MIRACLE

Merry Christmas Everyone!

We are finally done with this year's song. Alan literally pulled an all-nighter on Christmas Eve mixing and tweaking the final touches.

As part of a long list of firsts we had the distinct pleasure of using electric guitar and working with another musician, Brandon Durr. He was kind enough to come over on amazingly short notice and cranked out some sweet tunes at around 10pm Christmas Eve. The addition of his playing added a unique and wonderful feel to the song that Alan says he could never have done on his own.

The theme this year is miracles. You will need to unzip the song (sorry, its a hosting limitation) after downloading. Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

MIRACLE

Words and music by Alan Lindsay
Electric Guitar - Brandon Durr
Vocals - Cristi and Alan Lindsay

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE SONG:
https://share.acrobat.com/adc/document.do?docid=62dae6a8-51c9-4902-8d0d-4015b1b6214f


Technical Details:

For those who are interested in some of the tech stuff here is a list of what I used in the song:

- hp pavilion dv7000 laptop (3GB RAM, core 2 duo 2.4 Ghz, vista)
- Seagate FreeAgentGo external usb harddrive
- M-Audio FastTrack Pro
- Adobe Audition 3
- Ableton Live Lite 7
- EZDrummer VST
- Roland Fantom X8
- Audio Technica AT4040 microphone
- Audio Technica ATH-M50 studio headphones

CHRISTMAS DAY!

Merry Christmas! Christmas finally came! We had our usual Christmas morning: we opened presents and ate CHOCOLATE for BREAKFAST. Aunt Dearra sent the girls some SUPER CUTE dress up clothes.


Santa brought the girls a TRAMPOLINE but because it was RAINING and he was running LATE on Christmas Eve, he wasn't able to finish setting it up! Thankfully daddy and Uncle Travis were able to finish on Christmas day.



Auntie Carli is just a teensy tiny bit obsessed with the TWILIGHT series so she was just a teeny weeny bit excited to get the books and the soundtrack for Christmas. Santa had to wrap all her presents in the "NO PEEKING" wrapping paper-- Let's just say she has a past.

CHRISTMAS EVE

Emma and I made cookies for Santa and the Elves on Christmas Eve. I might be on the naughty list for next year, but I'm a simple kind of a gal, so we used a ready-to-bake cookie dough tube. There were a couple cookies that turned out funky because Emma insisted on putting marshmallows on them before we baked them, but we continually reassured each other that Santa would be grateful for any cookie.

The girls could not wait to put the cookies and milk out by the fire place. You can see that Brooke was more of a taste tester than a baker. Emma also made me draw pictures of Santa and the Elves that I taped onto each milk jar so that they would know who's was who's. (I will spare you the drawings because they were pretty pathetic).
We also read the Christmas story out of the book of Luke and I got a little choked up and teary-eyed. Words cannot express my gratitude for my Savior and the miracle of His birth.

JACK FROST

Christmas here in Northern California is always green, not white. But last night it got pretty cold for these parts and when we woke up we looked out the window and I told the girls Jack Frost had come!

Emma asked what Jack Frost looks like so we googled him:

Then she said, "No, I want to see his REAL skin." I guess a cartoon drawing isn't good enough. I mean, what's a mother to do when not even an immediate successful internet search will satisfy? I remember the good old days when you had to use your IMAGINATION or check out a book at the library. . . kids these days.

Full day or half day? That is the question.

I need some advice from all you Super Parents out there. Emma is starting preschool in the Fall and the school boundary we live in has a kindergarten program that is 6 hours and 15 minutes, 5 days a week. Is that a little long for 5 year olds, or is it just me? Right now she goes to preschool only 3 days a week for 3 hours. Isn't that a big jump? I've been reading up on it and the reason they started having longer kindergarten days is for single and/or working parents and for children who are at risk or speak English as a second language. None of these apply to us, so I am hesitant to have her go there. I stay home for a reason; I want my kids to be home with me as much as possible. There are 2 other schools in our district where kinders only go for 3 1/2 to 4 hours. I'm going to try to transfer to one of those, even though it means a longer drive. But if we don't get in, should I have her go to the 6 hour kindergarten? I'm sure she would adjust, and at least she'd be watching less TV, right?

Dad's Firefighter Pancake Breakfast

Last Saturday we went to the San Rafael Fire Fighter's Breakfast with Santa.
The kids had a blast! (Except Tyler was a little upset with Emma in this picture).

The line to see Santa was so long that Tyler started scratching Emma's back. I guess he wasn't upset with her anymore!

Gingerbread Mania!

Auntie G, Mom, Grams, Me, Emma.
5 Ladies. 1 Mission:
to create respectable Gingerbread houses.
Some were sloppier than others (cough cough -- mine).
But I think we completed our mission.

Matching Aprons!

Yummyyy!!!

Christmas Composing

Because Alan and I have been starving students most of our marriage, we've started the tradition of giving our families a CD for Christmas of a new song we've written (or mostly Alan has written), and we both do the vocals. I'm so glad Alan and I share this hobby.

Because of this crazy economy, Alan recently lost his job. But one positive is that he's had more time to work on this year's song. And thank goodness for living with parents and having student loans! ;)

Cute Rudolphs!

Petaluma 1st Ward Christmas Party

Emma was too nervous to see Santa so she took a picture with one of the elves instead and she decided we will send him a letter in the mail!

Brooke wasn't afraid at all! She's usually a little more shy, too!

Pronzini's Christmas Trees

We got our tree from Pronzini's in Petaluma this year.

Emma and Brooke had a blast running around in the trees.

Fun Times!

A bunch of us from the Burdette side of the family went to the movies Thanksgiving weekend and we had some time to kill before it started.
Scary Much?

Nice.

Rachel is riding in the shopping cart as Aunt Nicole pushed it down the street.

Benson and Rachel are slick.

Aunt Nicole, Rach, Me.

Emma's New Do

Emma got a stylish new A-line cut on Saturday. It's so much better this way because she gets less tangles, not to mention how cute she looks!

Christmas Past

1988

I found these old Conover Christmas Pics!

This one is from 1989 I think:

1990:

Chris Sligh

Do you remember Chris Sligh from American Idol Season 6? He's now a Christian artist and recently came out with an amazing song called "Empty Me." It's about asking the Lord to empty us of all our selfishness and pride so we can be filled with Him. Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrvSnQ77Mvc&feature=related

Emma's Pie Party

On Thursday Emma had a Preschool Pumpkin Pie Party. (How's that for alliteration?) She thinks now that she's had that party, Thanksgiving is over, so we should be getting ready for Christmas! Come on mommy, get with it! :) The kids helped make the pie and it was really good.

Brooke and I got to come to their party, too. The girl in the pink is Emma's friend Nina. They apparently play a game called "sparkle sisters" at school. They are the only two girls in the class so they have to stick together!

Christmas Idea for Girls

This is one of the best toys we've ever had for the girls. It's the Fisher Price "Snap n Style." This one is called Nadia but they have tons of others. It's so easy even Brooke can snap the clothes on and she's only 2. This is a great alternative to Polly Pocket, which is cute, but really hard for children to put the clothing on the dolls. The shoes and accessories are also bigger which means harder to choke on and harder to lose. I LOVE this toy! If you need any ideas for what to get a young girl for Christmas, consider this! http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=2182&e=product&pid=42919