Niceties

Christmas break has been a lot nicer than Thanksgiving break, so far. Here are some of the things that make it nice:

Sharing chocolate from my students with my brothers and sister

Shopping with my sister for her Christmas Eve outfit

Making double-chocolate peanut butter cookies from a mix from another of my students

Buying gifts at Hobby Lobby and T.J. Maxx

Exchanging gifts with my cousins

Singing carols to shut-ins and hospital patients

Drinking soy chai lattes from Starbucks

Listening to Classical WETA ("Classical for Washington") on iTunes along with the sounds of my siblings playing Age of Empires multi-player (they are so harmonious)

Home Sweet Home

I'm back in Tennessee. My mom was worried about the roads, but they were all clear by the time I left at 2:45PM. Well, the main roads were clear. And by the time I got farther south, all of the roads were clear. There's still a little snow on the ground down here, but it's definitely melting.

I almost wrote that I'm back home in Tennessee, but that didn't seem accurate. I definitely feel like a visitor here. Everything familiar and routine is back in Maryland - all of my stuff and my way of doing things. Visiting my parents' house can be weird because I'm not exactly special enough to be treated as a full-out house guest and yet, as I already mentioned, it's not the same as being in my own home.

If home is where the heart is, then where is my heart?

Christmastime Is Here

I reckon I wouldn't post at all if this weren't my main means of communication with most of you. With the holiday speedily approaching, I realize that I have never begun the tradition of sending out Christmas cards. It's kind of the grown-up thing to do. How many of you send out Christmas correspondence? Letters? Cards? Emails?

Well, I sadly won't have time to start any new Christmas traditions this week. I'm planning to drive home to Tennessee on Friday night, which means I have approximately two more nights in Maryland. And hardly any Christmas shopping is finished.

One of those nights, Thursday night, is our school Christmas concert. I signed up to be a student monitor. Last year, that involved sitting in the theater with the students and making sure they behaved and kept quiet. This year, with a shift of venues and loss of seating, I instead will be spending the whole show in the green room with three other teachers and all of the upper school choir students. Yippee.

Tomorrow night, then, I hope to finish the bulk of my grading and do laundry and pack. It's hard to know what to bring home for a two week vacation that involves Christmas Eve in Kingsport and New Year's Eve with my grandparents in Richmond and a trip to New York City as well. I want to pack lightly and still have everything I could possibly need. I am no good at planning.

Yes, New York City! I thought all my opportunities to visit were over for a while, but apparently my mom has been wanting to go for a while and suggested a trip with my sister and me! We are going to see New York City Ballet's Nutcracker and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. I even convinced them to see a matinée of Hansel and Gretel at the Met. It's in English so I thought it would be a good introduction to live opera. I'm such a nerd. I am so excited.

I haven't been thinking about college nearly so much this year as I did last year, but I apparently have such strong winter and/or Christmas memories attached to Hillsdale that I've been feeling a bit nostalgic recently. My church did a small-scale production of Handel's Messiah and of course that reminded me of choir freshman year. The new Facebook group "Overheard at Hillsdale College" has been providing a lot of funny memories. And to remind me of Whitley, tonight I made this: