Our Christmas story on "The Story"

Xavier and I were featured in a radio program, "The Story" (North Carolina Public Radio)! And it aired on my birthday, no less! Of course I have sent out this news to every living person that I ever knew because it was really a moment of fame for the two of us. However, if you haven't heard the Santa Story and would like to hear it, click below for the audio. It aired last Monday, but then there were some listener responses to the story so they talked a bit more about it on Wednesday (which I added to the end of the audio, below).

In order to do the interview we had to go to the MPR (Minnesota Public Radio) studio in St. Paul where they could send the audio signal back and forth between North Carolina and Minnesota. We were asked to go to one of the music studios so that they could record Xavier playing the guitar. The sound engineer set us up in head phones, each in front of a giant microphone the size of your head. We were all alone in the room with the engineer on the other side of a glass window, but we could hear Dick Gordon (of "The Story") as if he were sitting right there. Well, the interview went really well and we had a fabulous experience. After we were finished the sound guy recorded Xavier playing 2 of his guitar pieces and burned it onto a CD (I'm sure I'll get around to putting it on this blog pretty darn soon). Then, he took us a tour of the MPR building. Hey! I got to sit in Keri Miller's chair!

René, Ahna and Xavier 1998

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Selena learns to iron... and it snowed, por fin!

This morning Selena requested that she learn to iron clothes. My jaw dropped down to the floor and flew up again! I love how my kids continue to surprise me and alter whatever it was that I knew about them. This is the child who used to throw clothes all over the floor of her bedroom and wear them in whatever condition. She used to wear different colored socks to school and refused to wear jeans until she was 14. Now she is becoming neat like her father and "doesn't like wrinkles" in her clothes. Well, no better time like a Sunday to start ironing clothes. I haven't really done it in years but I'm still pretty good at it. I have a repertoire of pitfalls to avoid; like not using starch on dark colored pants, or leaving the iron to cool on the ironing table so that a dog would go by and knock it over right onto the wood floor. So, we set out to iron some shirts and pants. All went very well. We

We have been wondering if we will get a white Christmas this year. Wonder no more, it has come! I still love it! December is the honeymoon period and by February you want a divorce from it, but snow is uplifting after the drabness of November. Incidentally, the photo above is of the chicken house. Our flock has dwindled since the invasion of the weasel. We lost half of the ducks and about 3 chickens in one night (their necks were eaten!) Anyway, winter is hard for them, no doubt about it.

As soon as Xavier saw the snow he was out the door with the dogs. Below: Xavier and Jota.
Xavier made some angels in the snow. Skippy Lu was certainly curious about what he was up to.
On another note, we still have our foster dog, Tara (Mom of the coon house puppies). She has come a long way since we got her; not as timid and afraid. She loves my bed and sleeps with me and Skippy Lu at night. We need to find someone that will allow her to cuddle; she's good at that!

Xavier's guitar quartet- as yet unnamed

This summer Xavier started taking lessons with Alan Johnston and is going to McPhail Center for Music . Alan invited him to join their quartet (or what was then a trio) and they have been working together since September. This Sunday we had everyone out to Ham Lake for breakfast and a practice session. What handsome boys! Henry, Luke, Xavier and Austin (and Alan's knee).