A Christmas Miracle

Tonight was my church's Christmas party. I admit, I've never been fond of the church Christmas party. There is always an attempt at making it a spiritual occasion with the primary kids acting out the Christmas story, but mostly it's just chaotic. Then all hell really breaks loose when right after everyone sings Silent Night the conductor turns to the crowd and announces, "Hey everyone, I heard we have a special visitor. Let's see if we can welcome him by singing Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer!!" Any Christmas spirit that was in the room has now blown right out the door as Santa Claus comes jingling in. The kids go wild. I go crazy.

That is why I don't go to the church Christmas party. I'd rather be home watching Tactical Armor on the Military channel with G.

This year I was asked to sing a duet for the program and also play the piano for a small ensemble. Basically, I guilted myself into participating because I wanted to be helpful. 'Tis the season, right? But the best part of the whole night--get ready--NO SANTA CLAUS! Nope. The program ended with a lovely musical number, our bishop said a few words and it was over. The end. Lights on, go home. Now THAT'S a church party worth attending. A Christmas miracle.

Have you ever wondered...

...what the view from the top of a 36 week pregnant lady looks like?

Meet JW.

Being pregnant for the first time has taught me a lot about growing a human and the physical demands on my body. Things that are really unexplainable until you go through it yourself. For example:

• nausea
• sleepiness
• fat ankles
• taffy-pulled ligaments
• loss of brains
• loss of breath
• waddling
• hearing a heartbeat
• seeing a baby
• kick
• punch
• roll
• hiccup...hiccup...hiccup

And a new one for me today - checking the cervix. Holy s-h-i-t {sorry moms}. I thought this would just be a few finger poke around. No. It's a whole hand scrub down. Thank you very much. Now, would someone like to give me the REAL story on labor and delivery? Because I don't want any surprises.

The good news is, I'm 1 1/2 cm dilated and 70% effaced. That's ahead of schedule! JW just might make it into this world in December. I hear jingle bells!

Gourmet Twist

I love a good soft preztel. When I worked at the BL in Trolley Square I used to go to Pretzel Maker almost every shift - the parmesean covered pretzel with a side of marinara dipping sauce was my favorite.

When I moved on to a bigger career, my job took me to NYC a couple times a year for industry conferences. I would ditch the conference lunches and networking events and wander the avenues. I remember passing a pretzel stand near Central Park thinking yes! a BIG New York pretzel for lunch. I don't know why, but something about the pretzel street vendor screamed classic New York snack. It had to be good. So one lunch hour I picked up a giant pretzel with a side of cheese sauce. I took a bite. Blech!! It was like chewing a warm piece of cardboard covered in cold orange goo. I wanted to love it. I tried to eat it, but I'd rather starve than choke it down. NYC pretzel vendor, you so disappointed me. I should have gone to the conference lunch.

Today I went to McDonald's for lunch. I almost never go there so little did I know they are now serving up soft pretzels. It sure looked good in the display box, but it's McDonald's - pretzels aren't really their specialty. Anyone dumb enough to buy that was taking a big fat $2.15 cardboardy risk. The risk taker I am, I indulged. I mean, what the heck, nothing could be worse than that NYC hockey puck. I went for the cinnamon twist and to my delightful suprise, it was hot, soft, cinnamony goodness. Next time I'm in NYC and want a big pretzel, forget the street vendor, I'm going to McDonald's!