Pi Girl

Christmas has always been my favorite holiday. Mostly because I cherish the traditions that come with it: going to church, singing carols, getting good stuff from Santa, seeing what he brought everyone else. There has always been something magical about Christmas Eve night and there is a moment when everything stops to bask in Christmas glow. Every year, that magic comes, no matter what is going on or how crazy the season gets or how blah I feel that year.

This has been a blah kind of holiday. Between post-wedding stress (I swear, we will get those thank you cards out!) and trying to find my groove again, I have not been in the best of holly jolly spirits. I was also feeling a lot of trepidation about spending Christmas away from New York, my family and my beloved Grace Church in B’ville on Christmas Eve night.

So off to Maryland we went. The rain and thunderstorms on the way down did not feel like Christmas. And the cat hiding in a very un-Tabitha-like way did not feel like Christmas. And going to the American Indian Museum at the Smithsonian, while very cool and fun, did not feel like Christmas.

Driving to Baltimore Friday night, I searched for a sign that it was my old, familiar Christmas. I found a radio station playing commercial-free Christmas music - that was familiar. And the station played all the music on my “Christmas faves” playlist on my iPod - getting warmer. I started thinking back to all those Christmases as a kid, listening to similar stations while we went about our Christmas activities. I thought of a song I did not have on the iPod that I had not heard in years and couldn’t remember what it was called or anything about the melody except that it was about Snoopy and the Red Baron.

And wouldn’t you know, not 15 minutes later, “Snoopy’s Christmas” came on the radio station. And for 4 minutes and 30 seconds I got my Christmas magic moment. And everything else after that was Christmas. There was food, people having fun, presents being opened, and of course, Christmas music on the radio. We went to church in Timonium, where the service was a little different, but the songs were the same. I missed my bro sitting next to me, but I had Jason. And on Christmas morning, Santa brought all kinds of goodies to me and my new family for us to enjoy.

They tell you as a kid that Santa always knows how to find you on Christmas morning. From spending various Christmas mornings shuffling between Mom’s and Dad’s abodes, I knew he could find me anywhere in Baldwinsville. But this year I learned that he will even find me 350 miles and 2 states away.

(Jason, I told you he was real!)

sung to the tune of “Oh Little Town of Bethlehem” (sung in barbershop harmony, of course)

As you can see, we’re in a muddle
‘Cause we’re one lead twice double.
So in this mess, we must confess
We fear we’re in treble now.

I’m not supposed to let it slip, but I’m pretty sure none of the Chords know about my blog and I just had to tell somebody. So you can say you heard it here first; future Harmony Queens that we are.

We’re in Treble Now makes its official debut in 2 weeks at the Crystal Chords Christmas party.

Have you ever noticed that birthdays tend to clump around a particular time or date? I know so many people who share my birthday and 2 random roommates from college had birthdays the day before and after mine.
Today is my grandfather’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

But it’s also Marie’s birthday, and Taryn’s too. And 2 kids’ families called in their birthdays to the radio today. And I know of several people who have birthdays coming up in the next week.

I don’t know if it’s something about the time of year or maybe because particular dates stick out, I listen for coinciding events. It’s just interesting.

I love it when sites are redesigned, because it is usually for the better and I get a little joy looking for the old links I always click on or reading new features. The Ithacan, the student newspaper at Ithaca College recently redsigned their site; and it looks so much better than their old site. Like it might actually belong to a newspaper from a quality journalism school.

The newest feature is Click - web-extras, if you will. Their first feature is about the EcoVillage in Ithaca.

Of all the things I loved about living in Ithaca, the people were at the top of the list. Especially people like the group living in the EcoVillage. It’s a community where they share resources with each other and make a commitment to live their lives in a way that was intended for a human/nature relationship. Their houses utilize solar energy for heat and members of the community help in building the house to cut costs.

I’m such a mainstream American culture junkie that I don’t know if I could really live the life in an EcoVillage, but it’s so cool to think about. I could be a part of the ultra-hippie life and know that I was doing my part to better the world and people around me. Of course, I’d have to learn to eat better and like vegetables. And I’d have to not drive my car so much … give up tv … figure out how not to kill plant life.

I could do it. I’d just have to go through rehabilitation camp first or something. Hmmm, maybe I’ll add that list to my New Year’s resolutions and if even one of them sticks it out, that’s one more thing I’ve done to better the Earth. I need to let my inner flower child out and run free!