Merry Christmas to all our family & friends!
2 Replies
Lucas’ 1st-Grade Christmas Concert
Atticus and I went to Lucas’ first-grade Christmas concert this past Monday evening. They did a great job!
I actually took videos with my DroidX, but it’s so shaky that I got a bad case of motion sickness from trying to edit it. So I decided to extract the audio and post it instead. (I’m blaming it all on Attie, who was so excited about the songs that he was jumping up and down and all around and into me as I held the phone. π
Lucas is the second row, third from the right in a burgundy shirt.
Up on the Housetop:
[audio:southside-1st-grade-xmas-concert/2010-12-06-southside-1st-grade-xmas-concert-up-on-the-housetop.mp3|loop=no]
Silent Night:
[audio:southside-1st-grade-xmas-concert/2010-12-06-southside-1st-grade-xmas-concert-silent-night.mp3|loop=no]
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer:
[audio:southside-1st-grade-xmas-concert/2010-12-06-southside-1st-grade-xmas-concert-rudolph.mp3|loop=no]
Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree:
[audio:southside-1st-grade-xmas-concert/2010-12-06-southside-1st-grade-xmas-concert-rockin-around-the-christmas-tree.mp3|loop=no]
O Come, All Ye Faithful:
[audio:southside-1st-grade-xmas-concert/2010-12-06-southside-1st-grade-xmas-concert-o-come-all-ye-faithful.mp3|loop=no]
Atticus says the Hail Mary … in Latin!
Thanks to our resident lover of Latin, Kevin, we’ve been starting our mealtime blessings with the Latin version of what’s called the “Trinitarian formula”: In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti (In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit).
The kids picked up on this really quickly and over the last year or so, it’s become a habit. (Lucas, aka the Prayer Police, keeps us reminded. π
Well, Kevin has also been praying and saying the Hail Mary in Latin, and obviously somebody’s been paying attention.
This morning on the way to the sitter’s/bus stop, Atticus wanted to say the prayer but wasn’t satisfied with English. I said the couple of lines I know in Latin, and then he kept right on going!
I was in awe, to say the least. I mean, he’s only four!
This evening before bed, he must’ve said the prayer in Latin at least 15 times. He said it’s easy. Hmmm…He obviously didn’t get his memory gene from meeee…
Ave Maria
Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum.
Benedicta tu in mulieribus,
et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus.
Sancta Maria, Mater Dei,
ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc,
et in hora mortis nostrae.
Amen.
Thanksgiving Music: ‘Me and Bobby McGee’
I only sang one song with both Kevin and Ryland Thanksgiving evening at my parents’ house, and this was it:
Although I’m sure it wasn’t his favorite song of the evening to play, I really like how Ryland fills in the crevices with his banjo runs and riffs. π
Thanksgiving Music: ‘Georgia’
I don’t think my mom has uploaded all of the Thanksgiving Day bluegrass jam with Kevin and his dad, Ryland, but she did post this video of me and Kevin that she shot after Ryland left…our version of “Georgia on My Mind”:
Thanksgiving Music, part 3
And the third installment of Kevin and Ryland’s bluegrass session: “Little Maggie,” “Dear Old Dixie,” “Leftover Biscuits,” and “Old Home Place.” Thanks to my mom, Nancye Ricketts, for editing and uploading the videos. π
Thanksgiving Music, part 2
Here’s the second clip of Kevin and Ryland’s bluegrass jam the other night: “Dig a Hole,” “Salty Dog Blues,” “Ballad of Jed Clampett,” and “Can I Sleep in Your Barn Tonight, Mister.” My brother Bobby’s behind the video recorder, and his wife Kim’s dad, Bruce Wiles, is the off-screen singer on that last song.
Thanksgiving Music, part 1
Kevin’s dad, Ryland Hawker, brought his banjo over to my parents’ house last night to play some bluegrass music. Here’s the first clip β “Wildwood Flower” and “Nine Pound Hammer.”
Sunday evening theology for kids
photo credit: Samuraijohnny
Kevin’s spent the last couple of hours watching The Passion of the Christ with the boys.
Lucas sat on the sofa the whole time, engrossed. (Yes, it’s violent, but its impact is definitely worth the gore, unlike most of the superhero movies we usually watch around here in boy-central.) Asking question after question of Kevin, Lucas clearly took in the big picture.
Atticus ran around the house with his 3-D “bird-man” glasses on (“This is my red eye, and this is my blue eye”), but spent enough time in the living room to be able to share his commentary with me (“Jesus has blood on his face”…”There’s a hole in Jesus’ hand”).
And Kevin? He ran commentary the whole time, rendering himself a bit hoarse afterward, even.
One sliver of conversation:
Lucas: How did Jesus turn the water into wine?
Kevin: He’s God. He can do anything. He could turn you into wine if He wanted to.
Lucas: Then I would be spilled all over the couch.
I was grading papers and planning the whole time, so I didn’t get to watch and listen to all the conversation like I would have liked. But I started thinking afterward about how I may view it differently if I saw it through their eyes.
Kevin said he was trying to see things the way the kids (mostly Lucas) would, so he could explain what they may not understand. A couple of his observations:
- When the Jewish priests were spitting on Jesus, Lucas said, “I thought they were holy people.”
- Lucas wanted to know when the Devil and the demons were coming back all the time. Kevin told him to focus on Jesus instead, but it reminds me of watching The Wizard of Oz and watching for the Wicked Witch the whole time.
By the end of the movie, the kids both agreed that Jesus is the best superhero ever. Not only is he powerful, but he also heals the people who would hurt him (like the guard whose ear Peter cut off when Jesus was first seized).
Work in Progress: ‘More of You’
One of the songs I’ve been working on over the last month or so finally took its first baby steps this week. The half-chorus I had now has its second part (I think):
More of you, less of me
That’s the way it ought to be.
Fill me Holy Spirit, let me be your light,
shining like a candle in this cold, dark night.
Aww…
Really, though, they’re just like babies in many ways, “my” songs. π
I’m very attached to them, very sensitive about them, and very protective over them just like I am my babies.
And I’ve also come to know more and more that they aren’t my own production.
While my babies came to me via God and man, my songs are pure gifts from God (no matter how I’ve distorted them in the past by not acknowledging their origin or seeking to retain their original value).
I think the main inspiration for this piece of a song came from what our priest, Father Charles Breindel, said was his chosen Bible verse, John 3:30:
“He must increase; I must decrease.”
Kevin’s brought it up many times since, especially when I’ve been in a whiny mood. π
(And I promise to send the audio as soon as I figure out my WiFi issue… It’s really sweet, sweet like I used to avoid like crazy.)
UPDATE:
Wow. 2010. It’s been five years, but I’m adding a recording of this sweet little chorus.
I found this file when I was sending all of my Voice Record files to Dropbox, so I’d have room to record an interview for my grad class, so it’s probably not the one from way back then, but who knows. I’m not sure why Voice Record made it into a video (MP4); maybe I did something wrong. Regardless, it plays. π
And…I haven’t made any further progress on it, but I still sing it a whole lot in the car (which is probably where all of the background noise in this recording is coming from).