Monday, December 01, 2008

Monday Melange

Benefit for Sydney Ives...Ugly Sweater time
...and "a lovely way to spend Christmas"

The little girl whose picture you see on the left is 10-year-old Sydney Ives. Sydney has an inoperable brain tumor, and I was privileged to m.c. a benefit concert for her yesterday.


You can read more about Sydney here and at her Caring Bridge site here.


As Sydney sang with her cousins and her beautiful mom, Tasha, I couldn't help but get emotional. Sydney has the most amazing spirit. As her grandfather said at the concert yesterday, she has faith far beyond her years.


Her grandpa told about Tasha reading the message on the Caring Bridge site from a woman who has accepted Christ after following Sydney's story for some time. "See, Mom?" Sydney said triumphantly. "That's why!"


Wow. To value one soul like that...


Anyway, if you're a praying person, do keep Sydney and her family in your prayers.


Two cool items from USA Today Pop Candy:


Ugly sweaters?


Well, it's that time of year again...time to don your ugly sweaters! Most of us have at least one or two ugly sweaters in our past, but who knew there would be a website devoted to them? Here's their mission statement:


"Our sole mission is to quickly & conveniently provide people nationwide with quality ugly sweaters that will end their sweater-searching woes and make them the talk of the party."


Oooh-kay...


And if you've always wanted a beard..


(I can't say that I have), but you can Build a Beard here.


What Christmas music are you enjoying now?




Gotta say, I'm loving Kristin Chenoweth's A Lovely Way to Spend Christmas. It's a nice blend of the spiritual and the secular...from the quietly worshipful "Born on Christmas Day" to vintage perky, funny Kristin on "Christmas Island," with a lot in between...even a cover of the Carpenters' "Sing." You can see the video for "Christmas Island" here.


What's your favorite? Let me know...




5 comments:

Ann-Marie said...

I saw the sweater site on Pop Candy and when I went there, I kept thinking, "That's not so bad." Oh, Cindy! I think I'm a fashion victim! Candice is going to have to give me fashion CPR!

I will definitely pray for Sydney.

My two favorite holiday songs (non-religious) are Sleigh Bell by Karen Carpenter and Happy Holidays by Alabama.

Cindy Swanson said...

Ann-Marie, you gave me a good chuckle! :) BTW, Candice really does have great fashion sense, doesn't she?

I love just about anything by Karen Carpenter. I really should get that Carpenters Christmas CD...Her voice...irreplaceable.

Juliet said...

This year I purchased "Noel" by Josh Groban. Which I am enjoying.

Will be praying for Sydney! It has to be so hard whenever a child has to go thru this.mbica

Randy Spradlin said...

We are all different. I loved Kristin Chenoweth's performance on the West Wing and even liked her first solo CD. However, the Christmas deal and that Broadway stuff left me a little stale. JMHO.

However, Alabama's Christmas offering and Mannheim Steamroller rules the day!

Solameanie said...

Oh, my. You gave me my belly laugh of the day trying to imagine you with a beard!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to the hustings to keen Christmas carols.

Merry Christmas, Cindylou!

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