Preparing for the holidays

Halloween marks the beginning of the Holiday season for me. I get out my Christmas song books, throw some Christmas CDs in the car and start preparing for the season. I always want to be "ready" by Thanksgiving. By that I mean getting my voice stronger so I can sing for an hour or so without losing it. You wouldn't think I'd have to practice the Christmas songs, but I play through them all a little each day. This year I'm again doing the Children's Christmas Program at church. Instead of singing we're going to do dramatic readings from A Christmas Carol. I going to try to talk to the kids about "dramatic reading" or "acting;" in general, speaking slowly and clearly. I'll emphasize pauses, breathing etc., using the punctuation that Dickens put in his book as our guide. Practice for that starts tomorrow. Thanksgiving is this week of course, and it looks like a busy social calendar as usual. I remember a Thanksgiving Day, the first year I was on my own. I awoke to the notion of how truly thankful I was to have a family to visit. I had been out in the real world just a short time, but it was long enough to learn that everyone did not have the warmth and closeness with their families that I had. Family can drive you batty now and then, but don't ever take them for granted. You'd be in bad shape without them.

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