Have a Blessed Christmas

It is less than a week before Christmas and I wanted to send some Christmas blessings to you. I know there are many of you who read this and I don't know who you are but the wishes are still the same to my family and friends, old and new. We are truly blessed this holiday season. I know I am!

I am off work today so that I can pack, run errands and get some things ready before we fly as a family to be with Chris in San Diego for Christmas. It will be a different and fun Christmas for us but I do know that we will make a memory! We won't be in our own home on Christmas morning nor will we have a White Christmas but we will be TOGETHER!

These last few weeks have been filled with music for me. I'm listening to music everywhere I go! Two weekends ago I went to THREE Christmas musicals or cantatas. I had a headache the following morning from all that sound but I didn't care! Most of it sounded good. Our church performed a song sung in a duet called "I Have Seen The Light" at the end of the program and it just brought tears to my eyes because I have waited to hear that song in church for over 15 years. Steve sang it in a trio years ago when we lived in Chillicothe, Ohio and it is one of my favorite Christmas songs. I loved hearing it again and it sounded so great. I got to hear it twice because I went to the first performance, left and went to my friend Linda's church for her cantata, and then came back just in time to hear it again the second time! I'm still having trouble when there is a lot of music going on with band instruments, voices, orchestra and percussion being played all at once. My processor doesn't like it and can't decide what it wants to hear the most and what to put in the background. Music sounds the best with familiar songs, a few simple instruments being played or solos being sung. Last Thursday we went to Marissa's high school Christmas program where her school choir and orchestra were performing. That sounded the best of all. Maybe it is because the instruments being played in the orchestra are not in as much competition with one another and I can hear the voices of the choir. I loved it. I even heard another sound that I didn't recognize during one of the songs and Brad said that it was a tamborine being played in the back!

I have discovered a new "toy" that I like. I traded cars with Jason right after Thanksgiving so that he could get his car repaired in Tennessee instead of Alabama. (To make a long story short, in was in a drive by shooting after the Auburn/Alabama game just before Christmas and several shots went in his vehicle, causing some damage. We are so thankful that Jason and his friends were not hit or hurt but the police did recover nine slugs from the scene.) Anyway, Jason has a satellite radio in his vehicle. We traded vehicles for three weeks. The radio has never been something that I've used all these years. I didn't really pay attention to it for almost two weeks, partly because I couldn't figure it out. I played with it for one day while Steve drove and discovered that I LOVE SATELLITE RADIO! I found several jazz stations that Steve and I both like and FOUR stations right next to each other that played Christmas music! The sound quality is so good and much clearer than a regular radio. I could even recognize songs being played as soon as they came on. When I told my therapist, she suggested that I try to listen to Talk Radio to see if I can understand what is being said. I didn't get a chance because Jason and I traded cars back but I have a feeling that Steve and I will end up with satellite radio in our cars soon!

Speaking of therapy, I am making progress. Susie says that I am halfway between "closed set" and "open set" sentences. That means I can recognize a sentence if I have a picture in front of me or if I know ahead of time what she is going to talk about. I can recognize some sentences and phrases without knowing ahead of time (open set) what the subject matter is but it is hard! Phrases like "Breakfast is ready," "What are you hiding under your coat," "I would like ice cream with my pie," are some sample sentences. I will be going back to Bill on January 3rd to have my processor "mapped" again because I feel like I need some fine tuning. I'm not suppsed to go back to him for six months but I can tell already that I need another adjustment. But, in the meantime, I'm still listening and still practicing. I love being able to hear this well and give thanks to God every day for this wonderful electronic miracle!

In closing I would like to share a prayer that we said in church on Sunday:

Loving Father, help us remember the birth of Jesus, that we may share in the song of the angels, the gladness of shepherds, and the worship of the wise men.

Close the door of hate and open the door of love all over the world.

Let kindness come with every gift and good desires with every greeting.

Deliver us from evil by the blessing which Christ brings, and teach us to be merry with clear hearts.

May the Christmas morning make us happy to be Thy children, and the Christmas evening bring us to our beds with grateful thoughts, forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus' sake. Amen.

Love and Christmas blessings to you from me. Laurie