A Kiss of Winter
I think I am part bear. There is part of me that just wants to sleep when Winter arrives. It is hard to get out of bed, and even harder to clear the cobwebs out when I do finally wake up. I think part of it is the fact that I’m trying to wake up when the moon is still hovering overhead, or it could be the long night of playing video games.
We had a moderate storm blanket the area with a few inches of snow and ice. It wasn’t anything major, but it did manage to close schools and a few businesses. Now most of the snow is gone, but it is still very cold outside. It’s enough to make me treasure the small things in life, such as a warm fire and throw blankets and a sparkling Christmas tree.
We decorated the house this year, but didn’t put up lights. Now with all the ice still on the roof and in the yard, I don’t think I want to put any up. I didn’t realize how expensive it could be trying to go all out with Christmas decorations. I see houses with swirls of mechanical and colorful festivity, but then I see the price at Lowe’s and it chills me worse than the Winter weather. Even more expensive than the outdoor decorations is the price of a prelit Christmas tree.
Since we are in a new house that has very high ceilings, Lori and I decided we should look at a new Christmas tree. I want to find a nine foot tall tree that looks full, is prelit, and isn’t too expensive. We couldn’t find a single one anywhere. So we decided to look after Christmas to get some better deals, and just use our six foot tree this year. It is dwarved by the living room. It is almost comically small. At least it is decorated big.
I remember back in high school a group of friends and I would get together and on Christmas Eve we would go to various houses and play Christmas carols on our musical instruments. We always targetted the houses that were having Christmas parties so we’d be sure to get invited in for snacks and whatnot. It was so much fun. Now that I am back in Oklahoma, I wonder if that is something I should start up again? I wonder if I can still play well enough to not get kicked out of someone’s house?
December 5th, 2006 at 10:22 am
I don’t remember how to transpose music.
My Saxophone leaks like a siv (I was actually better than I sounded in high school, it took me a year after graduation and playing on Steve Fox’s Buffet to realize my Sax was a complete piece of crud).
I vote we do recorder arrangements of music. This could be awesome. Or alternately we could learn to sing. Or we could see if we can still play for 10 minutes straight before our jaws stop working.
How about a 20 man Recorder Choir with at least 4 choral parts. It could work, although people would have to learn how to do harmonics on the recorder. (Woodwinds could pick it up easy, brass might have a difficult time)
Oh and I just bought an HDTV, don’t tell anyone.