Endings & Beginnings

* Risa tuvo hoy su ultimo dia de trabajo en la Casa de Te. Sara sigue trabajando.
*Trabajamos casi todo la noche en los varios discursos que quieren presentar los ninos en el Torneo de la Universidad de Concordia (Irvine) dentro de dos semanas. Nos queda mucho que hacer!
*Risa worked her last day at A Cup of Tea. Sara is still working.
* We worked all night tonight on speeches for the Concordia University Tournament (Irvine) coming up in a couple of weeks. So much to do!

December 28: On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me *Four Calling Birds (the Four Gospels and the Four Evangelists proclaiming the good news,) three French hens, two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree.
28 de diciembre: El cuarto día de Navidad mi amor me mandó *Cuatro pajaritos (los Cuatro Evangelios y los cuatro Evangelistas que proclaman la buena noticia de Dios,) tres gallinitas, dos tortolitas y una perdiz picando peras del peral.

The Twelve Days of Christmas/12 Dias de Navidad

The words from this song first appeared in a book titled Mirth Without Mischief (1780) in England. It describes "The Twelve Days of Christmas" as a "memory and forfeits game" played by children at that time. Another source claims that it was actually more than a repetitious melody, but a catechism song to help young Catholics learn the tenets of their faith. This source has since been questioned, but I still find the singing of it helpful and lovely.

Las letras de esta cancion aparecieron por primera vez en un libro titulado, Mirth Without Mischief (1780) en Inglaterra. En el, describe "Los 12 Dias de Navidad" como un "juego de memoria y de prendas" al que jugaban los ninos catolicos en aquel tiempo. Aunque en actualidad se ha cuestinado el origen de este catechismo, me parece didactico y bello.

December 25: On the First Day of Christmas my true love gave to me *a partridge in a pear tree (The partridge in a pear tree is to represent Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, whose birthday we celebrate on December 25. In the song, Christ is symbolically presented as a mother partridge that feigns injury to decoy predators from her helpless nestlings, recalling the expression of Christ's sadness over the fate of Jerusalem:
"Jerusalem! Jerusalem! How often would I have sheltered you under my wings, as a hen does her chicks, but you would not have it so . . . ." (Luke 13:34)

25 de diciembre: El primer día de Navidad, mi amor me mandó *una perdiz picando peras del peral (Jesus Cristo - Lucas 13:34)

December 26: On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me *two turtle doves (the Old and New Testament, which together bear witness to God's self-revelation in history and the creation of a people to tell the Story of God to the world.) and a partridge in a pear tree.

26 de diciembre: El segundo día de Navidad, mi amor me mandó *dos tortolitas (el Viejo and el Nuevo Testamento, que juntos sirven como testigos a la autorevelacion de Dios en la historia y la creacion de una gente que contara su cuento verdadero al mundo.)

December 27: On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me *three French hens (Faith, Hope and Love-the Theological Virtues -1 Corinthians 13:13) ) two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree.

27 de diciembre: El tercer día de Navidad, mi amor me mandó *tres gallinitas (Fe, Esperanza & Amor-las Virtudes Teologicas, 1 Corintios 13:13) dos tortolitas y una perdiz picando peras del peral.

Christmas Lights!

Sacramento Christmas Lights Tour, December 2008

In an hour or so, our family of 8, with Grandma & Papa and another family of 9 will all ride up together in our SUV and their 12-seater van to discover the BEST LIGHTS in Sacramento. Yes, we're off to famed Dovewood Court, Orangevale.

Four - Candles and Books

Faith. Love. Hope. Joy.

Fe. Amor. Esperanza. Gozo.

One Advent Candle Left/Solo Queda una Vela

JESUS

John 1:14, 12-13 - The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become Children of God
Juan 1:14, 12-13 - Y aquel Verbo fue hecho carne, y habito entre nosotros y vimos su gloria, gloria como del unigenito del Padre, lleno de gracia y de verdad.
Mas a todos los que le recibieron, a los que creen en su nombre, les dio postestad de ser hechos Hijos de Dios.
These are my favorite books each season. . .Algunas de mis libros preferidos de esta estacion se encuentran entre los juveniles que tengo guardados durante el ano. Los descubrimos cada diciembre cuando abrimos la caja grande de libros y revistas navidenos de otros anos, musica, y decoraciones. Me encanta El Abecedario de Navidad/The Christmas Alphabet por Robert Sabuda con su arte de papel "pop-up." An amazing book of Christmas "pop-up" art.

El tesoro de The Tale of Three Trees, a Traditional Folktale que empieza con lo que suenan tres arbolitos de cuando crezcan a ser grandes. Up on a mountaintop, three little trees stood and dreamed of what they wanted to become when they grew up and whose wishes come true in a surprising way.

y One Wintry Night escrito por Ruth Bell Graham, la esposa del evangelista Billy Graham. A young mountain boy is caught alone in a sudden snowstorm and takes refuge in a cabin built by his grandfather. The woman living there shelters the boy and while she attends to his badly swollen ankle she tells him the Christmas story.

Finalmente, A Cup of Christmas Tea por Tom Hegg de lo que le pasa a un hombre joven cuando por fin le hace una visita a una tia anciana antes de la Navidad (el foro no aparece aqui). Estos son de los mas especiales que hay. A touching story of what happens when a young man finally goes to visit his aged aunt at Christmas.

Ya Tiene Pinta de Navidad/It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

Casas de Genjibre de Sarita para La Taza de Te - Sara's Gingerbread Houses for A Cup of Tea

En la cocina, con delantales, mi madre, Wendy, a la izquierda preparando los tes y limpiando, y Sarita probando todo como inspectora oficial y dando lata - Claro!

In the kitchen with aprons on, my mother, Wendy, on the left making teas and cleaning up and Sarita, tasting everything like the inspector general and teasing everyone.- Of course!

el dia 17 *Yep, it's really cold here! This week we had two nights of freeze. I haven't surveyed all the plants yet, but I'm sure that many uncovered ones didn't make it. Hace muchisimo frio aqui! Esta semana tuvimos dos noches de helamiento. No he inspeccionado las plantas todavia, pero seguro que muchas de las desabrigadas se han muerto ya.Hi (durante el dia)
9°C
Lo (durante la noche)
-2°C Ay, chihauhau!

Aqui, Mrs. Santa calentandose las manos antes de ir a trabajar en La Casa de Te

Mrs. Santa warming her hands before going to work at the Tea Shop. We're burning a lot of wood these days. Fortunately, we took advantage of a couple of trees that fell in September's storms to have enough to last most of the winter. It was a lot of work, but now we're really grateful.

*Quemamos mucha lena en estos dias. Afortunadamente, aprovechamos en septiembre de varios arboles que cayeron en las ultimas tormentas para tener lo suficiente durante este invierno. Fue mucho trabajo pero ahora nos sentimos bien agradecidos.

A blessing - Risa recovered from Freemont's broomball on ice and resulting bad asthma attack last night to go to keep her role as Mrs. Santa with the children. It was adorable to watch!

**(Ve debajo-12-19). Una bendicion -Se sentia mejor Risa esta manana y pudo ir a cumplir con su papel de Mrs. Santa con los ninos. Que adorable fue!

En el Escaparate

el dia 18
Hi (durante el dia)
9°C
Lo (durnate la noche)
-2°C

a las 11 de la noche:

**19-12-08
Hoy ha tenido sus "ups and downs" como decimos. El "up" es que fue un dia bueno ya que fui de compras con los ninos, algo que no hacemos muy a menudo, y encontramos ropa y cosas que nos ilusionen para Navidad. Compramos casi todo de una buena tienda de segunda mano, porque prefiero donar dinero a las caridades que a las empresas grandes. Mucha de la ropa todavia mantiene sus etiquetas y no se la ha llevado nadie, pero por cualquier razon no se ha vendido en Gap o Old Navy, etc. . . Ryan se aprovecho mas que nadie con 4 jerseys, 6 camisetas, unos vaqueros, etc. . . Risa se compro una blusa bastante sexy para la celebracion del Fin de Ano. Yo lo pase bien con una puertariquena que nos atendia. Por la tarde salieron las ninas a jugar a "broom ball," un tipo de hockey sobre hielo, pero en lugar de unos palos los jugadores utilizan escobas.

El "down" fue que al regresar a casa estaba Risa muy mala con un ataque de asma. Le ayude todo lo posible para que se sentiera mejor, pero no se si manana va a poder ir a la Casa de Te/Cup of Tea. Esta ansiosa ir al trabajo manana porque va disfrazada de Mrs. Santa(mujer de Santa Claus, por supuesto) y pasara unas horas leyendo y jugando con los ninos que van a la Casa de Te. Ya veremos si se siente lo suficiente bien para cumplir con el plan.

Las Cartas de Papa Noel/Letters from Father Christmas

J.R.R. Tolkien was a literary master as we all know. He has entranced us with his Ring Trilogy, as well as a number of other writings like the Silmarillian. I 've known common information about Tolkien's personal life, such as the close friendship he and C.S.Lewis (author of the Narnia series and many other fabulous works of fantasy and apologetics) shared despite their theological (Catholic-Protestant) differences. Tolkien reveled in languages and created an altogether new one, Elvish, which one of my daughters mastered to some degree. And, Tolkien had four children, just like I do: John, Christopher, Michael, and Priscilla. What I didn't know. until this Christmas, was that Tolkien wrote letters to his children each December under the guise of Father Christmas for over 20 years! This book, Letters From Father Christmas , is such a joy! Tolkien's attention to any detail that might delight his children amazes me. There is wobbly handwriting from this very old Santa-archetype, envelopes dusted with snow, and even intricate, unique postage stamps, all from the North Pole, of course. Much, much magic here.

Adeste Fidelis/O Come, All Ye Faithful

Adeste fideles, lacti triumphantes
Venite, venite in Bethlehem
Natum videte, Regem angelorum:
Venite adoremus,
Venite adoremus,
Venite adoremus,
Dominum.

Not A Day Goes By...

No pasa ni un dia sin recordarles a todos en Gran Canaria. Feliz Navidad!
Not a day goes by that I don't remember all of you in the Canaries. Merry Christmas!

La Economia al Nivel Personal

Recibi un email el otro dia advirtiendo a la gente que no compren ni regalen tarjetas de regalo de tiendas que estan por cerrar en el nuevo ano.
"A heads up that if you tend to give gift cards around the holidays, you need to be careful that the cards will be honored after the holidays. Stores that are planning to close after Christmas are still selling the cards through the holidays even though the cards will be worthless January 1.There is no law preventing them from doing this. On the contrary, it is referred to as 'Bankrupcy Planning'. Below is a partial list of stores that you need to be cautious about/
La lista es grande. Son muchisimas tiendas que estan en esta situacion:

Ann Taylor- 117 stores nationwide closing
Bombay closing remaining stores
Borders Books - to close some stores in prime locations
Cache will close all stores
Circuit City (filed Chapter 11)
Dillard's to close some stores
Disney closing 98 stores and will close more after January
Eddie Bauer to close stores 27 stores and more after January
Ethan Allen closing down 12 stores
Footlocker closing 140 stores, more to close after January
GAP closing 85 stores
Home Depot closing 15 stores 1 in NJ ( New Brunswick )
J. Jill closing all stores (owned by Talbots)
JC Penney closing a number of stores after January
K B Toys closing 356 stores
Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug ,and Catherine's to close 150 stores nationwide
Levitz closing down remaining stores
Linens and Things closing all stores
Loews to close down some stores
Macys to close 9 stores after January
Movie Galley Closing all stores
Pacific Sunwear (also owned by Talbots)
Pep Boys Closing 33 stores
Piercing Pagoda closing all stores
Sharper Image closing down all stores
Sprint/Nextel closing 133 stores
Whitehall closing all stores
Wickes Furniture closing down
Wilson Leather closing down all stores
Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January



A Cup of Tea - not selling gift cards, but closing as well January 1st, thus leaving our girls without work. This job has been so good for them and for us. How sad!

Que triste! Hablando de esto, The Cup of Tea/La Taza de Te, donde trabajan las ninas, no vende tarjetas de regalo pero tambien se va a cerrar el primero de enero. Se quedaran sin este trabajo que ha sido tan bueno para ellas y nosotros.

Glorious Sounds!

Each year our church hosts a festive extravaganza called "The Glorious Sounds of Christmas." It's a first class concert that could equal any Sacramento Convention Center performance with Christmas music from the baroque to the contemporary. Tonight was the dress-rehearsal for this year's 90-voice Christmas Concert in which our girls and many friends are singing. The choir and full orchestra filled the decorated sanctuary with Handel, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Christmas carol favorites, and a special feature, "Gloria" by John Rutter. Pictured are scenes from the practice.

For fun, click on the photo to see the girls at the dress rehearsal/Haz click en la foto para ver las ninas en el ensayo

Por un mes, el coro de adultos de la iglesia Presbyteriana de Freemont de Sacramento ha practicado para presentar esta experiencia unica el 13-14 de diciembre, llamada Los Sonidos Gloriosos de Navidad. Entre las canciones hay del barroco, hay en latin, villancicos y contemporaneas, muchas de algunos compositores que aliste arriba.

Para darles un idea, este video en youtube.com es de una parte de la presentacion navidena el ano pasado. Claro, es muchisimo mejor en vivo.
Es dificil vernos pero las ninas y yo estamos en el coro...y el papa y los ninos tiene el papel de pastores llevando liternas cuando esta oscuro la iglesia.

An Early Valentine?

Mira lo que encontré anoche en mi cama! Mi hija mayor me lo dejo y dijo que quería que supiera lo mucho que me aprecía. Que detalle mas delicado - un tesoro, el regalo y ella.

Look what I found last night next to my pillow! My oldest daughter gave it to me and said that she wanted me to know how much she appreciates me. What a treasure, both she and the gift.

Sorteo de Nombres/Drawing Names

Para simplificar el intercambio de regalos y enfocar mas en el sentimiento verdadero de la estacion, empezamos la tradicion de escoger un papelito de un gorro con el nombre escrito de otro miembro de la familia. Lo hicimos este ano en nuestro lugar preferido para tomar cidra, chocolate caliente y pie de manzana, Apple Hill Cafe, despues de encontrar y cortar el arbol de Navidad. Con un limite de 25.00 tenemos que ser creativos para encontrar el regalo ideal!

Mark's year to choose the tree -

To simplify our gift exchange and focus more on the true meaning of the season, we began the tradition of choosing a little paper from a cap with the name of another family member written on it. This year we drew names at Apple Hill Cafe, our favorite place for cider, hot chocolate and apple pie, Apple Hill Cafe, after finding and cutting down our Christmas tree. With a $25.00 limit we have to be creative to find the perfect gift!

Holly Jolly

A Jolly Officer during last weekend's marathon.

Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas! It's the Best Time of the Year. Oh, By Golly, Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas, this Year! - Don't those lyrics just make you smile?

A Jolly First Gift -Popcorn Cake from Auntie Pat

Advent & Prayer

Pastor Wilson prendiendo
La Primera Vela del Adviento; 11/30 - Fe/Faith
La Segunda Vela del Adviento; 12/7 - Esperanza/Hope

(mi hijo menor de Rey Baltazar, Navidad 2007)

Mi oracion para hoy:
There are wars without ceasing,
Hay guerras sin cesar
Children without food,
Ninos sin que comer,
A world of injustice.
Un mundo de injusticia.
Lord, arise!
Senor, levantate!
conquer the darkness,
conquista la oscuridad,
in the way we love our children,
en como queremos a nuestros ninos,
and others around us,
y a los demas a nuestro alrededor,
in the way we speak and act
en nuestras acciones y manera de hablar
and how we spend our money and time.
y como gastamos el dinero y el tiempo.
May we be your hands & love- Amen.
Que seamos tus manos & amor - Amen.

Piano

El viernes pasado fuimos a ver a un pianista bastante famoso, Lang Lang. Él tocó el piano en la ceremonia de apertura de las Olimpiadas de Beijing. También ha tocado con el gran cantante, Andrea Boticelli. Pudimos ir a este concierto especial porque mi amiga china, Wendy, es una gran fan de Lang Lang. Tiene dos hijas en la Sinfonía Juvenil de Sacramento, y por lo tanto consiguió estas entradas gratis cuando se presentó la oportunidad. Sin embargo, el concierto debía realizarse en Davies Hall (San Francisco) pero nosotros entendimos Davis (que es otra ciudad por completo - si, la de la universidad). Así, imagínate la sorpresa enorme que tuvimos cuando nos encontramos todos preparados e ilusionados de escuchar a este famoso Lang Lang!!!
Last Friday we went to hear the quite famous pianist, Lang Lang. He played en the Beijing Open Ceremony for the 2008 Olympics. He has also played with the great singer Andrea Boticelli. We were able to go to this concert because my Chinese friend, Wendy, is a big fan of Lang Lang. She has two daughters in the Youth Symphony of Sacramento, and so she got these free tickets when the unique opportunity arose. However, the concert took place in Davies Hall (San Francisco), but we understood Davis (another city entirely, yes, the one with the university). So, imagine the enormous surprise when we arrived all ready and excited to hear this famous Lang Lang!!!

No hay mal que por bien no venga.
There is not bad from which good doesn't come,
según el refrán. . .
Well, at least we are acquainted now with Lang Lang. And talking of themes, we have a movie called The Pianist. Unlike Lang Lang, we are not going to miss this one.
Bueno, si, por lo menos sabemos algo más de este artista Lang Lang. Y hablando del tema, tenemos una película que se llama, El Pianista/The Pianist. A diferencia de Lang Lang, no la vamos a perder. jiji Aqui, un trailor:

The Maker's hand flung stars across the night

With angels bursting forth from galaxies

New music singing from the spheres in harmonies

That blessed the dancing of the first-born light.

And then the light was darkened by an earth

Dimmed by torn dreams, saddened by shrill pride.

Stars faded, lost their story, and died.

The dance distorted in strange lies and anger.

Love's hand again was lifted. In a manger

Again the Maker of the stars gave birth.

-Madelaine L'Engle-

Seleccion de la Semana

Una de las cosas mas bellas de navidad es la musica. Esta version del Canon de Pachebel es preciosa.
One of the most beautiful things about Christmas is the music. This is a precious version of Pachebel's Canon.

Lo Mejor de Noviembre

"My sorrow, when she's here with me, thinks these dark days of autumn rain are beautiful as days can be; she loves the bare, the withered tree; she walks the sodden pasture lane."
-Robert Frost

November 4th - Oldest daughter votes for the first time in a presidential election!
Barack Obama gana por una mayoría abrumadora.

November 4th & 20th - Oldest son turns 14! Youngest daughter turns 16!
Cumplen mi hijo mayor los 14 años, y mi hija menor los 16!

November 14 - San Francisco day trip
Visita a San Francisco

November 15 & 30 - Two days when we were respectively gifted a large turkey and a new refridgerator!
Dos dias cuando unos amigos nos regalaron un pavo grande y una nevera nueva.

November 22 - Touche (Santa Rosa) Debate Round Robin!
Torneo de Debate - Santa Rosa!