Ever Wanted to be an Elf?

I have tears rolling down my face after watching this the first time. You may recognize a few faces!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1658243660

I love this time of the year!

I have always had the best of intentions to send out Christmas Cards, but usually it ends up with me handing hastily addressed envelopes to people when I see them at church or a Christmas party. This year, I actually mailed my cards! Can you believe it? And I also included my blog and e-mail address on my cards. I thought this was an easy way to keep in touch with everyone in such a chaotic world. Well, my efforts have not gone unnoticed!

Clare, my roommate from a long, long time ago e-mailed me this morning. I had seen her earlier in the year, at Evan and Erin's wedding, and just had a ball with her and her husband, Chris. Since they live in Texas, I haven't seen her in several years. It was just great to hear from her and see that she's doing something she always wanted to do, audiology. I've added her blog to my friends list over on the side, so check it out when you get a chance (she recently started it, so it won't take too long to catch up with what's been going on with Clare and Chris!). Welcome to the world of blogging Clare!

What's in a name?

Facebook has a neat application that "analyzes" your name. I really liked the one for today:

Godly

Lucky

Outgoing

Reverent

Independent

Ambitious

Kinda sounds a little like me, don't you think?

Mr. Clean I am not!

My office is located in one of the older buildings on campus. Because of that, the offices have no storage and are poorly arranged for working conditions (totally throwing off my Fung Shui!). Today I spent the majority of the day cleaning with Linda and Sara. Many of you know that I cannot work in an unorganized office space, and this has been a great challenge of mine for the last three months, trying to maintain a workable office space.

The accountant in our office transferred to another department so that meant we got to clean her office. Now, I'm not saying that I'm the cleanest person ever, but remember when I cleaned my closet and talked about the lady that was on Oprah? That's what this office was like. I think we threw away about 1200 pounds of paper and trash, as well as rearranged the furniture. Several of the faculty were speculating about what the room was going to look like when we were finished. The office went from feeling like a coffin that was slowly shrinking in on you, to a space that could easily hold a small sofa and a chair plus the desk and filing cabinets! That's how much stuff we got rid of. I am probably going to feel every muscle in my body tonight when I get home! At least now, I don't have to go to the gym tonight.

'Tis the Season!

I always knew December weekends were extremely busy, but I always seem to forget how busy each year. Last Tuesday, I attended a concert for the Haas Hall Academy's Choir. It was their first Christmas Concert, and it really made me appreciate how much I have learned in my education to be a choir director. The director of this choir has had no training to be a choral director, he's the Spanish teacher, and unfortunately his lack of knowledge in the area of vocal music really showed. But the kids sang their hearts out and got an A+ for effort. Thursday night, I drove to Bentonville and saw Rachel's kids in their "Home for the Holidays" show. I taught some of these kids last year, and they did an amazing job as always. Kudos to the Spring Hill Choirs!

Friday night, I was invited to several functions, but instead chose to catch dinner and a movie with some friends. We were all anticipating the large amounts of snow the local weather forecasters had predicted, but eventually settled for all the wasted snow as it came down as an extremely cold, wet, messy rain. We ate at Mimi's Cafe, and then headed over to the theater to catch August Rush. It was so cute and a completely modern fairy tale. If you are in the music education business, you should see it. It's almost as inspiring as Mr. Holland's Opus. Almost. When we left, we couldn't tell if the puddles under our chairs were from our tears or from our dripping umbrellas.

After the movie, I headed over to Jamie and Rachel's where we worked on our Christmas Special we "volunteered" to perform on Sunday. We worked on our arrangement of Silent Night, and then I headed home to the b.e.d. Saturday was a great break. Since the Bentonville Children's Choir concert was cancelled due to the inclement weather, I got laundry done, finished all my Christmas cards, wrapped a few presents, and watched "Holiday in Handcuffs." Seriously, that's what I watched! All while I waited for the massive amounts of snow.

Sunday was great. I did have to make a few trips to the sink to get some hot water to unfreeze my car doors, but unfortunately I did not have to dig my car out from the blizzard we were promised. I think I counted a total of 254 flakes of snow on my car. So many people came up to Jamie, Rachel, and me after church and said they really appreciated our song. Rachel played the piano, Jamie played his saxophone, I played my flute, and Rachel and I sang. It really did go well. After church, I went out to eat with some of the people from the praise team and then we saw I Am Legend with Will Smith. Afterward, I took some time for myself and wandered through the mall looking for some sort of Christmas present I had missed. Eventually I made my way home, watched the Survivor: China finale, and then headed to bed. Ahhhh-mazing!

I'M A HORRIBLE FRIEND!

I completely forgot Erin's birthday. Erin, my friend, please accept this apology for missing your 25th birthday. It was by no means purposeful and I am bringing you a funfetti one night this week! HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY!

Gloria in Excelsis Deo!

Angels We Have Heard on High may be my all-time favorite Christmas Carol, and no, it's not because I'm narcissistic and like my name to be sung to me hundreds of times. I love the melody, the message, and the music of this song.

Most experts believe this song is an old French carol dating back to the 18th century, however, some believe it may be older than that. The first documented version of the song appeared in a French collection dated from 1855. The verses are very French in their style, following a specific chord structure and style relevant to the 18th century. The chorus is where a lot of experts differ. Some experts believe this chorus may date back to the beginning of the third century. While it is very melodious, the chorus only uses six notes and moves in a very linear motion. The chorus is very, very similar to Gregorian Chant, since it uses a small amount of notes and moves very linearly. It is also believed that the chorus, which states in Latin "Gloria in excelsis Deo," comes from the original Christmas Mass, and means Glory to God in the highest, the greeting the angel says to the shepherds when appearing to announce the birth of Jesus (Luke 2:13-14).

Here's a video of my hero Sandi Patty singing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the US Air Force Reserve Band from her 2006 production Yuletide Special. Enjoy!

How do you roast chestnuts on an open fire?

Perhaps on of the most recognized, best loved Christmas songs didn't start out as a Christmas song. Mel Torme was sitting in his beautiful suburban home in Hollywood in the middle of July when he started thinking about the sights and smells of Christmas. He started writing down what he remembered and The Christmas Song was born. Mel had a meeting scheduled later that week with an up and coming singer, who was breaking barriers left and right. At the meeting, he showed the singer the song, and Nat King Cole knew he had an amazingly magical song in his hands. Together Torme and Cole put the song together and recorded it. It debuted in October and stayed on the charts for a while. The Christmas Song not only became an iconic classic by itself, but it pushed the boundaries of the social atmosphere. When Nat King Cole recorded this song, he became the first African-American singer to cross into the mainstream musical world. Before then, music was highly segregated, but this song crossed the line and showed everyone Christmas was the same to everyone. Here's a broadcast of Nat King Cole singing Mel Torme's The Christmas Song.

Silent Night, Stille Nacht

Silent Night may be in the top three of my favorite Christmas carols. The song was written by Father Joseph Mohr in 1816 but not performed until 1818, when Father Mohr took the words to the headmaster of the school he resided at in Oberndorf, Austria. The headmaster, Franz Gruber, composed a simple guitar melody on Christmas Eve 1818. Gruber used his surroundings when composing the melody, drawing from various folk music a yodelling. The original manuscript has been lost, but this manuscript, in Father Mohr's handwriting, has survived for almost 200 years. Here's an interesting link with more details about the song's history and several myths associated with it. (Click here)

This song holds a special place in my heart. My great-grandmother immigrated from Germany, and my grandmother has always remembered her singing Silent Night in German on Christmas Eve. A few years ago, I sang it to her in all its German glory for her Christmas present. I'm hoping to revive that again this year with the help of my two cousins. Anyway, here's Josh Groban's version from his amazing new album Noel (to bad I'm not getting paid for this!).

O NOT Holy Night

O Holy Night is one of my favorite Christmas songs. However, every year around this time, I usually send a reminder of how badly this song can go. This year, I found the video to go with the audio.

***CAUTION: This video will offend your musical sensibilities, even if you have none to speak of. Listen all the way through if you can. The last line of the song is perhaps my favorite moment of the worst performance ever of this song.

My Heart is Broken!

Well, Arkansas still doesn't have a coach after reliving the hiring debacle of Dana Altman and D-MC came in second place again for the Heisman. Some shmuck from Florida took away his glory. So, in honor of Darren and his heartbreaking second place finish, let's relive a great moment from the regular season and look forward to us kicking Chase Daniel's and the Missouri Tigers' butts in the 2008 AT&T Cotton Bowl (I know, wishful thinking, but a girl's gotta hope)! ENJOY!

God Make You Mighty, Gentlemen!

Another of my favorite Christmas carols is actually a song that was not originally part of the Church Mass. "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" is a great song, with great rhythms and lyrics, and a melody that is very catchy. This song dates back from the fifteenth century (that's the 1400's for you non-edumacated folk) when Church music was for Church only and not very fun to listen to or sing. Through a small, quiet rebellion outside Church walls, peasants would create their own music to worship their God. These songs, though never sung inside the walls of the Church, helped spread the story of Jesus birth, life, and resurrection. "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" is one of these non-sanctioned songs.

Many people today do not understand the meaning of this song. Since it was written in the 1400's, you must relate the meanings of the words used in that time. When we say "Merry Christmas" today, "merry" means "happy." However, in the fifteenth century, during the time of Robin Hood and his Merry Men, "merry" did not necessarily mean "happy," but "mighty." "Rest" is another word that had a different meaning in fifteenth century peasantry. "Rest" also meant "keep" or "make." So, using these meanings, "God rest ye merry gentlemen" becomes "God make you mighty gentlemen." Clever, huh?

Here's one of my favorite artists singing "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen." And have a "MIGHTY CHRISTMAS!"

Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas

This may be one of my top 5 favorite Christmas songs. It's from the musical Meet Me in St. Louis and starred Judy Garland. I grew up watching this movie and have absolutely loved the scene where Esther, Garland's character, sings this to her younger sister. Anyway, when Garland first got the song to record it for the movie, the first lines were:

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
It may be your last
Next year we will be living in the past

For a WWII America, this did not sit well with her, and Judy sent it back to the writers for a more optimistic feeling song. Just imagine what a sad, sad song it would have been if the original lyrics had remained. The writers returned and the first lines were changed to:

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Let your heart be light
From now on our troubles will be out of sight

Anyway, here's a clip from the movie with Miss Judy Garland and one of her most famous songs.