Today I woke up at about 10:45, I got dressed, brushed my teeth, and ran out the door with a box of Crispix. I had to be Tutoring at Vivienne's house at 11! Of course, with my skill, I made it there around 11:02! So that wasn't bad! I only stayed for an hour and a half today, I don't know why because her daughter had said she would need more help today than she did last time. Oh well, I'm not complaining, it was worth it. Anyway, I cruised home.

When I got home, I came upstairs and checked out my HSX info, and some other things that I usually do. I helped my grandma with a letter she had to type up to her friend, and then I got ready to go to the Christmas show at my Church. I don't actually know how the aforementioned activities took from 1:00, when I returned home, until 5:50 when we left for Church, but somehow it did. I guess that could be the reason for my boredom the whole time.

Anyway, I have been going to the Christmas Cantata at my Church for as long as I can remember! It's always super-cool and I always have a good time. It's just one of those events that I associate with Christmas. I mean, it just wouldn't be Christmas without it! Anyway, I haven't been to church in a really long time. Actually, It's been at least six months, maybe more; probably more. Anyway, when I walked in tonight, I had this feeling, that I had been missing something. I don't know what made me feel that way, but I felt bad that it had been so long. On the way to our usual seats in the balcony I was thinking about all of the fun times I've had there, from when I was REALLY little, and went to the day-care there, one day a week, to the times when I would get bored with the service and go sit on the stairs outside of the balcony and draw. I remember sitting on the side of the pews and making origami things out of the church bulletin, and playing with the little hole in the corner of a wall, that I ALWAYS was fascinated with. (It has since been covered up. Sad.) I remember when Dan would sleep over, and he would come with us. We would explore the third floor, from the secret bathrooms that were up there, to running across the third floor classroom thing in the dark. I remember a time that I wore these "penny loafer" shoes, and a nice girl (probably about 19 or so, but I was only 10) gave me a penny and stuck it in the little groove. Then I was thinking about all the VBS memories, and fun times over the summer. Anyway, I guess that all sounds pretty stupid if you don't how important it was at the time. I mean, I never wanted to go to church, and I always asked my mom if I could stay home. Now that I can make my own decision, I regret not going as much in the last six months. But you know, I don't think that means I'll want to go every week now, but maybe more often than once every six months+. Anyway, I did come to the decision that I am absolutely doing VBS this summer. I didn't do it last summer because I was working in the morning at the library. But even if I am working mornings again, I will have to take off. I don't care, the VBS experience is well worth it.

Anyway, now that I've confused everyone with a paragraph that they probably didn't even care about, and I was just about to say "Sorry" I just realized that that's what a journal's about. I'm supposed to talk about that kinda stuff!

Well, as I said before, I've gone to this Cantata every year for as long as I can remember, and the Cantata tonight was very different than any I had ever seen before. There was something wrong...something very different. Although they change the themes and drama every year, the general center has always been the birth of Jesus, and such all along that line, as it should be. In the past there have been live donkeys and a huge manger. In recent years, they moved the manger into the upper baptism area, but nevertheless you always see Mary and Joseph carry baby Jesus in the manger, and the three wise men come, and give their gifts. Anyway, this year was quite different. They conjured up a story, to which the point was the same, where a man had to deal with the death of his daughter and it dealt with the story of Christmas; although they only showed a shadow of manger scene, behind curtain for about 30 seconds, and there wasn't enough emphasis on the MEANING of Christmas. But I'm not in any way suggesting that they didn't drive the point home, but it just wasn't done in a traditional sense, and I would have liked to see more baby, and less acting. It's usually a more "pageant-like" representation of the birth of Jesus, but tonight It was more of a play, that had the concept of Christmas. If you understand what I mean.

Alright, I hope you found something interesting in my explanation of my evening, and I have to be getting to bed now because I have my first final tomorrow morning at 11am. Yes, History! I just finished looking over the definition list for the terms in the class, and I wrote out a few index cards. I got most of my information off of a site called Information Please. I really recommend it if you have to look anything up, it was very helpful. Anyway, as for my test, I hope I do well!

Before I go, I wanted to mention that I heard my song, Same Old Lang Syne by Dan Fogleberg on WALK about three or four times today, and not only was I obviously very excited, but it was fitting because I had picked it as tonight's Christmas clip, part of my 14 nights of Christmas clips on Journal-Esque. I'll have to come up with a great final clip, so be sure to read my entry on Christmas Day!

Tonight's episodes of Cosby are the first ones of the FIFTH season! I can't believe we're there already! lol

Anyway, It's time for me to get to bed, I'm running late as it is. Have a great day tomorrow, and as my calendar says for Christmas Day, "Give openly and freely from your heart." lol I know, I cheated. I flipped the pages and just read it. Ok.....