♫ Singing your heart out ♫

Oh, how I love this show. Even backstage is fantastic. :) I learn something new every night, and even though I've been ridiculously tired lately, there's still a part of me that wishes it would never end. Every word in the script is something I want to have on permanent recall in my brain.

I sometimes feel like it's beyond my own capabilities to give everything I want to give to that expression.

Lately, the part that strikes me most every night is when the angel comes to the shepherds.

"Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2: 10-11)

Who recognized, that night, that the Savior of the world had been born? Only a few. How often do I miss those things? Such is the challenge of life, I think.

And speaking of remembering: This past Saturday, Aubrey and I had the opportunity to go up to Salt Lake a few hours earlier. Our friend, Greg, invited us to come up and sing to his beautiful sister who is in the LDS Hospital there. She was diagnosed with leukemia just last month and has been in the hospital ever since. Our other friend, Brian, came as well. I didn't think my heart could overflow any more than it has been these past few weeks, but standing in that little hospital room, singing Christmas hymns to her, I could barely contain my emotions. It felt to me like the room would burst with every word. Singing about the birth of the Savior in that tiny room to this woman who is going through so much...

It is no wonder to me that the gift he gave to us is called the atonement...

"Silent Night"

Silent night! Holy night!
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin mother and Child.
Holy Infant, so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace;
Sleep in heavenly peace.

Silent night! Holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight!
Glories stream from heaven afar;
Heav’nly hosts sing Alleluia!
Christ, the Savior, is born!
Christ, the Savior, is born!

Silent night! Holy night! Son of God, love’s pure light Radiant beams from thy holy face, With the dawn of redeeming grace, Jesus, Lord, at thy birth; Jesus, Lord, at thy birth.

Text: Joseph Mohr, 1792–1848; trans. by John F. Young, 1820–1885

Music: Franz Gruber, 1787–1863

Luke 2:7–14

Alma 7:10–12

Being there in that room with her made me even more grateful he was born.

http://melanieballs.blogspot.com/

I think she's beautiful and brave and fantastic.
...and I don't even know her.

This is why I sing. For days like this, and for moments like that. I can't take any credit for them; but I'm lucky enough to be part of them.

Err....The Mary Fight.

"The better Mary"???? THE BETTER MARY!??!?!? *shriek of protest*

Dearest darlingest Crystal cousin of mine,

At this season, this time of year, can't we just put this behind us? And by that, I mean, won't you just back off already and just let me be Mary? I mean, really, can't you see how you're totally blocking me in this picture? Just because I once was a darling little blonde doesn't mean you can just romp all over everything with your brunette-ness. Look at me! I was a natural with my little prayer shawl and my hands in such prayerful poses...I mean, you'd make a really great angel or something. Don't get me wrong. Just...back off my moment, okay?

I'm just trying to follow counsel... (See quote innocently inserted below.)

This Christmas, mend a quarrel. Seek out a forgotten friend. Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust. Write a letter. Give a soft answer. Encourage youth. Manifest your loyalty in word and deed. Keep a promise. Forgo a grudge. Forgive an enemy. Apologize. Try to understand. Examine your demands on others. Think first of someone else. Be kind. Be gentle. Laugh a little more. Express your gratitude. Welcome a stranger. Gladden the heart of a child. Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth. Speak your love and then speak it again. –Howard W. Hunter, “The Gifts of Christmas,” Ensign, Dec 2002, 16

I'm willing to mend our quarrel...are you? Mmm'kay, good. I'm soooo super glad we've discussed this. :)

With much love and cousinly devotion,
your dearest darlingest cousin DeeAura

Oh my heck. If you only knew how much we love Christmas Eve every year for this very reason. :) I love traditions, I love Christmas, and I love my family. Every year, we all get together on Christmas Eve and eat food and sing carols and hymns, and reenact the Christmas story - complete with dress-ups - (as I know a lot of people do, but...)

But every year, Crystal and I laugh and joke about the year all the girl cousins fought over who got to be Mary. As you can see, the result was four Marys and my little brother getting caught in the middle of everything. :) (He might've been the baby Jesus that year. A little overgrown, but you get the picture.) I'd like to state for the record, however, that it is not always a joke. May the Mary Fight endure the wide expanse of space and time. :)

Okay, so Crystal already wrote about it, and insisted she was "the better Mary". In complete and utter retaliation, I shamelessly stole that top picture from her.
But. She didn't have this: (insert Yzma cackle from Emperor's New Groove for full effect.)best. wise man/shepherd. ever.
I can't wait for him to come back.
start the chant!
Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve! :)

race you to the stable, cousin.
mark, set, go. :)

(...that's absolutely appropriate, by the way...)

All I really ever wanted for Christmas...

Maybe I'm behind where I should be. But for the first time, maybe in my life, I recently realized that I truly do not want anything for Christmas. It's not that I don't need anything; or that I couldn't write a wish list.

It's just that it hit me more than ever this year that the real reason for our celebration this year...and every year...is that Jesus Christ, the savior of all mankind, came to the earth - was born, lived, and gave his own life - for us. He came in humble and yet glorious and miraculous circumstances. He lived a life devoted to teaching us how to live...how to truly be happy. And then he suffered the pains and afflictions of every human soul so that it might be possible for us to return and live again with the loving Heavenly Father of us all who is God.

His birth, His life, His sacrifice, is everything I need. This time of year is a reminder to me and to us all of the beginning of that life and love that will enable us to have every needful thing. That knowledge keeps growing within me...and I only want more than anything to give everyone I know even just a piece of that for Christmas this year.
I know He is real. I know he came for us. I know He loves me, and that He loves all of us. Because of Him...I have every needful thing. He is the great hope of mankind; the Savior and redeemer of our souls. He came as every other child comes - and yet has the ability to change our lives beyond any one person we will ever know. How grateful I am for that night so long ago!

“For behold, God knowing all things, being from everlasting to everlasting, behold, he sent angels to minister unto the children of men, to make manifest concerning the coming of Christ; and in Christ there should come every good thing…. Wherefore, by the ministering of angels and by every word which proceeded forth out of the mouth of God, men began to exercise faith in Christ; and thus by faith, they did lay hold upon every good thing; and thus it was until the coming of Christ.” – Moroni 7:22, 25

He is real. He does love us, and we have every reason to rejoice!
Merry Christmas. :)

♫"Buffalo gals won't you come out tonight..." ♫

Today: Made a new list of things I want to do. They will all be done. Grad School is on that list. Give me three years, and it'll be off. That might be the longest-term goal on there. But trust me - the list is pretty awesome.

Dear sir who shall remain nameless: If you're not fast enough or brave enough to keep up, clearly you can make other plans. Peace OUT. This girl has places to be and other people not to miss out on in the meantime.

Also today: hello, gym. :) I've missed you. Spending three nights a week in SL has interrupted my normal routines...but I wouldn't trade wearing those robes and wraps for anything! Even if it does make my spare time somewhat...less...spare...

Speaking of...I swear I'll post pics and stories about Savior of the World as soon as I can...and as soon as I take more...and as soon as I put them on my computer...ehem. :)

FHE tonight: A shout out to Sarah Harris for having the best ideas of all time. It's never boring. I can't always go, but when I can? I go. Tonight? Bigger or better. I hope to start out with a paperclip and come back with a family in a suburban. Or something better. Stay tuned for that one. I'm sure you're dying to know ;)

YAHOO!!! It's officially okay to listen to Christmas music, put up my Christmas tree, pull out the nativity, take a nap by said Christmas tree with all the other lights off, AND...gingerbread cookies and sugar cookies are next on the list. Non-perishable ingredients currently sitting on my counter.

Check, and check.

* happy sigh *

...Now all I need is a good book and a fireplace. ...Er...and since I lack the fireplace, I'd easily settle for "It's a Wonderful Life" and a warm, fuzzy blanket...

Either one, really. :) I'll take the moon, thanks. And clearly...I can get it myself if no one else will. (The moon, that is.)

This is me, signing out. Bring it on, life-week #1292! And counting.

Aaand the award for Entertainer of the year goes tooo...

So there I was. Getting ready for the fifth showing of Savior of the World in a row last weekend. I'd been doing my cast's shows and the other cast's shows because my counterpart in the other cast was at an audition in L.A.

P.S. I really love being in this show and I love the people in it. It's beautiful, and I feel like I give everything I can give, and still get more in return than I could possibly imagine. It doesn't really get better than that. :)

But for just one moment that day, I wished more than anything for a padded bench to lay down on. Just for a few minutes. But alas, no bench. I considered the one in the bathroom, but instead took a small break in the dressing room on a roll-away chair to read my scriptures, and for those few minutes, everything was quiet and calm. I felt real peace. But even in that moment, I still felt tired. And a little bit like I needed a hug.

Who knows why. (insert shrug.) I'm a girl. Also, human. Anyway.

A few minutes later, I remembered I needed to take some tickets out to the stage manager. And shortly thereafter was supposed to help hand out people's costumes. Sweet. :)

So, I left the dressing room, walking with purpose, on my new mission.
Found stage manager.
Check.
She graciously accepted my tickets.
Check.
Walked over to costume station. Looked at clock. A good 15 minutes still.
...
Huh. Un-check.

Hmm....so then I started talking to the other people standing around waiting as well. Susie, the hilarious, feisty, sometimes sarcastic, but always kind, hair professional (this makes me smile) was there and we started talking. I like her. More than I can say. She makes me laugh. She'd always get after me for my non-side-part when I was in the Nauvoo pageant a few summers ago. Anyway, we're standing there talking and laughing when one of the little boys in the cast comes up to me and says,

"Wanna learn how ta play the snap game?"Oooo! Why yes. Yes, I would...who am I to turn down adorable eight-year-olds? Besides, nine times out of ten, these things turn out hilarious. :) I honestly get the biggest kick out of little boys.

(Hold it: Little girls are great, too, but they're usually playing dolls or house or...something useful like that. Boys are usually making up ridiculous games. True. Admit it.)

He walks a few steps away from me and directs me to stand in the middle of the large, cement hallway. He starts snapping his fingers. "Now," he says, "you gotta pay attention. This game has a lotta rules." Okay. I can do that. I start snapping my fingers, only to be immediately corrected. "No, only I can snap my fingers right now. The snap is the ball. There's only one ball, silly."

Oh, hahaha. MY bad...

Instructions continue, "Okay, so you can throw the ball up in the air, catch it, bounce it, steal it, volleyball it...and if I think of anything else, I'll tell ya." Hilarious. Seriously, the only thing that would make this kid funnier would be a Newsies cap and a New York accent.

Aaand the game begins.
Small boy is snapping his fingers.
He does a few tricks, up, down, over, and then volleyballs it over to me.
Sweet. My turn.
I do a few tricks, and snap it back to him.

By this time, there's about ten people standing around watching our snap game, smiling and sometimes laughing at how funny this kid is. He clearly loves the attention. Then I see a mischevious grin come over his face as he takes in our surroundings.

Uh-oh...

He snaps it up.
down.
under his knee,
over his head,
and back in his own fingers again.
Tricky.

Meanwhile, I'm just standing there laughing a little bit, and he says, "Hey, remember you can steal the ball!" Oh, right. I crouch down a little bit so we're on the same level and take him on.

I rush in.
To the left,
to the right,
and quick switchback
...and this is getting funnier by the second.
Also, my shoes were kind of slippery on the smooth cement.
He was in his bare feet.
Total advantage.
I lunge forward and "steal" the ball from him.
TA-DAAA!!

Victorious, I turn to the crowd, only to hear him say "That's not how you steal it! You have to grab my hand!"

What the...?!

Rule changer!
I turn around with a semi-scowl on my face.
"HEY. No way, kiddo. I totally stole it from you, fair and square!"
Nope.
He shakes his head, grinning even wider than before.
He's still snapping his fingers.
And still grinning.

And then, right before my very eyes, he snaps it into his mouth! HAHAH. By this time, everyone is laughing, and I have the beginnings of laugh tears. Seriously, can I keep him?? I believe an outraged exclamation of sorts escaped my mouth. His response was continue to chomp on the "snap ball" for a few more seconds, and then he hit his head on one side, "snapping" the ball out his opposite ear.

OH. MY. GOSH!!

By that time, everyone was rolling in laughter, and I literally had to sit down I was laughing so hard.

* phew * Golly, but I love snap ball. :)

It's alive!!

one week +
sitting on my dresser
just can't throw it away
please oh please come back to life!
plug in
re-charge
still no sound
* sigh *
reset factory settings?
can't kill it more than dead...
reset.
...waiting...waiting...
add one song
headphones...
VOILA!!!
we have life!
the crowd goes wild!!!
I go running.
No longer in silence. :)

Sincere appreciation...

"Gratitude is a sincere appreciation for blessings or help we have received."

Pardon my ramblings that seem otherwise from time to time. :)