And so that was Christmas...

Or so the song nearly goes! Hi hows it going? Hope you all had a fab Christmas! Mine was pretty good, but seemed to just...go. It was just a fairly normal day by my reckoning. But it was a good day, it was nice to see some relatives who I don't see much (they live about a mile away and I never see them!) I spent Christmas Day afternoon at my Gran's house, we had lunch there which was very nice. Quite un-Christmassy though because instead of having the meal in the decorated living room with the table nicely set up, which is how my Gran would normally do Christmas dinner, we had it on trays in my Great-Gran's bedroom. It was nice though, although my great-gran was sleeping most afternoon, it was important that we were with her so I don't begrudge that! She's 96, has alzheimers and is immobile after a fall last Easter where she broke her hip. She's very slowly fading, but its for the best really. So as this was probably her last Christmas, it was important to us, my Gran (who takes care of her) and my Great-Gran that we were there! So...

Christmas was good! I got some stuff that I really like, such as cowboy boots (one of my boyfriend, the other off my friend) a book about the Beatles called "Postcards from the Boys", a Jimi Hendrix biography, a 5 foot Aragorn poster, a nice dress, a nice jacket, chocolate and some other stuff! And I got a really nice Indian/South African top from my brother! Boxing Day we went to visit my Nana and other relatives in Hull for the day, that was ok! Not a great deal to mention there. And the last couple days have been spent doing *loads* of homework. I've actually got quite a bit done, but probably should have done a lot more!

School starts again next Tuesday. On Monday (I'm SO excited!!) me and some friends are having a 12 hour Lord of the Rings-a-thon watching all 3 extended editions in a row. Can't wait! I'm quite a fan, if you couldn't tell :-) So that will be a fab way to end my Christmas holiday. Then only a month of school before heading off on my proper hols to visit my brother in South Africa - so excited. Just a month of coursework, revision, then the exam (biology module), then the school play for which I'm playing flute in the orchestra, then I can go! It'll fly by, I'm sure.

Anyway, much love to all. Happy New Year!!

This is us at the Sage. We are the ones in yellow. I'm the furthest right yellow on the front row. I'll post a photo of the actual hall another time.

The Sage Gateshead

That is the incredible new building that is dedicated to music. To put it into one word, WOW! It is the most fabulous building, and I've had the oppurtunity of singing there on 2 occasions this last week. On Saturday the choir I'm in, Swing Bridge Singers, was singing several times at the opening, where there was so many amazing bands (etc) playing. We did 3 short concerts in Hall 3, which is pretty fantastic. We were sharing those concerts with Folkestra, a regional youth folk band, who are amazing! At these performances we sang the usual Swing Bridge repetoire, which includes madrigals, jazz, folk, African, Italian, 70s/80's pop songs, pretty much everything!

On Monday was slightly (very) different. We were performing in the first concert after the opening and it was a youth choirs concert. There was 6 youth choirs from around the region, with some very contrasted styles of singing! We all were sat on the stage together the whole concert and were conducted by the world renound American Scott Stroman who is an incredible conductor. Being a Christmas concert, we sang about 7 Christmas songs all together, some traditional carols, some (most) which I've never heard before. Each choir had their own slot. We sang 2 Christmas songs, the first being The Birthday Carol which is quite fun but quite hard! And the second was the most beautiful arrangement of Away in a Manger that you will ever hear. The harmonies are incredible. And I got to sing the second verse solo. In front of 1400 people! It was a bit nerve-wrecking but I was really excited and I loved doing it! The whole day was extrememly exhausting (we were there from about 11:30am, rehearsing all day and then had a 2 or 3 hour performance) so it was good to get home, but I'll not forget that day in a hurry! The next post is a photo of us all at the Sage on stage.

Me about 2 months ago. I don't have a more recent picture, but this will do for now! Just so you know what I look like these days. The lad in the back is James, who is a friend from choir.

To whoever posted the comment about the magi...

I don't know who posted it because it just says anonymous (or however it is spelt). Yes, you are right in that we don't know how many there were, so the answer would be "2 or more". However, if you read the question carefully, it says 'how many wise men visited Jesus at the MANGER.' The answer is 0, because they visited him some months later, and so he wasn't in a manger, it was at his house. Matthew 2:11 says 'On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him.' The star appeared on the night Jesus was born, and there's no way they would have reached him in the same night! Please comment again and let me know who you are :-)

...

I should be doing English Coursework this lesson. But, I'm not. I do have 'good' reasons. In that I forgot to put my work onto a disc, my teacher isn't in and I need help and there's no computers free in the library. Although I am on a computer in the common room. Ohwell!

This is my last week of school before Christmas, I can't wait. Friday will be 'blissful', when I finally will have a gorgeous 2 weeks off. Except that I'll be run off my feet the whole holiday. This coming weekend is very busy because the choir I'm in called Swing Bridge is performing at the opening of a huge new music centre that has been built in Newcastle. We're performing there on Saturday and on Monday. And on Tuesday is my Churches Christmas party in the evening. And the next few days will be full of Christmas stuff. And I'll have loads of work to do, because I have my coursework to finish and a biology exam at the end of January for which I have loads of revison to do. But still, I wont have to come to school, so I cant complain too much!

Yesterday was great. The morning service at Church was cancelled so I got to lie in which was fab. But then instead of a morning service we had an afternoon carol singing at an old people's home where one of our members is living. And then we went back to Church for some food and then had the evening service as normal. So it ended up being a very long day, but good fun.

Not much else going on here. I'm sure I'll post again before Christmas. But before then, enjoy the build up to Christmas! (I'll wish you a merry Christmas later.) Bye for now! :-)

What have we made it?

I'm sat in school, in the library, obviously on a computer. Me and my friend/co-leader Matthew of the school Christian Union have just planned this weeks CU. It took under 5 minutes! We're gonna do a Christmas quiz, about what the Bible says actually happened at Christmas. I'll type it out here:

1. Joseph was from: Bethlehem; Nazareth; Jerusalem; Egypt
2. How did mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem? Camel; Donkey; Truck; Don't Know
3. A manger is a: barn; stable; feed trough; disease dogs catch
4. Who saw the the 'star in the East'? Shephers; Three Kings; Brad Pitt; none of these
5. What did the angels sing? "Glory to God in the Highest..."; "for unto us a child is born..."; "Glory to the newborn King..."; none of these
6. How many wise men came to see Jesus in the manger? 3; 2; 1; 0
7. Who told Mary and Joseph to go to Bethlehem? the angel; God; Caesar Augustus; King Herod
8. Why did Joseph take Jesus to Eqypt? To show him the pyramids; to be taxed; because he dreamed about it; he never took Jesus there.
9. What is frankincense? an oriental monster; a precious perfume; a precious fabric; a precious metal
10. What is myrrh? a spice used in burials; a soft metal; an aftershave lotion; a drink

Of course these answers can all be found in the Bible! Its amazing how we've completely made Christmas into what we want it to be, and its sort of been a 'Chinese whipers' except it shouldn't have because its all right there in the Bible!

In Newcastle, there is a shop called Fenwicks. And every year at Christmas they put a huge display in the windows, and especialy when you're little its a big deal to go and see Fenwicks window. This display is pretty much lifesize 'dolls' that move and you hear the story over loudspeakers, and Christmas music. Most years its Santa, or aliens playing footbal (?) or something like that. But this year they've put the nativity, and its beautiful. Not Biblically correct, as like I think the quiz up there proves, we don't learn what is Biblically correct. But it still shows the birth of Jesus and its amazing for that reason. So this year lots of people (and everyone who goes into Newcastle pretty much has seen this window) have been reminded of what Christmas is really about! God is fab isn't he!

And the Thunderbirds are GO!

I'm watching 'Record of the Year 2004' on the TV and that was the winning song, its just been announced. Anyway...Hi, I'm Suz. I'm 17, live in Whitley Bay, England, I'm in my last year of high school (technically college but there ya go) and am pretty busy with work! Enjoying it though, its pretty good. Hard but good! My family consists of Mum and Dad, brother Daniel who is currently residing in South Africa, and my sister Michelle who has just got well annoyed that Busted won Record of the Year!

'be here now' is the title of a CD I like, by Oasis. And I like that name because I reckon we should take each day as it comes. All we have to do each day is live for God, which is hard to do, I'm the first to say that, but the way I see it is, we don't need to do more than that.

A little bit more about me...I grew up in England, in the same house that I'm sat in now. When I was 7 we moved to Papua New Guinea where I lived for about 5 years. And made some pretty great friends while at it, some of whom I've been fortunate enough to see again since leaving! And when I was 13 I moved back to England and have made some pretty great friends here aswell! 3 of my best friends are living away from home, slightly scattered around the world, and another is on his way pretty soon to India for 6 months.

Anyway, that's it for now. I'm sure some of you will have known a lot of what I wrote, but I thought it was good starting place! I'll write more another time. x x x