Sorry no photos

Just in case anyone was hoping for something more interesting, I'm typing from school today so I don't have access to my pictures. Anyhow, trying to keep ahead of the game here, so I thought I'd send out a little update before I'm off on my big trip home for Christmas.
This week I'm busy trying to wrap up presents and decide what all to take with me on said holiday. It's hard to decide if it's best to try shipping gifts, or just sending them from the US where it might be a bit cheaper. So difficult. I was hoping to get a hair cut in before the big wedding on Sunday, but I'm afraid that's not going to happen either. Still, I've got a few days to pull it all together. Fortunately my classes are mostly just Christmas activities this week, so it's not so stressful. I'm never sure how it will go with my Early Birds class tomorrow, if anyone even shows up, but at least the others should all be fairly straightforward. For example, my FCE class gets to take a test on Wednesday. That's enough to put anyone in the Christmas spirit.
I had a great opportunity to perform in a little Advent concert yesterday. After hearing me sing at the end of the year party, my bosses husband asked if I would sing at the Advent service at a little church he bought and renovated over the past couple of years. It's unfortunate that I don't have the pictures today, but I'll be sure to put some up soon. They're pretty dark, but the place was really lovely. During Communism it was used as bike storage, but now it looks quite nice. Small, quaint, and incredibly picturesque with great acoustics. Karina was my accomplished guitarist and we did two songs. It was pretty incredible to be able to see your breath whilst singing, but we somehow managed to stay warm long enough to make it through our "set." Good thing it was only 2 songs. I sang "Hallelujah," made famous by it's appearance on Shrek, but definitely best covered by Jeff Buckley,and "O Come O Come Emmanuel." Karina filled in some harmony and it was all very pleasant, even if she did also accidentally play the second song a whole note higher than we had practiced it. The first "rejoice" was a bit of a stretch, but I kept telling myself she knew where we'd practiced so it must be the right key. I went with it, and managed to pull it off. When she told me of the little mistake I was definitely glad I hadn't known before hand or I might have been more nervous. All in all, it was a lot of fun.
After we were on a group of special needs adults from a home did a little performance. Tonda, my boss's husband, helps out there and has made friends with them, so he asked them to come as well. They did a little dance to "Michael Row Your Boat Ashore" in English, a woman played the recorder, another did a recitation, and then they sang together with a CD. The songs they sang were traditional Czech Christmas songs, so sometimes Mark sang along for me. Great fun.
Two of my students came along as well. There wasn't really any spiritual message or anything, but it was still nice to have them there in the church.
I fly out Saturday morning, so I'm not sure if I'll have a chance to write again, but if not Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Year too! Don't know if I can manage 5 posts for December, but I'll give it a go :)