Last night we had our first rehearsal with the strings for the concert coming up on Sunday. We’ll have our first rehearsal with the brass and percussion on Sunday and just hope it goes well.

It went pretty well with the strings. Choral singers at the first instrumental rehearsal spend a lot of time standing around like cattle. See, we’ll sing four bars and then stop while the conductor fiddles around with the violins, and then we sing the same four bars and wait while he chats about stops with the organ, and then sing eleven bars of something else…

The breaks aren’t long enough for us to go do something, we’re not allowed to talk, and we’re stuffed together on risers like a bunch of vertical sardines. Accordingly, we stare into space a lot. This may be the source of the false yet widespread belief that singers are stupid.

We’re working on, among other things, William Grant Still’s Christmas in the Western World. This arrangement of a bunch of traditional Christmas songs from the Americas was written in 1967 and is hardly ever done. Still was an Arkansas guy and one of the first African Americans to be recognized as a serious composer, and we’re doing the piece largely for its historical importance. However, I like a few of the songs in it.

One is Glad Christmas Bells, a Brrazilian tune with pretty harmonies and a lilting cello line. You might sing this one to yourself as you walk from the parking lot to your office or something. Or you could snatch up the person in the next cubicle and dance around the office to its strains.

Here’s sheet music for an arrangement with tuba.

Here are the words:

Glad Christmas bells, your music tells
The sweet and pleasant story;
How came to earth, in lowly birth,
The Lord of life and glory.

No palace hall its ceiling tall
His kingly head spread over,
There only stood a stable rude
The heavenly Babe to cover.

No raiment gay, as there He lay,
Adorned the infant Stranger;
Poor, humble Child of mother mild,
She laid Him in a manger.

But from afar, a splendid star
The wise men westward turning;
The livelong night saw pure and bright,
Above His birth place burning

Today I have a bunch of meetings. This always fills me with dread, even though I sort of enjoy them once they’re underway. There’s also the matter of unbillable hours. As my business grows and more people call me up and want me to meet with them, I hope to shove it off on my daughters.

Back to work after a long weekend, I want to offer you a sprightly song: “Prepare Ye” by Marc Robinson. You can hear it at that link. We sang it in the second service yesterday with an excellent soloist.

In the first service, we heard a sermon about John the Baptist, which you often do at this time of the year. Why, the pastor asked, do we never have John the Baptist ornaments or a figure of John at the creche in his camel hair robes?

John would have been too young to travel to Bethlehem for the birth of Jesus, of course, but it’s true that we don’t always like to think of John the Baptist at this festive time of year. We want to think of decorations and packages and parties, and there’s John the Baptist, eating bugs and talking like a crazy person.

I was the liturgist, so I had read John’s whole “You brood of vipers!” speech aloud to the congregation just before the sermon. It’s not very festive.

Still, we should think about preparing our hearts for Christ as well as our homes for parties, if we’re Christians. If you’re not a Christian and are still observing Christmas, you might still benefit from observing Advent instead of plunging headlong into festivities. Whether it’s eating simply with your family in order to appreciate the Christmas feast, doing a bit more volunteer work so you can appreciate the gifts, mending fences with family members so you can enjoy holiday visits more, or exercising regularly in order to manage the stress, Advent is an excellent time to add a discipline or to simplify your life.

Today’s song is “Wake, Awake.” If you click on the title, you’ll get a karaoke version with organ and lyrics. This may seem like an odd way to approach a hymn, but it makes some frail sense, because this wonderful Advent hymn is unlikely to be one you burst into while stringing popcorn and cranberries for your Christmas tree.

Philipp Nicolai wrote this in the late 1500s when his parish lost 1300 people to the Black Death, 170 in one week. He thought it might cheer them up. There are lots of translations of this hymn, and crowds of arrangements, including a bunch of wonderful ones by Bach, who put it with some other stuff to make “Sleepers Wake.”

The song is a mass of contradictions. The tune is so lovely that it ought to be one of everyone’s favorite hymns, but honestly not very singable — in fact, some people get confused and lost in it and don’t care to sing it at all. The words are hard for modern people to fathom, since they use the metaphor of bride and groom for Christ and the church. The watchman of the city has seen the bridgroom coming, so he calls to the young women of the town to get their lamps lighted and run to join the wedding party. While the metaphor is used fairly frequently in the Bible, many of us today find it weird enough that we have trouble following the words, too. And yet “Wake, awake the night is flying” or “Wake, a thrilling voice is sounding” or “Wake, O wake, the watchman’s calling” or “Sleepers wake, a voice is calling” — all of those are pretty ways to start a hymn, and the triumphant image of gathering at God’s throne to sing is nice, too.

Most of the kids have gone back to their homes or colleges now, and we have nothing of the Thanksgiving holiday but mess to clean up. We put up our Christmas tree last night, played lots of games, and went to Advent services this morning. This afternoon, we had lunch with the last bits of pie and saw the kids off.

Now we have to clean the house, study, grade papers, and stuff like that.

We don’t feel like it, frankly. #1 son is supposed to be writing a review of The Adventures of Ibn Battuta: A Muslim Traveler of the Fourteenth Century
and a paper about Allen Ginsburg’s Howl . He isn’t in the mood, and doesn’t like or want to read either one of them right now. He should have been doing it but has instead been playing Mario Party and  rock climbing with his siblings.

I’m supposed to be grading papers. I’m not in the mood for that, either.

Actually, #1 daughter has been having to work retail this weekend, while the rest of us lolled around enjoying ourselves, and she hasn’t been in the mood for that, either.

I guess it’s the idea that you’re working while other people are playing that makes it so hard to work on holiday weekends, even when we’ve had many days off and even when we enjoy our work.

I don’t know whether #1 son would be enjoying Ibn Batutta or Allen Ginsburg any more if other people were also back at work than if he were the only one studying in the aftermath of our four day party.

I’ve come back to my computer, in case. I cleaned the kitchen a bit (the before picture is above, but it isn’t quite good enough yet for an “after” picture. I may give up and go back to reading and knitting, though. I have Christmas presents to finish, after all.

Tomorrow is the first day of Advent, and I’ll be singing two anthems (at two different churches), so I’m giving you one of them today: “Comfort, Comfort Ye, My People.” We sing this with a sprightly, lilting rhythm, and I have steel drums playing along in the back of my mind. I have sung this song in many places, but none has ever had steel drums. I live in hope.

Yesterday, #2 daughter and I went up to the shopping center in the Next County to visit #1 daughter, who is managing a store for the Christmas shopping season. I miss her a lot in the business, and she says that we did in fact invoice more when she was working with me, which I guess had been in question. I started my business in 2008 as something to keep body and soul together while job hunting. In 2009, having turned down all the jobs I was offered, I settled into being a freelance web writer. In 2010, having sent out half a dozen 1099s when I was supposed to be working freelance, I admitted to owning a business and started trying to be more businesslike, and also brought #2 daughter on more or less full time for a part of the year. In 2011, we plan to solidify our existence as a business. We’re changing the name, joining the chamber, updating the website, raising prices, stuff like that.

So today we’re holding a business meeting to work out the details of our transition. This meeting will take place at the local bakery as soon as the girls wake up.

Then #1 daughter has to go back to work at the store. She has to deal with difficult workers. This is not her imagination. When we went to visit her, we called first to ask whether she could come to lunch or bring her something. The difficult one answered the phone and we had this conversation:

“Hi. Can I speak with #1 daughter?”
“She’s with a customer. Can I help?”
“No, thanks.”

She described this to #1 daughter as my being rude. She also complains continually about her coworkers and has, in the two weeks they’ve been there, burst into tears at work three times. My total contact with her, counting the phone conversation, added up to about 2.5 minutes, and I could tell she was a whiner before #1 daughter told me so.

The girls and I, as we ate our turkey shepherd’s pie and leftover squash casserole later that evening, took the opportunity to rant a bit about Circles.

Quick: without thinking about it much, pick a shape. Write it down before you read further.

If you chose a circle, you are a friendly, outgoing person. You like to talk and you remember things about people. You feel hurt if people don’t make small talk with you, and you’re good with people.

If you chose a square, you are a competent and organized person. You like rules and systems. You feel upset if people don’t follow the rules and systems, and you’re good with facts.

If you chose the triangle, you’re a natural leader. You like to be in charge and to be the center of attention. You get upset if you’re not allowed to be the leader, and you’re good at getting things done.

If you chose the squiggle, you’re a creative person. You like variety and new ideas. You get upset if people don’t give you credit for your ideas, and you’re good at solving problems and coming up with innovations.

Yeah, totally unscientific.

Anyway, I’m a Squiggle, #1 daughter is a Square, and #2 daughter is a Triangle. We know that we need a Circle, but we also know that as non-Circles, we can find Circles tiring. They want to interact all the time, and they expect you to be friendly all the time, even when you’re working. If they’re bad Circles, they like drama and enjoy having a constantly changing landscape of complex human relationships.

Now, some of our best friends are circles. I can think of several whom I really love and enjoy, and with whom I’ve worked well. But you can’t tell ahead of time, can you?

So we were thinking that we could get two of them, “like gerbils,” as #1 daughter put it, so that they could talk to each other when we were busy with our rules and systems, empire building, or new ideas, as the case might be. That way, we thought, they wouldn’t be hurt by our unfriendliness and emotional unavailability.

#1 daughter’s experience at the store made her think that this might not work. The shifting alliances and excessive closeness followed by fallings out and desires to talk about one another that characterize Circle relationships could, she felt, be even more disruptive to our systems than our having to remember to be friendly.

We’re all going to be relieved when #1 daughter returns to work with the Firm.

We had all the kids for Thanksgiving, and my parents. They’re moving into town today, and have refused our help. They probably don’t feel that they’ve reached the point where they need help, but I’m glad they’ll be closer to us.

We were playing with our new video camera, and completely overlooked the taking of still pictures. We do have a nice movie of everyone playing Carcassonne, a strategy game. We also played Scrabble and Catchphrase, but Carcassonne was probably the hit of the evening.

Today’s song is “We’ll Dress the House,” a 20th century hymn by Alfred Burt. It’s the perfect accompaniment to putting up your Christmas tree, cleaning up after Thanksgiving feasts, or any other holiday preparations you may have in hand.

There’s nothing to stop you singing it happily as you stride around the shopping center, either, if that’s how you like to spend the day after Thanksgiving.

My dentist appointment was put off till today, which meant I was able to get several interviews done for the article I’m writing. I have more today – but also the dental appointment. And choir rehearsal. Mostly, though, I’m spending the day writing.

This is a fun way to spend the day. Pretty much all the successful men I interview for the Successful Man feature articles say, at some point in the interview, “It’s great to be able to get up in the morning and do something I know is important” or “It’s a blessing to be able to get up in the morning and do something I love.” The getting up in the morning part stays the same, though the bits on either side are sometimes different.

These are people who are getting up in the morning to do life saving surgery, or to conduct an orchestra, to organize a charity golf tournament, or to play rock music, or to run a distillery — doesn’t seem to matter what they’re doing. It’s all about that excitement when you get up in the morning and think about your work.

Perhaps, if you don’t feel that way, you should change what you do.

I woke up early this morning with a sense of dread. I have to teach a class and then go to the dentist, and I have two phone interviews scheduled today, plus I have 5,000 words on Outstanding Men due on the 24th and don’t yet have all the phone interviews for them scheduled. In fact, I don’t even have the complete list of Outstanding Men I’m supposed to write about. And I also have a job interview today for which I have to answer five essay questions.

There’s also this website I’m working on, and the designer missed a milestone.

I also had some good ideas in my mind, though. Sometimes you get up with a sense of dread but then things improve.

Yesterday I decorate for Thanksgiving, baked some cookies, worked on #2 son’s Christmas sweater, and made some real progress with the new version of our website. I made plenty of mistakes on the bell piece at the first church and one in the sung anthem at the second church. I got the grocery shopping and the laundry done, but only minor cleaning.

In spite of all this, I did my Wii workout this morning, and the balance board told me that I’ve done 200 tests now. I don’t think they count the “simple test” where you just let it tell you your weight in a scolding tone.

The balance board is kind of bossy in a friendly way, like an elementary school teacher or camp counselor. The trainer, a human cartoon person, is less that way. She confided in me the other day that she hadn’t gotten enough sleep, and sometimes she doesn’t show at all, but sends the male trainer to take her place. She appears to have a life outside of Wii Fit, whereas the balance board, not being human, makes no such pretensions.

Tea, breakfast, and then onward.

Yesterday didn’t turn out as I had planned. I had envisioned  a day spent cleaning house and making things, with a nice long tramp in the lovely fall weather as a break in the day.

Nope.

However, I did make this pretty piece of jewelry. I’ve been in a jewelry-making mood lately, and am using up all my supplies just as though I had lots of jewelry-wearing people on my gift list, which isn’t really true.

I also finished up the front of #2 son’s sweater and started the back. It’s a plain midnight blue sweater all in stockinette, and therefore not interesting to photograph.

This morning I have to play bells at one church and then sing Great is Thy Faithfulness at the other, even though the services are at the same time. This song is traditionally sung with an alto solo by a counter-tenor, but we’re being choral all the way through.

After that it’s possible that I might spend the rest of today cleaning house and making things.

This is attic week at the HGP, and I don’t have an attic (well, I guess there is an attic of some sort, but we don’t use it so I don’t plan to organize it) so I can clean up some of the areas that have gotten themselves messy again. We’re also supposed to be working for an hour a day on our Christmas gifts, and I’m not managing that. I’m also way behind on the Christmas goodie baking. This might be a grand baking marathon year instead of a gradual baking year.

One of the “making things” I’m involved in right now is the question of our new logo. We’re changing our company name to something that can be said easily over the phone, as in “This is #1 daughter from Company Name” and that involves a new logo.

For some reason, I have no trouble making these decisions for other people, but become paralyzed with indecision when it’s my own company involved. It took us months to come up with a new name and I’m still not sure about it. We’ve had about eight variations on the logo from our graphics guy now. I put them all together with the header and hypothetical T-shirts to help us make up our minds among the half of the options that we haven’t yet eliminated.

The one at the very bottom is the current frontrunner, just on the basis of votes, but I am hesitant to give up the ones that maintain a similarity to my current design. Not sure why. I just like it a lot. The one at the bottom has that cute little “hi” in it, though, which looks good on T shirts.

Let me know if you have an opinion on this.

I’m writing the annual Outstanding Men article for a men’s magazine I write for. I write a lot of articles about successful men for this publication, and I enjoy the opportunity to talk with so many interesting people.

They all have much the same things to say about success: do what you’re passionate about, give back to the community, work hard. I’m glad to know the secret of success, of course, but it gets hard to write new stuff about these guys. After a bit, you sort of wish that someone would say that he has become successful by stomping on the necks of the poor and that he did it all for the money.

Not really.

I’m also working on three websites right now: a rock band, a filmmaker, and a security company. I like the variety.

I’m hoping to take a few days off next week.