Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Advent Week 2 Tuesday

Today was one of those days.  You know the ones.  The ones where you wake up in the morning with all of these great intentions and then, as the day goes on, you feel yourself slipping further and further behind.  Tuesdays are always my craziest days (with Thursday being a close second).  Pk has to be in a neighbouring town for her skating practice at 4:30.  Given that I work in a town 20 minutes from home, I don't get all my class dismissed until 3:25 or 3:30 and then I have to drive home, get the dogs, grab Pk from daycare and run to the arena and get her ready by 4:30, it's always tight.  It doesn't end there.  While she skates, I drive to the forest and run the dogs and then aim to be back at the arena for 5:50, at which point we rush home to eat dinner and have Lb at Beavers for 6:45.  I try to either do a slow cooker meal of make something that Dh can just throw in the oven but it tends to mean that on Tuesday, I do nothing but run.  I would have loved to do something special today but I don't know where I would fit it in.  Add in the fact that I drove in to work wondering whether I had blown out the candle after my prayers and had to drive home at recess (I had a prep period right after recess so I had time for the 40 minutes of driving), it was a less that restful day.

On days like today, it's so important that I find ways to embrace the little moments and to bring peace in somehow.  I was rather proud of myself today.  Driving in, I decided that instead of the radio or a podcast, I would listen to some Christmas music.  Currently, I have two things that I am listening to.  The most often has been Chris Tomlin's Christmas album Adore.  There are several tracks I love (or adore, groan) but some that aren't really my thing.  I am also listening to that one because I sing with the worship team at church and we do a lot of contemporary stuff.  I'll be honest, I am finding that as I am getting older, I like the worship songs less and less and long for the hymns that I grew up with.  I have actually pondering trying to find a more liturgical church in the area that has an evening service that I go could to once in a while, just to scratch that itch.  Anyway, this morning was not a Chris Tomlin morning and before I knew it, I had my favourite Christmas album of all time on and I was singing my heart out.

I love celtic music and I have been a Chieftains fan for years.  Their Christmas album, The Bells of Dublin, is my favourite.  The last three tracks, a medley that starts with Once in Royal David's City, moves into Ding, Dong Merrily on High and then ends with O Come, All Ye Faithful with a cathedral choir and the bells of the cathedral as the finale reduces me to a weeping mess of joy each and every time.  I love descants, I love clear voices, I love harmony and I love anything that sounds British.  You can't do better than this.  Dh always teases me that it's not Advent yet until I have listened a few times and bawled.  I am trying to find more time for music and less time for "busy" these days and it is making a difference.

Do you have a favourite Christmas album?  What puts you in the Christmas spirit?

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