Happy Birthday Mrs. Landbeck!

It's a running joke that amuses me, anyway, calling Jennilyn "Mrs. Landbeck". When we were first married (like, in the first few weeks), one of her old roommates invited us to eat with her and her husband. He kept calling her, "Mrs. Z" (her married last name initial), and the charm of it stuck.

Anyway, it's

HER

BIRTHDAY

TODAY!

Thus my annual campaign to make today happy, celebratory, awesome, special, and poignant for her.

She is amazing. If you know her, you know that already. My goal and purpose is to make her appreciate how appreciated she is (without triggering the instinctive Christian resistance to anything that smacks of pride or arrogance).

Sweetheart, you are best thing in all of our lives. That's not pride, that's the truth.

I love you. Happy Birthday.

Christmas Songs!

I love Christmas songs. There is a station in Baltimore that switches their whole playlist over to Christmas songs after Thanksgiving. The worst part about the station is their commercial breaks are like 10 minutes long, but we just turn the sound down for that.

It has been rewarding and delightful how cheery and willing our children have been to listen to and sing along with Christmas songs. Somehow we've avoided any grumpiness about the cheesiness or commercialism of Christmas that seems to afflict kids sometimes as they grow into an awareness of the "real" world. Here are some of the songs that have been favorites this year.



I wish there was a real video for this, and not just a karaoke prompt. But it's still one I love to catch when it comes on.



I still remember the year that Max's middle school choir sang this. Nine boys awkwardly shifting from foot to foot trying to his the low notes, it was still awesome.



This was a song that Max's choir sang this year. *Superb*. Christmas, funny, *and* full of puns.



Everytime this comes on the radio, the kids sing along with fervor and delight.



We love Christmas carols, Christmas hymns, funny, serious, reverent ones. I was touched last night as we carolled from house to house by a Father my age who told me he had never had carollers come to his home before.

Merry Christmas!

Sing some songs!

Links for Emma

I would email these to her, but some of them are interesting enough to share.

A good article on great teachers.

What would happen if you combined every element in the periodic table?

I can't believe it's only 50. Do you recognize them all?

The Things I've Lost

Thanksgiving is past, and Christmas is coming. I feel a little melancholy today. While I adore the holidays and look forward to more family-time and yummy food, I remember things that are gone, or that are grown distant. I am mulling today on what I've lost in my lifetime.


Well, for the last year, the obvious one has been my job. But that's not really true anymore. I'm working every day now, including weekends, at three part-time jobs. Still looking for something full-time with benefits. Now I'm so busy, I can be a little choosier in what I apply for.

There is not much, by way of stuff, that I've lost over the years that I remember, or miss. The rocking chair that went missing (probably stolen) one move when we were in college. There was that pair of glasses I hadn't seen in a few months, then one day I knew right where to look. Found them.

Once, when he was young, I lost one of our sons at a picnic. I was watching him from a distance, maybe 30, 40 meters away, play on a playground in the center of a housing development. Then, I didn't see him anymore.

We were at a party, with lots of adults, and we all scattered, every which way looking for him. I felt very certain he would go in a certain direction, and drove around the development to the other side.

Found him walking between the back yards of houses, exploring. Unaware of the crazed fear he had inspired. Now he is at BYU, 2000 miles away, hopefully looking after himself, because I no longer can.

Once, when Sam was about seven, he gave a talk in church.

"My Dad’s name is John Landbeck. He is the father of my body. I look like him. My eyes are blue, like his are. My hair is blonde, like his was."

Now and then . . . I've lost some hair.





 The Spaces between my children and me have grown, but I earnestly hope that we are never lost to each other. As I consider their adult futures, I pray they will stay close, that they will communicate and seek each other's company.

I've never lost my faith. I have on occasion lost my patience, but I can find that again quickly.

I am delighted to say I have shed myself of several grudges over the years. Their loss is definitely an improvement. Would that pounds were as easy to lose and stay shed.

I have lost a few family members over the years, and still miss them. But I have gained many, and treasure them all.

Merry Christmas everyone.