Is it 2009 or 1980 something?..

Time for new music!

As we enter another year, I thought it would be fun to look back, musically.

I went to a site that listed the top 100 songs for each year in the 80's.

There were tons of great songs to choose from (yes great! I was a teen in the 80's, it will always be great stuff to me). I just picked what sounded like fun to listen to at the moment.

Hope you enjoy them - and I hope they bring a smile to your face as it did me!

Do you remember Adam Ant?!! How about Dexy's Midnight Runners and the Stray Cats?!! Fun stuff!!!

I have to admit, I was enjoying the "new wave / glam pop" music from the early 80's more so than the 'long haired' rock stuff at the end of the decade.

Any favs that you can recall from the 80's?

Truly Wonderful!!

Did you get to watch 'It's A Wonderful Life' this year?

I sometimes take for granted what a terrific movie this is! It is, in my opinion, one of the greatest movies ever with one of the greatest performances ever by Jimmy Stewart!!!!!

I know some years back it was played so frequently that the movie became sort of a holiday cliche. Thankfully, they have now cut back on it's airing (I only saw it listed twice).

(Now if only they'd do that for 'A Christmas Story'... enjoyable, but not nearly the same caliber of movie!)

Although I have seen this picture numerous times, this year the beginning touched me as if I had never seen it before.

Do you recall how it first begins?

It opens with the voices of people lifting up prayers of behalf of the beloved George.

"I owe everything to George Baily. Help him, dear Father."

"Dear God, please help Daddy, he's in trouble."

and so forth..

I have to admit, although I've been a Christian for about 16 years now, I don't think I've ever given any thought as to how our prayers must sound to God.

How cool is it to think that as God sits on His throne, He may be hearing dozens of prayers on your behalf!! Of course, at any given moment, I'm sure He's hearing millions of prayers - but He hears each and every one and gives each His utmost attention (He's so amazing, isn't He?!!!)

It gives new meaning to me when people tell me they'll pray for me. But even more so, it makes me realize just how important it is when I tell someone I will pray for them!!!

I think we can often just sort of say off the cuff 'oh, I'll pray for you." Sometimes I believe it's said because it is the thing to say. When you've heard someone has suffered a tragedy (a death in the family, loss of job etc...) it seems to be the automatic response. I don't think anyone means to not be genuine, but I think sometimes our best wishes can fall short.

But when you stop to think of how it must sound to God when dozens of people are lifting the same person up for the same purpose... WOW!!!

God tells us in Jer. 29:12 - 'You will pray to me and I will hear you.' How cool is that promise?!?!!!

I don't know about you, but in my life there have been many a time in my life when it's been dang near impossible to get a man to hear what I have to say!! But the creator of the world, the one whom holds the whole world in His hand, who knows all, sees all, hears everything I have to say!! He doesn't just hear us (you know how we moms can multi task and hear what one kid is asking while making dinner and fixing the other child's action figure that's lost it's head ..), He gives us His full attention!! He's not distracted as we can be.

I love how Beth Moore words it - ' He treats each of us like His favorite child'

Listen to the beginning part of the Jimmy Stewart classic and see how it affects you.

Have you been on the receiving end of lost of prayers? I know I was earlier this year! How amazing now to think of how that must have sounded to God.

If you have had someone pray for you - drink in just how blessed you are to have had someone go to our heavenly father on your behalf!!!

Just amazing!!!....

"Baby" Jesus

"For unto you this day, in the city of David is born a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord."

People just love babies, don't they? For the most part I mean.

Sure, many a folk would rather not be sitting next to a family with an infant on a flight from Boston to Paris; but to walk by a stroller in the mall and see a tiny little bundled form brings a smile to just about anyone with a heart.

What a wonderful holiday Christmas is. It's easy to celebrate the birth of a baby. This baby happens to be the child of God, born of a virgin and is the savior of the world, but a baby.

Each year, we can look to 'baby Jesus'. It's wonderful and warms the heart.

This is all very good, no GREAT stuff!!!

What boggles my mind, is how we can look to this baby at this time each year, and enjoy him but once this baby becomes a man, we have a hard time hearing about him or talking about him. As long as we keep the word 'baby' before the name of Jesus, people aren't intimidated by him. Do you know what I mean?

Please don't misunderstand me, I'm not shaking my finger at anyone or looking down my nose in a condescending/self righteous manner. I've been on this side before. I get the feeling!

But why is it?

I remember someone saying to me once that talking about Jesus for a lot of people is like entering that room in a distant relatives home that no one is allowed to go in. It's only for the 'adults'. If you go in, you're terrified you'll touch something. It's awkward. Uncomfortable...

Jesus, whether you like to think of him with the word 'baby' before or not, was born with an amazing purpose!!

Yes, He was God incarnate. Emanuel, 'God with us'. But He came to share God's love, show us how to live according to God's plan and to create a path to heaven for us. Hey, He was born and died that we might live! Eternally!!! (John 3:16)

To only worship Him and focus on Him as a baby misses so much!

My friends, please don't miss all that He did for you!!

Let the celebration of Christmas be that of the beginning of your journey with Christ, and not the only part.

Be like the Wise Men of the East, and let this season of Christ's birth start your journey.

THE WISE STILL SEEK HIM!!

God bless you my friends - and I pray that you will have a beautiful Christmas and that your hearts will fill to overflowing with the love and hope of Jesus Christ!!

"What do people notice about you?"

This is the question asked in the new Miracle Ear commercial.

The responses from the various actors go something like this:

"My devotion to my family."

"My love for animals."

"My smile."

"My zest for life."

"That I'm a good friend and a good listener."

And on it goes.

Great commercial, isn't it? How nice that what each person (although I do realize these are actors paid to give these up beat responses) when asked to give one thing people notice about them, all give very positive answers. What great self-esteem!

What was the first thought that went through my head before I even heard the first answer from the people in the commercial? "That I'm fat."

That was the first thing that came to mind. You know, like when you do word association. "Cat... dog" "Up.... down" "Fall... Fruity Pebbles" (I think a sea of fall foliage looks like a bowl of Fruity Pebbles... you may see a problem developing..)

After sticking with the commercial after my initial reaction, I felt a little ashamed of myself that my first thought was so negative. After all, if these paid, scripted actors can come up with positive answers, why can't I?

Here's the question - can I think of positive things about myself that others may notice? Yes.

The Bible tells us: Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. Philipians 4:8

So in an effort to think of the positive, here are some things I think others may notice about me.

I'm a good mother & wife.

I love God.

I am loyal.

I have a good sense of humor.

I'm a pretty good cook/baker.

Ok, now it's your turn. What do people notice about you? Keep it positive!!

Eight

Ok, I thought I'd continue the tile theme of numbers...

One of the things I am most thankful for in my life is my husband. This December we will celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary!!

In celebration of this happy event, I am changing my music to music from our wedding day.

Here's a little explanation.

1. Ave Maria - This was played at the church (Andrea Bocelli) while my mother and John's mother went up to light the unity candles. When it was our turn to take the two candles our mother's lit and light our own, we did not blow out their candles as is commonly done. We wanted to symbolize that we were not leaving our families to start our own, but that it was a continuing journey and that even though there are times (hee hee) that you may like to forget where you're from, we love them and they will always be part of us.

2. Silent Night - The gentleman who sang for us at our wedding (our friend Glenn) lead the guests in singing this song as John and I lit the unity candle. This is one of our favorite Christmas songs and we wanted to incorporate the season into our wedding. It was a lovely moment. As we do not have a recording of our guests singing this, I have put on the Bing Crosby rendition.

3. The Wedding Song - With words coming right from scripture, it is beautiful and simple. Glen did a wonderful job performing this for us!

4. Joy To The World - This song obviously tells of the joy of Christs' coming to earth. Again, we wanted to celebrate our marriage of course, but also share our faith with all those attending. Playlist didn't have the artist we had used, but this one works.

5. It Had To Be You - Our first dance. We had taken dance classes and did a combination of foxtrot and swing (we did swing during the big band piece in the middle). So fun!!! John was so cute, on the video you can see him counting. But you can also see that I'm leading. Boy, what does that say about this good Christian 'submissive' wife?! Great fun and the song so fits us!! And how can you go wrong with the great Harry Connick Jr?!!!

6. That's Amore - Can you have a wedding without this song? Our DJ did the old, 'Everyone pull out a dollar' routine to determine the winner of the centerpiece (a beautiful cream colored pitcher with gold trim filled with lovely silk poinsettias). But there was a twist (not a common one back 8 years ago)! The person left holding the dollar when the music stopped had to stand up and dance around the table. This happened twice, with someone from our church table doing a strip tease!! Hysterical!!!!!!!!!!! This was one of the songs played for the dance fest! Dean Martin part 1.

7. Memories Are Made Of This - We absolutely adored this song for our cake cutting! Our cake was beautiful: three octagon shaped tiers, different flavored cakes each level with white butter cream frosting and small red flowers. I know I ate the cake, there are pictures, but neither John nor I can remember ever tasting the cake. Dean Martin part 2

8. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer - In lieu of the traditional glass clinking (so not enjoyable after about the second time!!!!), if guests wanted us to kiss (I think weddings are the only place we all encourage a public display of affection of this nature - at any other time it's like 'get a room'!) they had to stand up as a table and sing a song. Our table linens were white with red napkins. One of my family tables stood with napkin held up to their faces and sang Rudolph. Big gold stars for creativity!! I don't have their enthusiastic take on it, but here's Gene Autry.

9. Through The Years (short version) - My dad chose the song that he and I would dance to. No shock, my dad being a country music fan as am I, he chose the Kenny Rogers classic. Listening to it as I added it, it was hard to hear the line 'I can't remember when you weren't there'. (Looks like I'm headed into another hard period with the holidays coming and all - but God is good!!) Dad kept asking me if I was alright while we were dancing. I think he just felt awkward and didn't know what to say. Dad's not a man of many words. Classic choice Dad!!

10. A Song For My Son (short version) - It's hard to find a good song for the mother-son dance!! My sister Kerry told us about this song. John played it for him mom and that was it. Wonderful moment at the reception! The artist is Mikki Viereck

11. L*O*V*E - There was LOTS of dancing and a wonderful time had by all (we still have people tell us that our wedding was one of the most enjoyable ones they've ever attended - wonderful compliment!). We were encircled by all of our family and friends as we took to the floor for our last dance. We wanted an upbeat song and we both just love the old classics so this catchy little song from Nat King Cole was such a perfect choice. We danced the fox trot to this. Counting isn't as noticeable by this point in the evening and I do believe I let loose and actually let John lead!

12. Time To Say Goodbye - After our last dance we had the DJ play one of my favorite songs as our 'goodbye' song. I heard this song for the first time at a skating show at Harvard. I even remember it was Rene Rocca and Gorsha Sur skating in purple costumes. I was completely mesmerized by the music and struggled in the terrible acoustics to determine which language was being sung. I called the box office the next day to find out what the song was. They couldn't help me. It was during the Christmas shopping season by the time I finally found it (the skating show had taken place at the end of October). I was doing some holiday shopping when I decided just for the heck of it, I'd try wandering through one of the big music stores at the mall. A sales person saw me roaming around and asked if they could help. I told her that I'm sure she couldn't as I knew so little of what I was searching for. I said, there was a song at a skating show... it was mostly in a foreign language, but I caught 'Time to Say Goodbye' or something... She said, 'Oh yes. Right this was, I know exactly what you mean.' And she did!! (kudos to that wonderful sales woman) I brought home my first Andrea Bocelli cd that day and became a huge fan!! (this was pre-PBS showings of his performances) Any how, the chorus of the song translated into English is (roughly), "Time to say goodbye. Places that I've never seen or experienced with you. Now I shall, I'll sail with you upon ships across the seas, seas that exist no more I revive them with you." How beautiful and incredibly romantic!! This is a duet with Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman.

John and I had the most wonderful time planning our wedding, including all of the music choices. We really did everything as a team and loved every minute of it!!!

Seven

My friend Michelle has tagged me to write seven random things about myself.
Here we go..

Once upon a time, I used to work out. Seriously!! I used to go to the gym 4 days a week (I worked a very early shift and was done for the day by 11:30 am) and then take step aerobics classes three nights a week. Honest!!! There are those who knew me back then and can testify to the accuracy of this random fact. I loved it!! It was the early 90's and so I would wear the bright pink and lime spandex shorts with long tank shirts. I was never 'thin', but nothing jiggled! (unlike now when as I type I've got flaps waving under my arms). I was as fit as could be.. once upon a time...

Two is the number of times I've been to NY City. The first was with my friend Jean to see the original Broadway cast of Les Miserables (my favorite musical) perform one of their last shows. The second time I went with John and his cousin Brian who lives in NY. Had a great time and went for tea and dessert at the Russian Tea Room.

Three and a half months I was on bed rest with my first pregnancy. It was very hard!! I felt horribly guilty not being at work. By about month two, I wasn't feeling quite so guilty. By then, I was just concerned with having a healthy baby.

Former (4) Celtics fanatic. Back in middle school I was a devout Celtics fan. Yelling at the tv and all! Kevin McHale was my favorite!!

Fifth grade was one of my absolute favorite years of school!! It was my first year with a male teacher. I was painfully shy and had no confidence in myself. He took me from the lowest levels in reading and math to the average level all because he showed me that he believed in me. Thanks Mr. Russel!!

Six is the age of my son that I'm really worrying about lately. I wish I knew how to help him. This will be a future post I'm sure.

Seven news is my favorite network for news. I really like their meteorologists.

If you read this and have a blog, feel free to consider yourself tagged!

T.H.A.N.K.F.U.L.

I was working on a learning page with my kids and decided what's good for them is good for me.

Can we ever be too mindful of all that we have to be thankful for?

T ~ tissues * I have a cold right now, so what can I say?

H ~ hubby * I have a husband who loves me despite all of my pesky and sometimes moody ways. (I can admit it!) He works hard to provide for his family. He loves the Lord. He makes coffee for my girlfriends and I while we scrapbook. Now that's love! He isn't into burping, scratching and sports - AMEN! He will occasionally watch a Jane Austen movie with me! Now THAT's love!!

A ~ America * How blessed I am to live in this country!!! It may not be perfect (no one, and no place is!) but we have so much both in material possessions and in freedom that we take for granted every day! Veterans Day having just passed, I am especially thankful for all of our service men and women who serve us today and through the years!!!

N ~ Nestle * Who am I kidding? Anything chocolate!!! Now who am I kidding? Any baked good altogether!!!

K ~ kids * Two healthy handsome little men. They keep me on my toes and add to my graying hair daily, but I wouldn't trade them for the world!! One who is constantly into mischief, never too concerned if he's skating on thin ice and just when you think you can't take him any more, he flashes you what he calls his 'cheesy grin'. *melt*... The other who is sensitive and thoughtful, yet completely silly and goofy and likes nothing better then to make people laugh with his antics. My cup runneth over!

F ~ faith * This has been an especially tough year. Where would I be without my faith in the Lord? He sustains me through trying times and keeps joy in my heart when left to myself, it would be lost! My hard times are more bearable and my good times all the sweeter!!

U ~ Understanding * This is really for the friends and family who understand. Who just listen without judgement. Who don't try to compete. Who listen to my sorrows without looking at their watch or trying to change the subject. Who listen to my hopes and dreams without pulling out a needle to pop my balloon. Who support and encourage me on my journey. Who let me be me - warts and all! (ok, I don't have any warts at the moment, but imperfections galore!)

Thank you!!!

L ~ love * I am loved and have dear ones to love. Truly one of the best blessings of all!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!