I'll Be Home for Christmas

I'm headed home tomorrow to spend eight wonderful days in Central Texas with my family. My semester ended last night and I told physics and organic chemistry goodbye. We've had a strained relationship over the past few months, and in the end, we decided it was best for us to go our separate ways. :)

Texas will be great. My mom is having an "Old-fashion Christmas" this year. It will be perfect, complete with comfort food, lazy days, and sappy Christmas music. Picture Country Living meets Reba McEntire singing "Silent Night". Can't wait! My mom has a theme for the Christmas tree each year. My favorite theme was "Texas Christmas" where the tree was decorated with chili-pepper lights, rope, red bandanas, and a cowboy hat on top. This year, she told me she's decorated the tree with all the ornaments that we boys grew up with. Christmas ornaments are special. I look forward to reminiscing and to the down-time.

all the pretty Circumstance

My younger brother, Matthew, forwarded this YouTube link to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM

It's really entertaining for those who consider themselves musically-minded. This guy's commentary is dead on. And his thoughts about the cello are my thoughts about playing trombone and about singing bass, for that matter.

In Pachelbel's Canon in D, the cellos have the same eight quarter notes over and over again. Same story for us trombones in the ever-popular graduation song Pomp and Circumstance. We have the same repeated quarter notes throughout the whole piece, and if you've ever played at a graduation, it's about 20 minutes of continuous Pomp ("pomp, pomp, pomp, pomp"). It's a shame that the woodwinds and strings get to play all the pretty Circumstance. Someday, we'll have our moment!