure.  Some things are innate, and she was about as ruthless as anyone under two can be.  In addition to yelling, “Tee tee tee!” (Trick or treat!), she actually asked the last few houses, “Moe peees!” (More please!)  You can’t teach that; you either have the candy instinct or you don’t, and this girl was on fire.  Of course, in Halloweens to come, we’ll teach her all we know and help her to hone her gift.  #1) Cute always gets more loot than scary.  #2)  If you have two masks/costumes, you can hit the well-to-do neighborhoods twice.  #3)  Never trade your chocolate for hard candy; it’s a scam.

In other news, my online class is going really well and almost over.  I have been sharing all the novels we’ve been reading (Young Adult Literature) with my students during their mandatory reading time.  Kids who haven’t brought a book or made it through a chapter all semester are devouring the contemporary novels from my class.  It’s been really exciting as a teacher to see kids loving books and asking to borrow more.  My collaborative group class project is going better as well.  In the previous post I vented a bit about the difficulties of collaborating with classmates online.  Since then, we’ve been utilizing the live chat application in our class’s home page which has made all the difference.  It’s hard to believe there are only a few more weeks left to finish up this class.  I am only a year away from being a full-fledged, kick-butt librarian!  Hooray!

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