Fourth Day of Christmas

On the fourth day of Christmas
My parents gave to me

Lost of hugs and kisses and to tell me they love me
Today I'll think about Jesus and show Him I know
I love Him because of Him, I know which way to go

Third Day of Christmas

On the third day of Christmas
My parents gave to me

Some delicious good popcorn
Oh how wonderful it would be
If Jesus and my family were sitting here with me

Second Day of Christmas

On the second day of Christmas
My parents gave to me

Some marshmallows and hot cocoa
to help keep me feeling warm
And to think of the night that Jesus was born
In a stable in a manger which wasn't very warm.

12 Days of Christmas: First Day

My mother-in-law put together a 12 days of Christmas gifts for each married couple. Just look at how many presents were here!

We are a little behind on this since William was out of town on business in Phuket, Thailand (pictures to come!) and so I wanted to wait until he was back to open the presents and then we went out of town, so I am only getting to posting these now.

Our first day of Christmas was opened up on December 1st as it contained a candle and scripture references to read each day up until Christmas. We did this faithfully- until William was out of town- but we are now all caught up.

On the first day of Christmas
My parents gave to me

A pretty candle to light each day
So that I may read a scripture each morn
And then tell the story of when Christ was born

Books Read in 2009

It was a great year for me to read books as I read 87 books. It is all due to my finishing up my dissertation and having some time to read for fun again!!! Some of my favorite discoveries have been Henning Mankell and his FABULOUS Wallander mysteries, several of the series by Alexander McCall Smith, Malcolm Gladwell's Blink and Outliers, and Angela's Ashes- to name just a few. I'm not setting any goals for 2010 of "beating" this record but I promise that I will continue reading for fun because I had forgotten just how much I LOVE it!

• Pills, Profits, and Politics- Milton Silverman and Philip R. Lee
  
• Teachings of the Presidents of the Church- Joseph Smith
  
• 44 Scotland Street- Alexander McCall Smith
  
• The Murder of King Tut- James Patterson
  
• Nudge- Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein
  
• My Life- Marc Chagall
  
• The Lost Art of Gratitude- Alexander McCall Smith
  
• Cheating Death- Sanjay Gupta
  
• My Stroke of Insight- Jill Bolte Taylor
  
• Mindset- Carol S. Dweck
  
• Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow's Big Changes- Mark J. Penn
  
• Jane Eyre- Charlotte Bronte
  
• Enchanted April- Elizabeth von Arnim
  
• The Geography of Bliss- Eric Weiner
  
• The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief- Francis S. Collins
  
• The Old Man and the Sea- Ernest Hemingway
  
• Brave New World- Aldous Huxley
  
• The Jane Austen Book Club- Karen Joy Fowler
  
• Catch 22- Joseph Heller
  
• Austenland- Shannon Hales
  
• The Lost Symbol- Dan Brown
  
• Animal Farm- George Orwell
  
• 206 Bones- Kathy Reichs
  
• Postmortem: How Medical Examiners Explain Suspicious Deaths- Stefan Timmermans
  
• Angela's Ashes- Frank McCourt
  
• Travels with Charley: In Search of America- John Steinbeck
  
• Nineteen Eighty-Four- George Orwell
  
• Disciplining Statistics- Libby Schweber
  
• Long Day's Journey Into Night- Eugene O'Neill
  
• Pyramid and Four Other Kurt Wallander Mysteries- Henning Mankell
  
• All My Sons- Arthur Miller
  
• A Tale of Two Cities- Charles Dickens
  
• Civil Disobedience- Henry David Thoreau
  
• Tea Time for the Traditionally Built- Alexander McCall Smith
  
• The Measure of a Man- Sidney Poitier
  
• Kim- Rudyard Kipling
  
• At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances- Alexander McCall Smith
  
• The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs- Alexander McCall Smith
  
• Walden- Henry David Thoreau
  
• Portuguese Irregular Verbs- Alexander McCall Smith
  
• The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday- Alexander McCall Smith
  
• The White Lioness- Henning Mankell
  
• The Careful Use of Compliments- Alexander McCall Smith
  
• Before the Frost- Henning Mankell
  
• The Right Attitude to Rain- Alexander McCall Smith
  
• The Dogs of Riga- Henning Mankell
  
• The Man Who Smiled- Henning Mankell
  
• Lincoln's Melancholy- Joshua Wolf Shenk
  
• Friends, Lovers, Chocolates- Alexander McCall Smith
  
• The Fifth Woman- Henning Mankell
  
• Faceless Killers- Henning Mankell
  
• The Sunday Philosophers Club- Alexander McCall Smith
  
• The Red Badge of Courage- Stephen Crane
  
• One Step Behind- Henning Mankell
  
• Firewall- Henning Mankell
  
• Better Than You Think You Are- Ardeth G. Kapp
  
• Sidetracked- Henning Mankell
  
• Bait and Switch- Barbara Ehrenreich
  
• The Miracle at Speedy Motors- Alexander McCall Smith
  
• The Good Husband of Zebra Drive- Alexander McCall Smith
  
• Blue Shoes and Happiness- Alexander McCall Smith
  
• In the Company of Cheerful Ladies- Alexander McCall Smith
  
• The Full Cupboard of Life- Alexander McCall Smith
  
• The Kalahari Typing School for Men- Alexander McCall Smith
  
• Morality for Beautiful Girls- Alexander McCall Smith
  
• Tears of the Giraffe- Alexander McCall Smith
  
• Blink- Malcolm Gladwell
  
• The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency- Alexander McCall Smith
  
• Gang Leader for a Day- Sudhir Venkatesh
  
• Dubliners- James Joyce
  
• The Fifth Branch- Sheila Jasanoff
  
• Hyping Health Risks- George Kabat
  
• Outliers- Malcom Gladwell
  
• Essays on Professions- Robert Dingwall
  
• The Mystery of Edwin Drood- Charles Dickens
  
• Silas Marner- George Eliot
  
• Body of Lies- Iris Johansen
  
• Girl with a Pearl Earring- Tracy Chevalier
  
• The Old Curiosity Shop- Charles Dickens
  
• The Age of Innocence- Edith Wharton
  
• Atonement- Ian McEwan
  
• The Pearl- John Steinbeck
  
• All Quiet on the Western Front- Erich Maria Remarque
  
• Oliver Twist- Charles Dickens
  
• Little Dorritt- Charles Dickens
  
• Black Like Me- John Howard Griffin
  
• Life on the Screen- Sherry Turkle
  

The 39 Steps

To keep myself entertained during the week William was out of town, I also went and saw up in San Francisco the Broadway touring production of "The 39 Steps" by Alfred Hitchcock. I have never seen the movie but I want to see it now because of this play. The play was HILARIOUS. It was very well acted as there were only 4 actors who rotated throughout all of the different roles. They also did a fabulous job of acting out movements like riding on a train (continually bouncing up and down, and back and forth) as well as incorporating references to Alfred Hitchcock (his silhouette was in the show as well as Vertigo, Rear Window, and Psycho- among other of his films). It was just a hilarious and brilliantly acted play that I would definitely recommend that everyone go and see. I wouldn't mind seeing it again since there were so many inside jokes and subtle humor.

Nutcracker

In 2004, they redid the Nutcracker in San Francisco and I do like some of the changes that they made to it. I went up to the city by myself to see the performance since William was out of town several weeks ago. Many of the other performances had started at 8 pm so I thought that was the start time and I ended up getting there early at like 7:10 to park and get my ticket (since the will call lines are normally so long) and it turns out that the show started at 7!! YIKES. But, it actually turned out for the best because I got a better seat down in the back of the loge at 7:20 instead of my bad seat up in the nose bleeds. I was able to see my two favorite pieces close up- the fight with the Nutcracker Prince and King of the Mice and the dance with King and Queen of the Snow and Snowflakes. This number was mesmerizing with light snow falling throughout the entire number. I was so impressed that no one slipped. The costumes and choreography for this number was so intricate and fit perfectly with the music. I was sad when intermission came and I had to go up to my nose bleed seats.

The rest of the show was good especially the French dancers were great in that they did ballet while twirling ribbons (really beautiful) and the Russian dancers lept through a paper scene covering these beautifully decorated Faberge type eggs (such a great entrance), but I did have some issues with a few of the performances in the second act. The Arabian dancers were hokey- they had a girl come out of Aladdin's lamp- which I felt was just way too cliche. I was very bothered by Madame Du Cirque as she literally looked like a circus tent with the red and white stripes and her dress curtains only slightly pulled back (and it definitely looked like she had room for all of the little kids). That has been one of my favorite parts was being amazed at how many kids could fit underneath that dress. I also was not a huge fan of the Waltzing Flowers and the Sugar Plum Fairy. Usually that dance is one of my favorites but this time, I felt that the dance did not live up to the great song and previous performances that I have seen. It is pretty much the group finale and so it should be spectacular but it was only ok.

Another problem that I had was the the corps ballet dancers were not always in sync which I was very surprised because it makes the performance quite distracting.

I'm sorry if I am so critical of the performance- I have just seen the Nutcracker so many times that I can't help scrutinizing it. But, overall, I thought that it was worth it to go to the production and I would go again at least just to see the nutcracker mice battle and especially the snow dance- it was completely magical!