OK, I should be taking down the tree.  Epiphany has come and gone, and the city will be picking up spent Christmas trees at the curbside on Saturday, so unless I want an 8 foot evergreen lying sideways in the front yard until spring cleanup, I’d better get moving. We had a swirly holiday; joy and pleasure mixed with tears and various illnesses.  We missed my mom desperately. Christmas without a mom feels unnatural. But we took joy in the little ones, and in the visit of our Houston-based daughter, Kate.  And such a grand musical year it’s been for me, for many reasons, not the least of which was having my old friend Merlyn Schofield singing beside me, both at my mother’s beside as she crossed over, and on various stages. Music is my balm. I feel the Lord blessing us, and I thank Him.

I am looking forward to many things this coming year.  Clytie Adams will be celebrating 50 years of teaching ballet, and we’ll be planning and performing her grand recital in the coming months.  I’m also pondering doing a new album, perhaps of lullabies and children’s songs. And my guitar students will be returning to classes this Thursday.  Yay for music, for pulling me out of the post-holiday humbug!

Hope you all had the jolliest of jollies, and that 2013 treats you well! Now, on to the de-frocking of the grand old tree!

Cori