Here are the answers to the Christmas music quiz I posted:

1. The apartment of two psychiatrists
The Nutcracker Suite

2. The lad is a diminutive percussionist
Little Drummer Boy

3. Sir Lancelot with laryngitis
Silent Night

4. The smog-less bewitching hour arrived
It Came Upon A Midnight Clear

5. Exuberation to this orb
Joy To The World

6. 288 Yuletide hours
12 Days of Christmas

7. Do you perceive the same longitudinal pressure which stimulates my auditory sense organs
Do You Hear What I Hear?

8. Stepping on the pad cover
Up On The Housetop

9. Leave and do an elevated broadcast
Go Tell It On The Mountain

10. A joyful song relative to hollow metallic vessels which vibrate and bring forth a ringing sound when struck
Carol Of The Bells

Yesterday I attended the retirees buffet breakfast at the company where I worked when I retired. I found several people there that I knew. A lot of times when I attend retiree events I don’t see anyone I know. I rarely see anyone I worked with but I did see a few yesterday. The company was collecting Toys For Tots and asked the retirees to contribute. I took two 500-piece jigsaw puzzles. Hopefully there are still children who like to do such old fashioned puzzles in this day of high tech toys.

About 25 years ago I visited a friend in a distant state. During my visit she introduced me to a number of her friends. Two were twins, Share and Maine. They were such nice women and even though we only kept in touch through the friend who introduced us, we’d make an effort to meet for a meal at the festival where I was volunteering when I was in their area.

About two weeks ago I learned that Maine has colon and liver cancer. She had surgery and was scheduled to start chemo. She had one treatment. The doctors have determined she isn’t strong enough for another treatment. Last Friday they told her family that she probably won’t make it through the holidays.

Maine is a Christian as is Share. She’s told her family that she’ll try to hold on but if she doesn’t make it through the holidays, they are not to be angry or sad. I’m sure their hearts, as is mine, is very heavy at this cruel turn in Maine’s life. She needs a miracle and I’m asking God for one. Would you join me in this prayer?

Are you ready for another Christmas quiz? This one has to do with Christmas music. (I hope you have a radio station which is playing Christmas music all the time.) I’ll give you a phrase which describes a Christmas song. You need to supply the correct title. As before, I’ll post the answers on Saturday.

1. The apartment of two psychiatrists

2. The lad is a diminutive percussionist

3. Sir Lancelot with laryngitis

4. The smog-less bewitching hour arrived

5. Exuberation to this orb

6. 288 Yuletide hours

7. Do you perceive the same longitudinal pressure which stimulates my auditory sense organs

8. Stepping on the pad cover

9. Leave and do an elevated broadcast

10. A joyful song relative to hollow metallic vessels which vibrate and bring forth a ringing sound when struck

As promised, here are the answers to the Christmas trivia quiz I posted last week:

1. Which of these companies was the first to use Santa Claus in an advertisement?
b.  Coco-Cola

2. Which president was the first to decorate the White House Christmas tree?
a. Franklin Pierce

3. Which country did the gingerbread house come from?
c. Germany

4. What kind of Christmas does Elvis Presley sing about?
c. Blue

5. In what year was “A Christmas Carol” published?
b. 1843

6. Where was “A Christmas Carol” written?
d. United Kingdom

7. Which reindeer is Rudolph’s dad?
c. Donner

8. Which Christmas movie has been played more than any other?
d.It’s A Wonderful Life

9. When were electric lights for trees first used?
c. 1895

10. What company created Rudolph for a holiday promotion?
a. Montgomery Ward

So how did you do? Did you get them all? I was given this quiz at a party and, sad to say, I missed three of them.

I know that we have been spared the winter storms other areas have experienced. We’ve only had snow flurries, not any accumulation.

What we have had is wind … winds of up to 60 mph … which is more wind than I like. The winds nearly tore the storm door off my house during the night Tuesday. The latch doesn’t hold it securely so I had added a strong rubber band (like comes on broccoli) to it to give some extra security. The wind ripped that rubber band in two! When it slams the door against the house, the whole house shakes.

Yesterday was bitter cold. The high was very early in the morning and was 37. The temperatures dropped all day and at bedtime it was 19 with a wind chill of 4 with a prediction that it would be even colder overnight. The radio cautioned people to bundle up if they went out.  Thankfully the winds had calmed down some although they still cut through you if you were outside.

On days like that I’m so thankful for my mohair sweater. My friend in NZ sent me the yarn many years ago and I knit the sweater. It is quite the warmest sweater I have but is light to wear. That’s what I’ll be wearing later this morning when I go to tutor the boys in reading.

I’m making slow progress in my Christmas preparations. It feels like I’m accomplishing them inch by inch. But the tree is up, the felt tree is hanging ready to have Christmas cards pinned to it, the small ceramic tree with its attendant carolers is in place, the wreath is on the door, and tonight the folk art nativity set was put in place. I have a few more decorations to get in place but I think I’ll get those done later today.

Last night I wrote my annual letter which goes in my Christmas cards while listening to a radio station which was playing all Christmas music. Some people don’t like annual letters. I write one because some of the people I send cards to don’t write me but maybe once or twice in a year and it’s a good way to keep in touch.

What do you think about annual letters? If you’d like to get a copy of mine, leave me a comment and I’ll email it to you.

My next big Christmas project is recreating my Christmas card list. The Geek Squad was able to retrieve a number of my documents but my Christmas card list which was formatted for printing on address labels was a casualty of the computer crash. Once I get that recreated and copies made of my annual letter, I’ll be able to get my cards in the mail.

How are you doing in your Christmas preparations?

Just for fun, here’s some Christmas trivia. I’ll post the answers next Saturday.

1. Which of these companies was the first to use Santa Claus in an advertisement?
a. Pepsi
b. Coco-Cola
c. 7-Up
d. Fanta

2. Which president was the first to decorate the White House Christmas tree?
a. Franklin Pierce
b. Benjamin Franklin
c. George Washington
d. Abraham Lincoln

3. Which country did the gingerbread house come from?
a. Austria
b. Switzerland
c. Germany
d. United States

4. What kind of Christmas does Elvis Presley sing about?
a. White
b. Red
c. Blue
d. Snowy

5. In what year was “A Christmas Carol” published?
a. 1765
b. 1843
c. 1860
d. 1906

6. Where was “A Christmas Carol” written?
a. Australia
b. United States
c. Germany
d. United Kingdom

7. Which reindeer is Rudolph’s dad?
a. Dancer
b. Dixon
c. Donner
d. Blitzen

8. Which Christmas movie has been played more than any other?
a. A Christmas Story
b. Home Alone
c. Frosty the Snowman
d. It’s A Wonderful Life

9. When were electric lights for trees first used?
a. 1804
b. 1914
c. 1895
d. 1936

10. What company created Rudolph for a holiday promotion?
a. Montgomery Ward
b. J C Penney
c. Kreske’s
d. Woolworth’s

My pastor likes to assign themes to various months or seasons. Last night at Bible Study he said the theme for December is “Down From His Glory.” I thought, “how appropriate for the Christmas season!” This will keep us focused on the real meaning of Christmas.  Join us in singing (to the tune of O Sole Mio) which we will be singing a lot this month:

Down from His glory, ever-living story,
My Lord and Savior came, and Jesus was His name
Born in a manger, to His own a stranger,
A man of sorrows, tears and agonies.

Oh, how I love Him, how I adore Him,
My breath, my sunshine, my all in all,
The great creator became my Savior
And all God’s fullness dwelleth in Him.

Since today is the first of December, it’s time to start celebrating Christmas. This means I’ll get out the wreath for the door, put up the small Christmas tree, put up the felt tree for incoming Christmas cards, think about writing my annual year-end letter, and work on my outgoing Christmas cards. I also need to wrap and mail a couple of Christmas gifts. Gifts for the family also need to be wrapped … once I finish purchasing them.

I “Christmas shop” all year, picking up things I think will make a nice gift throughout the year. So I need to take an inventory of the gift closet and see what I still need to purchase. I think I’m rather thin in the stocking stuffer category so a visit to Dollar Tree will be coming up shortly.

Various concerts are starting up this week too. Tonight there’s one at Jefferson College but I think I need to skip that one since my schedule is pretty full already this week. Thursday night is the Ladies Ministry party at church. Instead of having a gift exchange, we’re to bring items which will be sent to a children’s home. The list on the bulletin board suggests mostly personal hygiene type things. I guess those items are always in short supply in a children’s home.

Friday is the monthly travelogue and then Saturday I’m going to the first of the holiday concerts at the Symphony Hall.

Yes, it’s time to start celebrating. Do you have special things planned to celebrate — things to cook/bake, places to visit, music to listen to?  Do you have special family traditions for this time of year?

I know that it is a tradition in some families to go shopping on the day after Thanksgiving. That’s never really been mine but I did venture out yesterday afternoon. There is no bargain in the world that would get me to stand in lines at night to get in a store either at midnight or very early the next day. But by afternoon the frenzy usually has died down so I ventured out.

In my family we trade Christmas lists (suggestions of what we’d like to find under the tree) at Thanksgiving. My younger nephew had given me a long list of books and some DVDs from Amazon.com. I knew Borders was having a sale and preferred to buy locally so off I went to Borders. I was so pleased to be able to buy two of his items and one was on sale for slightly more than half price!

I spent the early part of the day hooking up the printer to my new computer. Discovered I needed a USB cable to complete that job so a visit to Best Buy was necessary. That store seemed a little busier than Borders had been but still there were plenty of sales help available to answer questions.

Other people use this weekend to do their holiday decorating. I’ve given passing thought to it but will delay that for another few days, maybe even until next weekend if I don’t cave in to neighborhood peer pressure. I don’t do outside lights but if I did, today would be the day to hang them. The temperatures is in the 60s and the sun is shining. I should imagine that even if you hadn’t planned to put up your outside lights today, the weather might convince you to do it before the rain and colder weather which has been forecast for a few days from now arrives.

You know, if you don’t participate in the shopping frenzy, this long weekend in early winter is a real blessing. It can be a time to reflect and catch your breath before plunging into the whirlwind of social activities leading up to Christmas.