November is the last month before the whirlwind of the holidays begins. This year not only do we have family events every weekend in December, the 4th Sunday of Advent and Christmas Eve both occur on the same day which means overtime for church musicians. It tires me just thinking about it.
Here is what I’m enjoying right now before the madness begins.
Bagged lettuce. My husband loves salad, but I hate making it. We’ve been married for 15 years which means I’ve felt guilty for 15 years for not making him salad more often. It turns out, all he wants is lettuce along with crunchy things (sesame seeds, bacon chips, croutons) and blue cheese salad dressing. If I buy bagged lettuce, he can have salad whenever he wants it.
Online grocery shopping. I resisted this for a long time because I couldn’t fathom letting someone else select my produce. Then our local grocer ran an ad where they offer $50 in free groceries if your placed a $200 order online. I ordered everything except produce and loved it. Now I just order the $100 minimum to avoid the $2.95 service fee. I place my online order while making my grocery list so it doesn’t take extra time. Even better – I’m not tempted to buy things I already have on hand since I’m standing in front of my pantry as I add them to my cart. I spend my extra time on shopping day reading a book at Starbucks while waiting for choir rehearsal to be over.
Braving the Wilderness by Brene Brown. It was one year ago this month that Donald Trump was unexpectedly elected President of United States. During the previous administration, any criticism of an idea espoused by the President earned one the title of Racist. Now we have a President whose behavior on Twitter is often cringeworthy. How can we come back together as a community rather than constantly being divided over idealogical battles? I’m anxious to hear Brown’s perspective on this.
Missa de Angelis. I am so excited to sing in the choir singing for a special mass for Christ the King at Cathedral in Lincoln. The Latin mass setting Missa de Angelis is beautiful but far too challenging for the average congregation. I found it on Spotify and have been playing it before school every morning so my children are familiar with it. Now I get to perform it along with other great music and talented singers.
Husker football. With the dismal season we’ve been having along with the firing and hiring of an Athletic Director, Husker football has become quite the drama. The last scheduled game of the season is the Friday after Thanksgiving. If they let the current coach go, it will likely be announced the next day. We are on the edge of our seats watching each game, wondering if the team will win and how it will affect the outcome. Ben and I will be ushering at the two home games if I can find clothes to stay warm enough. Go Big Red!
Stuhr Museum and Grand Island Public Library. Every school year I sign up our kids to take Nebraska history classes offered by the Stuhr Museum along with other homeschoolers. These living history classes are very well done. Since usually only one child is attending the class, the rest of us go to the Grand Island Public Library. Rather than getting rid of everything that starts to look a bit old as Lincoln seems to do, they have a wide ranging collection including books I’ve never heard of before but often turn out to be great treasures. For instance, they have a complete collection of all the Newberry Award Winners all shelved together. I so look forward to browsing their collection and savoring a few chapters of several new-to-me books. Caroline has one class this month and then we’re done until spring.