With a Bang and a Song

It's a good way to start a year:  staying up until midnight and enjoying the excitement that fact--midnight!--brings to the two oldest boys (the two youngest are sound asleep in their beds), playing a game of Skip-Bo with them during the last minutes of 2010, waking up Daddy who's sleeping on the couch, so that we can go outside on the patio and...

...celebrate with firecrackers and sparklers...

...and bang pots and pans!  

Even our rooster got into the act and started crowing.

Silly rooster.  ;-)

And then, after some hours of sleep, a day of being at home as a family, working together on various projects (Jeff did garden stuff, the big boys helped to carry wood, Tobin climbed the tall mulch pile behind our woodshed, I helped my mother organize her new kitchen).  Then quiet time in the afternoon, for most of the members of the family.  I spent my quiet time with my hands in the dishpan, which was lovely since not only did I bring order and cleanliness to my kitchen, I also got the chance to mull over my one resolution for this year.  After that, I sat on the living room floor with Shav; and, as he climbed around me and on me, I finished organizing my file box.  To completely finish a project is such a wonderful feeling!

Supper this evening was provided by Jeff:  ground bear and deer meat, given to us by one of Jeff's customers.  Jeff formed it into hamburger patties and grilled them, and I didn't have to do much for dinner!  But that leads to a question:  if they're made out of bear and deer meat, are they still called hamburgers?  ;-)

The crowning touch (and, oh, what a crown!) on this superb day was the annual Harmonia Sacra singing at Weavers Mennonite Church.  I've written before about these wonderful sings, but I know there's no way to adequately portray in words the joy I gain from participating in one of these.  I can't help but beam as I sing, I smile as I get up to take a turn in leading, I float home in a cloud of happiness, I gush about it to Jeff (who kindly stays home with the boys so I can go...although tonight, one of my sons chose to go with me...at the end of the video below, you'll see his face and know which one it was)...I'm energized by the whole experience, and it always takes me a while to unwind after it.  :)  New Year's Day wouldn't be the same without the delightful tradition of attending that sing.

Amidst the singing tonight, I paused briefly to snatch a little video of it.  It goes without saying that the video doesn't do it justice.  I really think you'd have to be there to experience the beauty and the majesty and the glory of the voices lifted in praise, using the same words and tunes that have been used since 1832.  But here's a snippet of "Hosanna."  I wish I was still there, singing it again and again...

Hello, 2011; you are most welcome.  I'm so glad you're here!