it's christmastime

and christmastime means:

1) the festival of trees

which i missed this year because law school sucks.

2) love actually.

          a) along with this,

           b) this, 

          c) and this.

3) christmas lights,

which i love despite the fact that those grinches just said that they won't be doing tours for the next four years.  (and while i'm at it, david beckham is a grinch too.)

4) rich family christmas parties.

there is talk of an olympic theme this year.  cool.  there is also talk of a pajama theme.  not as cool.

5) magic.

6) JACOB COMING HOME!!!!

7) no. school.

8) and, Christ.

and there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

and, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were afraid.

and the angel said unto them, fear not: for, behold, i bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

the great debate

the debate of which i speak is thanksgiving v. christmas.

it does seem that every year, christmas comes earlier.  and thanksgiving is given less and less room and credit.  i am not going to pontificate about this.  it, much like the presidential election, is rather old and tired.

i feel i must confess, and my mother would be ashamed of me if she knew, that i don't entirely mind an extra month's worth of christmas music and santa clause, even if it is just a ploy for my money.  i LOVE christmas.  if i had my way, i would move it to february 25 so that christmas time could spread over 3 months (because, under this plan, there would be plenty of time to celebrate thanksgiving all november long and then entertain a december-january-and-february-span-of-yuletide) because january and february are generally grey and no good anyway.  but, i am not in charge of the calendar.  so, i'm just quietly saying that i don't wholly hate (and a little bit secretly like) that christmas creeps in earlier and earlier each year.

however, i don't want thanksgiving to be forgotten or abandoned either.

i have a sneaking suspicion that thanksgiving is more resilient that we give it credit for.  while it is being shunted out of ads by jingle bells and and reindeer, thanksgiving has found other, possibly less public and definitely less commercial, ways to live on.  right now gratitude lists dominate facebook feeds, instagram posts, and blog entries.  have you ever checked out what pops up when you select #thanksgivinggram or #30daysofgratitude?  it's pretty cool.  just like those puritans that landed here hundreds of years ago, their holiday is flying under the radar and finding new and uncharted places to flourish.

i kind of like it this new way.  it seems more genuine than having crate paper mayflowers and squantos hanging in grocery stores and goofy turkeys running across every commercial.  when there's not so much hype, so much pomp and circumstance, the gratitude stays authentic and honest. and i like that.

this is one of my very favorite hymns of all.  it is a thanksgiving song.  and it is wonderful.  i think it says it all.  but i have highlighted the parts that say the most.

Prayer of Thanksgiving

We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing,

He chastens, and hastens his will to make known;

The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing

Sing praises to his name; he forgets not his own.

Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,

Ordaining, maintaining his kingdom divine,

So, from the beginning, the fight we were winning,

The Lord was at our side; all glory be thine.

We all do extol thee, thou leader triumphant,

And pray that thou still our defender will be.

Let thy congregation escape tribulation.

Thy name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!

i'm not going to disneyland

but a lot of really cool girls that i know are.  tomorrow.

this is just another grievance that i intend to add to the ever-growing-list caused and perpetuated by law school.  it steals my money and my time and my heart and my fun.  i need all of those things.  and law school has them

the result of this pending lack of disney vacation is that i have gone to california in my mind.  in the middle of environmental law class, as i should be taking notes, i am really watching youtube videos of  the alice in wonderland ride (on silent of course).  last night, when i should have been paying attention to the words in my evidence text droning on and on and on about hearsay, i was really flying over london with peter pan.  rather than answering my constitutional law professor's question about protected first amendment speech, i sang, "yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me."  (ok, that one might be an exaggeration...)  and instead of researching how fire law has effected the kaibab plateau, i'm really searching for plane tickets that will take me to my childhood dreams.

disneyland is wonderful.  it, like christmas morning and ice cream trucks and halloween, is a direct conduit back to childhood, back to those days when to play was the thing and law school wasn't even a word in my vocabulary.

soccer

not playing soccer is my biggest, longest, and deepest life regret.  when i was little, i chose ballet over soccer.  i don't necessarily blame myself.  i mean, think of a ballerina's accessories: tutus, ballet shoes, leotards of varying colors, tights, buns.  they turn a girl's head. (it does seem a little bit out of character for me to pick pink over dirt and grass stains, though.  i guess every girl is allowed to contradict herself).  but, i didn't stick with ballet...which is another regret.  i should have continued dancing.  i shouldn't have scoffed at my dance teacher when she told me to try out for dance company.  but, really, i should have played soccer.

i didn't, though.  i didn't play soccer.  and i have to make my peace with that.  lately, however, these are what my google searches have yielded:

1) http://www.soccertools.com/soccer-rules.html  (good ol' fifa)

2)

3)  preparation.  just in case my soccer day ever does come.

4) http://www.jes-soccer.com/plays.html

5) A hat trick in soccer occurs when a player scores three goals in one game. The term "hat trick" in sports is used to refer to a certain accomplishment by a player during competition, with the feat usually involving three of something — such as goals scored — and varying according to the sport. It is believed that the term originated in cricket in the 19th century, but it has come to be used in many other sports, including soccer and hockey. There also are variations of a hat trick in soccer that involve a player scoring three goals in certain ways, such as consecutively within the same period or by striking the ball in certain ways.

6)

                  -ballet shoe soccer cleat?

7)

oh, soccer.  i wish i wasn't such a wanna be.

one of the best moments of my life, hands down, came my senior year of high school.  i was talking to one of the stars of the girl's soccer team and she said, "katie, you should have played soccer.  you would have been a baller."  sometimes i repeat that to myself when my soccer dreams keep me up at night.

#missedmycalling

uggggh

i. hate. throat. talkers.

you know.  people who can't seem to get their voice into their mouth before they start speaking, so the sound issues forth in a raspy, guttural growl.  i can't stand it.  TALK WITH YOUR LIPS, NOT WITH YOUR LARYNX!

law school has an abnormally high concentration of throat talkers.  even now, i should be paying attention to risk assessment in environmental law.  but i can't.  i am physically incapable.  all of my concentration is thrown off by the auditory assault my ears are being subjected to.

it makes me feel like this is just flapping in the breeze:

unacceptable.

my favorite word is

wish.

storms

i love storms.  especially in the summer.  being from a desert, they seem so decadent and are always answered prayers.  i have been in salt lake for the first time this summer, and, therefore, have missed an awesome monsoon season at jacob lake, which i'm pretty sad about.

there's nothing like seeing those black clouds roll in.

waiting, sometimes for days, to see if they have enough in them to actually bring the water, or if they're only show.

watching as it slowly makes its way to you:

and then loving every minute of it when the rain does come.

there's something singular about the stillness that falls, muting the light, stifling the sound, magnifying the smell that i identify with grey until that grey is spilling from the sky, scenting the ponderosas with vanilla.  

nothing i know of beats a good summer storm.  except, perhaps, the sunsets that follow.

(thanks, melindie, for the pics.  they wrote this for me.)