Some Opening Thoughts On Christmas...

Sunday December 14, 2008 (11:39pm)
This has been sort of an interesting Christmas season for me. The economy and the resultant unexpected loss of students, and the recent due date of property taxes pretty much nixed any monetary celebration of Christmas this year. But that really hasn’t bothered me that much. When I went to pay the property taxes I found myself very thankful to be able to pay them one more time. All the recent upheaval with the economy has made me more committed than ever to work towards living more simply and being thankful for what we do have.

We live in a country with so much abundance. It’s easy to loose sight of that with the news blaring at us and the incessant advertising trying to convince us that our life will be less fulfilled without those new granite counter tops. I realized recently that one of the benefits (and pitfalls) of being self employed is that I’m always aware that we live in a world where very little is certain. There is no guarantee that our money and health, relationships and employment will remain the same. I’ve found myself turning off the news more, and trying to be in the moment with my husband, my friends, and my students.

Traditionally Christmas is a tough time of year for me. I’ve had to learn ways of dealing with it other than just slipping into depression. To celebrate the season in a more meaningful way I decided it would be fun to do something special for my students. I’ve been video taping them for the least week and will continue this week. Instead of doing one of those dreadful recitals that kids dread and parents hate finding time for right before Christmas, I’m putting their videos on a special youtube page that can be found at lindabstudents You’ll find a wacky bunch of videos... some by people who’ve only been playing their instruments for a few weeks. What I’ve loved about it is how they just enjoy playing for the joy of it. All of them played a simple version of smoke on the water... Ken is editing them together into a wacky video Christmas card that will be up later this week. I’ll start putting up some videos here too for you to check out. I dare ya to throw yourself into something like these students. They always inspire me. When I post the videos I’ll post a little about them too.
In the mean time, in the midst of all the running arounding, I’m thankful again for a place to live, family and friends who love me, a job that lets me be a part of so many kids lives to learn from them, and the tender care of a loving God who chose to come be part of our world. Merry Christmas.