Cat Nap

How I spent My Christmas Afternoon: I went in after dinner to get something, and spied my cat Pip still curled up on my bed. She looked so cozy and comfy...and the turkey and wine were making me sleepy...so I joined her.

Busy!

Yeah, I've been busy lately. Not really an excuse for not blogging, though, since I've made time to watch things like the Heroes finale, the Tinman miniseries and the movie Enchanted (I loved it! I can't say it enough!!)

There are a lot of things I thought about writing about...but for now I'm going to focus on the things immediately at hand.

1) New Noel. It's this Saturday (the 15th). If you live around here, please come! 6pm, at Memorial Park Church. The theme is "Joy to the World," and we'll be looking at how Jesus' birth is good news for the whole world, and for us, too. There will be music, scripture, and videos, among other things. It's going to be fun, so plan to come.

2) Blue Christmas. It's the 22nd, also at 6, and also at MPC. This will be a very different kind of service, but I believe it will be equally good. It is geared more toward quiet reflection, acknowledgment of the things that often come between us and the Good News of Christ's Coming, and the Hope that this season brings. Christ came to be Human, to meet us in our brokenness. He came to be God with us, and that goes for everyone, whether we feel excited and happy about it or not.

If you know someone who is struggling with feeling joyful this year, or who is missing someone who has passed on, please invite them (and accompany them!) to this service. Let's take an hour (or two, if you come to both!) out of our crazy, hectic schedules to let ourselves remember what Good News this holiday really brings.

I've been feeling frazzled myself, and not really in the "spirit"...until last week, when I was caught off guard by Relient K's new Christmas album ("Let it Snow, Baby...Let it Reindeer"). In between renditions of familiar songs that made me just laugh out loud, were these poignant songs about how hard the holidays can be, but how there is still hope.

I believe that, or I would not be involved in either of these services.

I hope you'll come.

But if not, I hope that you find Hope and Joy this Christmas, wherever you are.

Music is My Mood

So, just about ten minutes ago, I was browsing my myspace, and discovered that my [former] favorite band is releasing a new "Greatest Hits" album this month. I (a) cannot believe it is time for another one of those already, and (b) already like the two new songs that will be on this album (courtesy of their myspace).

I've been thinking about music a lot lately. It's funny, I never really considered myself as an overly musical person, even though I play guitar. Even so, I don't think of myself as a "musician." that's reserved for people who can actually read music--or write it, for that mater. People who know how to play multiple instruments or sing or can speak in musical terminology. BUT I have always loved music. And I did want to be a singer when I was about nine.

For most of my life though, I've been fairly sheltered in my selection of music. It's not entirely all my own doing; my parents got rid of all their secular albums (y'know, vinyls) when I was a baby. They didn't want it to have a negative impact on me. It was okay, though, because Christian music was just starting to come into its own at that time. So I grew up on Maranatha, Michael W. Smith, Amy Grant, Twila Paris, etc.

It wasn't until my senior year of high school that I voluntarily listened to the radio. True story. That's perhaps why I love 90's music so much. Anyway, in college I went through another Christian music relapse...but as it helped shape my understanding of worship, I don't consider that such a bad thing.

But lately, I've been branching out again. It's due to a lot of things. The Indie stuff is because of Brianne. The techno/alternative-type stuff is because of Kyle. The Obscure stuff is because of "Chuck" (on NBC before Heroes)...and the Classic/Rock stuff is because of Guitar Hero. You can't listen to those songs as many times as it takes to get them right and not start to jam to it just a little. (Do I like them all? No. But more than I ever expected to, once again scandalizing the 16-year-old-me.) I'm surprised to find, for example, that I kind of like the Foo Fighters. At least a couple of their songs. And I'm really digging a song by the Eels that was on Chuck this week.

So I've been building my digital library lately, in hopes that soon I will be able to get a Zune (I'll save my anti-itunes rant for another time). Because CDs just aren't cutting it anymore. And music is useful for so many things: expressing feelings, keeping me on track when I'm doing mundane tasks, shaping moods, and helping me visualize a scene. I use playlists a lot in my writing. I kind of do this thing when I'm listening to music--I picture what is going on. Maybe it's due partly to growing up in the Mtv generation, and all the music videos. But a good song can often help me picture a specific scene in one of my stories. Sometimes it even changes or enhances the direction I was going.

But most off all, music just makes me feel good. Doesn't it? I love blasting a song in my car, singing at the top of my lungs, the bass thumping loudly, people in cars around me laughing at me. It's great. Music: What would we do without it?