We practiced for 4 months! We sang and sang and sang the same songs over and over again! Then the big night came... our Christmas play "I'll Be Home For Christmas". The drama was excellent... The choir was perfect... The costumes were stylish and well thought out... Then it was over! All that hard work and sweat had come to an abrubt stop. It was a little sad, but it's like all other things in life. All things, good or bad, have to come to an end.
We started our Christmas shopping as early as finances would allow. We anticipated the Holiday coming with excitement and awesomeness of the Season. We visited the Big Christmas Village in Ogden... Just to come to the big day on December 25th. Then it was all over, and we were left with empty boxes and a feeling of weariness. We had made such big plans...
As we close out 1997, and go into another year with our Lord, I would like to say that this year has been good to me and my family. We have seen the close of many chapters in our lives, but other doors and windows have been opened. God is leading us into other areas and places... and we are trying to be obedient and follow wherever he leads.
1998 will be the Best Year yet! I have decided that I will not look back at dissappointments or dreams, unfullfilled.. but I will look forward to all the good things I know God will do and is doing in my life. I praise Him for 1997 and I thank Him for what He has for us in 1998. Now, thats a reason to celebrate.
Portuguese explorer Goncalo Coelho entered Guanabara Bay, on the Atlantic coast of South America, on this date in 1502. Believing it was a river mouth, he named it Rio de Janeiro, "River of January."
The first regularly scheduled air passenger flight took place on this date in 1914, when a seaplane traveled 22 miles (35 kilometers) from Tampa to St. Petersburg, Fla. For four months this service offered two flights a day.
The Cotton Bowl parade in Dallas, Tex., and the Tournament of Roses parade in Pasadena, Calif., are held each year on this day. The parades precede New Year's Day college football bowl games.
United States President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on this date in 1863. The proclamation freed the slaves in the states that were fighting against the Union during the American Civil War. It did not apply to the border states, which were not in rebellion.
On this date in 1993 Czechoslovakia split into two new political states: the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Czech Republic, comprising of the traditional regions of Bohemia and Moravia, was the larger and more prosperous of the two.
The first discovery of an asteroid, or tiny planet, was made on this date in 1801 by the Italian astronomer Giuseppi Piazzi. About 3,500 asteroids have been cataloged, and more are discovered each year.
BIRTHDAYS!
- Red Allen, U.S. musician, born Jan. 1, 1895.
- Dana Andrews, U.S. actor, born Jan. 1, 1909.
- Xavier Cugat, Spanish bandleader, born Jan. 1, 1900.
- Pierre Samuel Du Pont, III, U.S. business executive, born Jan. 1, 1911.
- William Fox, U.S. founder of Twentieth-Century Fox, born Jan. 1, 1879.
- Hank Greenberg, U.S. baseball player, born Jan. 1, 1911.
- Fritz Hollings, U.S. politician, born Jan. 1, 1922.
- J. Edgar Hoover, U.S. government official, born Jan. 1, 1895.
- Milt Jackson, U.S. musician, born Jan. 1, 1923.
- Frank Langella, U.S. actor, born Jan. 1, 1940.
- Terry Moore, U.S. actress, wife of Howard Hughes, born Jan. 1, 1932.
- Don Novello, U.S. comedian known as Father Guido Sarducci, born Jan. 1, 1943.
- Michael J. Owens, U.S. inventor of automatic bottle-making machine, born Jan. 1, 1859.
- Paul Revere, American Revolutionary War leader, born Jan. 1, 1735.
- Betsy Ross, American patriot who sewed first stars-and-stripes flag, born Jan. 1, 1752.
- J.D. Salinger, U.S. writer, born Jan. 1, 1919.
- Alfred Stieglitz, U.S. photographer, born Jan. 1, 1864.
- "Mad" Anthony Wayne, American Revolutionary general, born Jan. 1, 1745.
- Frederick Wiseman, U.S. filmmaker, born Jan. 1, 1930.