Jennifro

"We interrupt this card-stuffing

for a very important message"

The season is flying by and I'm not writing what I intended to....so here are a few midnight mentionables before I go back to the licking, I mean sponging (thank you kind readers). I think that Santa Calls has to be my very favorite Christmas book. Oddly, it doesn't seem like a natural fit for me--given the style of the illustrations and the adventuresome plot--(I usually prefer quaint, traditional illustrations and boring-ish, slow plots) BUT...that ending. I swear it gets me every last time. Every last time. I remember reading it to my parents one year, and midway-through I noticed their faces silently communicating "this is really your favorite?" and then....that ending. Ahh yes, unexpected tears. I don't mean to build it up too much but it's a fantastic read and if you have children who sometimes fail to get along, you will appreciate it all the more. Last night I read it to my boys and still, at the end, I was choking through the last page. Nicholas looks up and says,

"It's not sad, Mom." I tried to explain why it was ever so touching.

"Mom, don't you remember Where the Red Fern Grows? That was sad."

Poor kid. He's probably still disturbed from reading the last chapter of that torture with me. Snot dripping from here to my chin--gasping like a two-year old after a tantrum; it was ugly. But I digress. Get this book.

This is the ultimate Christmas CD to me. It by no means replaces Bing, Perry, Nat or the other must-haves but I cannot listen to this without being transported to another time and lifted up to where we belong, where eagles fly on a mountain high.....(slightly dramatic, but I love it!). If you don't know anything about John Rutter, I will tell you he is a master at music composition and lyrics and I think without a doubt his Christmas pieces are his very best work.

About three years ago Nick was driving a bus route for some reason. It was dark outside, blustery and freezing. I remember him calling me on his cell but the connection was horrible and all I could hear was wind and the rumble of the engine in the background. I managed to get something like, "Christmas. spirit. unbelievable. choked-up. song." DEAD. When he got home he told me he had just listened to the most beautiful Christmas song he'd ever heard. It completely put him in the Christmas mood and he immediately decided he had to find it. Eventually he did, and John Rutter and the Cambridge Singers is what he uncovered. The song was "Candlelight Carol." Ever since it has been our favorite song of the season. Nearly all of the songs have the most amazing lyrics and melodies, and in my opinion, are a wonderful compliment to (and change from) the more "traditional" holiday music.

Here are the lyrics to Candlelight Carol:

How do you capture
The wind on the water?
How do you count all the stars in the sky?
How can you measure
The love of a mother
Or how can you write down
A baby's first cry?

Candlelight, angel light
Firelight and star glow
Shine on his cradle till breaking of dawn
Gloria, Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Angels are singing
The Christ child is born

Shepherds and wise men
Will kneel and adore him
Seraphim round him their vigil will keep
Nations proclaim him
Their Lord and their Saviour
But Mary will hold him
And sing him to sleep

Candlelight, angel light
Firelight and star glow
Shine on his cradle till breaking of dawn
Gloria, Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Angels are singing
The Christ child is born

Find him at Bethlehem laid in a manger
Christ our Redeemer asleep in the hay
Godhead incarnate and hope of salvation
A child with his mother
That first Christmas Day

Candlelight, angel light
Firelight and star glow
Shine on his cradle till breaking of dawn
Gloria, Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Angels are singing
The Christ child is born
Angels are singing
The Christ child is born

Rolo Turtles

Fastest Christmas treat this side of the......

seriously it is.

If you want to do something really meaningful with your three year old but only want to spend say.....six or seven minutes, make these. All you do is this:

Buy small pretzels, Rolos, and pecan halves. Unwrap candy and put one on top of each pretzel on a cookie sheet. Put in oven at 250 degrees for about 3 minutes. When they come out push a pecan half on top. Let them sit until they are solid again. They are super good and super quick. And ...you feel GREAT about time well-spent with the kid.

Seven days to go!