From Santa and Spam to Soltice and Singing

Lots going on this week. Gotta cram in the fun before Christmas break, I guess. A few headlines from Tuesday and today...

Oh, Little Town of Bethle-SPAM: Look above to see what a white elephant gift looks like! Yup, yesterday was our department Christmas party via Zoom and the big Secret Santa reveal. My recipient was surprised it was me (didn't see me, yay) and enjoyed their gift. 

I had a clever person give me mine, too. In fact, I told the person – a new co-worker – just how to trick someone. Ship something and use a friend's return address. That's what she did. And that's why I didn't guess it was her. She got me some SPAM to remind me of Hawaii (where our company sponsors a golf tournament), 5 K-Cups to get me through a work week (a short one, anyway), and a golf ball and tees. Nothing bad. We may have to try SPAM and eggs for Christmas Day breakfast!

God Jul: Happy Winter Solstice! It is observed in my Scandinavian homelands more than in the U.S. uch like Midsommar (the summer solstice). For the shortest day of the year there was plenty to it! I worked, then shot some 8th-grade basketball pictures, then shot high school hockey since two friends have seniors on the Rapids team. Stayed up pretty late getting those pictures done. Actually appreciated the darkness to help me sleep. Fast! Can't wait to see more daylight every day now!

Golden Mass: Went to the annual Christmas mass at Assumption High School over lunch. It's always the day before kids get sent home for their Christmas break. I enjoy seeing friends home for Christmas and friends of Carter, too. Plus loving hearing the band and everyone singing the Alleluia Chorus at the end. I remembered both Soprano and Alto parts from high school. Pretty sure I weaved them both together today! Definitely puts me in the Christmas spirit.

Tonight have some more hockey pictures to go through from an alumni game. Then it's work one more day and jingle all the way to Christmas vacation! Ho, ho, ho!

Plowing Through Friday

The calendar and Old Man Winter are perfectly in sync. Dang.

Granted, we only got 3 inches or so of snow overnight, but it was just enough for a slippery drive to work – even with the large number of plows and sand and salt trucks out. Was much better already when I left work after a half day to enjoy my 4-hour Christmas Eve holiday.

And that was good. Because I had a lot of activities to plow through today.

First, although I missed the annual Golden Mass at Assumption, I made it to the post-Mass potluck at a local establishment. Swung home and picked up hubby and my crockpot full of cheesy potatoes. Had a fun afternoon eating, eating, and visiting with my friends Christine and Mike and their families plus a few extra friends.

Then I had some photos to shoot at Lincoln High School, where Stevens Point (SPASH) was visiting for a hoops double-header. This has been on my calendar for a few months since my friend Brian (who worked with Jim and I at Iola and in the newspaper days) has a daughter who plays for SPASH and we knew we could get together when they came to town.

As the date neared, I remembered one of our girls at church plays JV for Rapids. So I went to that game at 4:15 first and got pictures of Abby. Then I went home, hoping to catch a glimpse of College Boy. But that came much later.

Went back to school for the girls varsity game. Sat with Brian and his wife, Brenda, and caught up on lives and work. And really enjoyed watching their daughter Leah play. She is a sophomore but was a starter already last year as a freshman. She is that good. Right now she is in the top 5 scorers for the conference, averaging more than 17 points per game. Tonight, since SPASH had such a commanding lead, the starters got to rest much of the second half.

Still, I got some decent pictures of her amazing vertical leap!

As an added bonus, I got to see my girl Emily (I took her senior pictures this fall) perform with the high school dance team. Good thing I had my camera for that, too!

Naturally, the biggest bonus was having Carter stop home between social engagements so I could get a hug or two! We get him for a month or close to it, so I won't begrudge him his time with friends. We got dibbs on Sunday and Monday.

Now he's out with friends and I am done uploading dozens of photos. I think it's time for bed.

Old Man Winter, you can take a break, too.

Winter :: That's Putting it Mildly

I created this little graphic this morning because I was in a sassy mood. The days are getting longer, after all.

Actually, the first official day of winter did bring some snow. Just enough to cover roads. It didn't even stick to the grass. So I had a bit of a slippery drive to work, but so thankful it was not my old Iola commute!

For a moment I thought we were in a for a white Christmas. Pretty sure the rain and 44-degree temps predicted for tomorrow will clear that off.

Tomorrow is also the last day of finals and school for the semester. This also means the Golden Mass service will be held at Assumption once again. I have made this a few times but cannot take off from work this time. Still, I get to be a part of it, sort of.

Tonight, the senior class and parents had to set up the gymnasium for the event. That meant everything from lining up chairs to stringing lights to make it all pretty. I'm sure it will be beautiful as always. Came home and ironed some shirts for the guys, then finally sat down and addressed the last of the Christmas cards.

Well, probably not the last since I keep thinking of more people! As long as I have cards left, I might as well send them, right? People like Christmas cheer in their mailboxes after Christmas, too. It helps ease the pain of the credit card bills coming in January. I'm all about spreading the cheer, ya know.

Jingle all the way!!

Christmas Cheer

It was another jam-packed day off. And I'm OK with that since everything focused on Christmas.

This morning, hubby and I went to the Golden Mass at Assumption since the public is encouraged to attend. The gymnasium is transformed into a beautifully decorated and lighted place of worship. Carter and the band played some Christmas music and the choir sang several numbers, including my favorite, The Hallelujah Chorus.

Afterward, the gymnasium was transformed into a, well, gymnasium, for tonight's basketball game.

In between those two events...

The students could leave after Mass so Carter was able to join us for lunch with a handful of other friends of ours. I think there were 9 of us eating a scrumptious meal at Great Expectations. Good stuff!

After lunch, I really wanted to take a nap but had some grocery shopping to do. This is the second trip this week and again, I had an impromptu visit with friends. Apparently Wal-Mart is the new social hot spot. At least this time I looked presentable.

Got home and did some work (sh-h-h, don't remind me about vacation), then headed into town to drop Jim off at the bowling alley at 6 p.m. His subbing has become quite regular. Santa probably should have gotten him a new ball bag and shoes this year... but Mrs. Claus wasn't thinking!

Too bad he couldn't go to the game, it was a good one. It started off cheerful anyway. Here are a few photos of Carter and the pep band getting into the Christmas spirit and me, well, being my dorky selfie elfie self.

Carter's friend Olivia and one of their other classmates "bulked up" to dress Santa-like. I want those green, Grinchy shoes! Carter is wearing our "5-foot tall" stocking hat. He opted not to wear his Royal Blue one because he didn't want to match the previously mentioned dork...

Can I help it I love the Christmas season?? At least I am color-coordinated to show both Christmas Cheer and School Spirit! Unfortunately, it was not enough to get our boys a win versus Stratford. Very close, exciting game and we ended up losing by 2 points. Heart-breaker.

After the game, I picked up Jim from the bowling alley and we met up with some other "I'll have a Royal Blue Christmas" fans. We all have off tomorrow from work so why not stay out past midnight like the cool kids?

Logically, this little elf should be resting up for a busy 2 days. But I never claimed to be smart.

Just spirited.

TGIF -- and I mean it!

So many reasons to be thankful for this particular Friday...

It was my last Friday to work for this year! Well I didn't quite get everything done to have the whole day off but I did get to work from home and am basically on vacation except for a few things next week that should take less than an hour. I still say I am officially on vacation until next year!

Since I was at home, I got to enjoy the very special annual Golden Mass at Assumption High School. It is a nice service held in the gymnasium, which has been transformed to a beautifully decorated and lit winter wonderland. The music -- performed by both the band and choir -- is exceptional and the grand finale Hallelujah Chorus is a special treat. It is performed by the band, choir and any alumni who want to join.

I took a video of that. The visual quality isn't that great since the gym was dark. But you can hear the song. Feel free to sing along in the comfort of your home!




After Mass, a group of us went out to eat lunch. Carter was included since the high schoolers were dismissed after cleaning up the gym. Then it was home to get some work done and a tiny bit of grocery shopping for the weekend. I figured I better have everything set for the weekend before we could do anything tonight.

This evening, Carter had to work but Jim and I went to the girls' basketball game versus Marathon. It proved to be one heckuva game! At one point in the second half, we were down by 9 points and it looked like we could lose our first game since sometime in February. But we somehow rallied hard and quickly in the last few minutes and pulled ahead for a narrow victory. Pretty exciting!

Afterwards, we picked up Carter from work an all of us went over to some friends' for some post-game pizza, holiday treats and general B.S.

Now it's nighty-night time so we can hit the road at a decent time in the morning to head up to my family Christmas gathering Up North.

Just need that electric mattress pad to warm up a teeny bit more!! G'nite!

Doing the Most Good

Today was the kind of day that illustrated the true meaning of Christmas for me. Spent the day surrounded by the spirit of the season and didn't have to spend a dime!

Started off the day with the annual Golden Mass at Assumption High School. This service is held each year on the last day of school before the holiday break, featuring music by the high school choir and band, with attendees including all the students in middle and high school, plus parents and alumni.

My favorite part is when we all get to sing the Hallelujah Chorus together at the end. I still remember both the soprano and alto parts! My least favorite part is seeing them walk my son to the back of the room because, yes, he did not feel well. At least he didn't faint. Another kid (a high-schooler) did, though! What is in the water at that school of ours??

We convinced Carter he was OK to stay in school for the day -- partly because we knew it would not be a stressful day-before-break school day. And partly because we selfishly had lunch plans with our friend Christine and her family. (It's the second year doing this -- Golden Mass then lunch -- so it's practically a tradition!)

Did enjoy a nice lunch with her family. Just enough ribbing back and forth to make it seem like a family Christmas meal! Loved it!

This afternoon, I went over to my friend Becky's house to visit and pick up some scrapbooking materials (she's my dealer). Had a nice visit. We realized we hadn't seen each other in person since baseball season. That's crazy when we live only a mile or so away from each other! So we reconnected... which is another wonderful part of the holiday season.

Hubby picked up Carter from school so he wouldn't have to ride the bus when he doesn't feel 100 percent. He was feeling better than this morning but still had some stomach issues. I think he's been one step away from the flu all week. Hopefully now that's he's off, he can get enough rest and bounce back.


He was well enough to go bell ringing with me. We had a 2-hour stint at the west-side IGA again. This time, we both wore Santa hats and looked irresistible to people with money. Or something like that. We did well and, as Carter pointed out, "People are so generous here!" At first I thought he meant at that particular store. He did. But he also meant in little old Wisconsin Rapids. "I don't think they'd be like this in New York City," he said. "They'd probably worry about someone stealing the red kettle."

OK, he does need to learn that big cities aren't all about crime. But I do agree, we had a good "spot" to do our Red Kettle service "doing the most good." They were nice, friendly folks. No one made fun our hats (and it was probably a good call to not wear any Vikings gear either). Whatever works for a good cause.

When we got home tonight we convinced Daddy it was time to play some cards. That's our Christmas vacation tradition. Daddy beat us both at Dirty Rummy, then beat me at 3 to 13. Yes, of course I let him win. We've got 10 more days together. We wanted to boost his confidence so he'll play again!

Hmmm. I probably shouldn't fib so close to Christmas. I hear somebody's watching me...