o holy night

This Christmas, my sisters, my mom, and I sang O Holy Night for a Christmas Eve service. This is one of the run-throughs during practice and is fairly decent.

During the candle-light service, we completely missed the key change. We stopped the song, refound ourselves with the piano and then finished singing...not quite the ideal performance. It was frustrating to spend several hours practicing just to mess-up in front of the live audience. However, Jesus did not come save a perfect world. He was not born to come along and say, "Good job! Keep up the good work!" [Insert thumbs-up]. Being reminded that I am not perfect, even when it is a small thing like missing a key change, helps me keep my mind on the big picture.

christmas pics!!!

It is Christmas in Montana! I am home for the holidays and having a fantastic time with friends and family. Here is a photo-journey of locating the perfect Christmas tree and decorating the house!

 Should we get this one?

 The perfect tree!

 Cutting down the tree.

 Hi!

 Going back to the truck.

 Lunch time

 The tree is safely in the house.

 Untangling the lights.

 Lighting up the tree.

 The ornaments are ready to put up.

 Jacki behind the tree.

 Mom putting up ornaments.

 Dad, "Where should this one go??"

 Jaime adding to the tree in between getting ready for winter ball.

 Putting up my contributions.

 Jordan is decorating too!

 The angel!

 Jordan and Jaime got side-tracked from hanging beads.

 Jordan is putting up stockings.

 I love decorations!

 Mom is setting up the nativity scene...

 

...while dad is sampling Jacki's Almond Roca.

 

The wrapping station!!

We are having fun so far! More pictures to come!

5%

Why is it that the last 5% of a job seems to be the most difficult? I am down to one paper and one exam (and the exam I just need to show up for). When these are completed, my first semester of grad school is over. Done. Finished. I can finally sleep. Yet I find myself cleaning instead of working on the paper. Cleaning? Really? I want the satisfaction of checking this paper off my google tasks to-do list, but my motivation tank is depleted. And I even like the subject. It is just that the last segment of a job is the put-your-head-down-and-just-get-through-it kind of work. It's like when I hiked up to Warren Lake this summer with my dad and sister. We had already climbed over Cutaway Pass and had a steep set of switchbacks before we could set up camp. Part way up the trail, I simply did not want to move a step forward. I knew that the view from the top would be beautiful. I was sure that once I had climbed to the lake I could sit, rest, eat a clif bar and rehydrate. That last bit of hiking was grueling. But I did it anyway. Like a certain individual has told me on a number of occasions (*cough*Dad*cough), "You can do anything for a short period of time. You can even stand on your head for a short period of time." In less than seventy-two hours I will be at home in Montana with family. I am not sure that I could actually stand on my head for that long (I usually get a headache after about a minute...and it wouldn't really be helping me finish this paper...), but I know that I can finish this semester well during my last couple of days of 2011 in Boston. Even if it means logging out of facebook so I can chip away at a paper.