BABY It's Cold Outside!!!!

UPDATE: Sienna Marin Saddler Schellinger :) was born at 2:15am on Nov. 14, 2010. 6 pounds 10 ounces of sheer perfection!!!

My best friend is currently in labor with her first child!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She is having a baby girl, who will be as thin as a noodle, as smart as a child of two Stanford grads would be, and as beautiful and exotic as Cleopatra. This is going to be one rock star baby. Can you sense my excitement!!??

This baby gets to start from scratch. A new, big and beautiful world is her Oyster. She is entering into the most loving universe a child can have, and I know she will be provided with only the best kinds of support and affection a child could ever need. I am so proud of my friend and her husband, as I could not imagine a more fit couple to supply me with my new favorite toy, and she could not have come at a more appropriate time:

My favorite time of year has officially begun! Yesterday at noon 93.9 WLIT started their month-long holiday music season, playing nothing but inspiring, joyful Christmas music on the radio 24 glorious hours a day, 7 beaming days a week. Upon hearing this music, which can make some people's skin crawl, makes every part of my being feel joyful and lighthearted.

Now, you may be wondering, why is this Jewish girl so obsessed with Christmas? I can tell you where it all began: I was born in Israel, and when my family moved to the US in October of 1989 it was the first time I saw snow. Before I even uttered my first English word I was immediately enrolled in Montessori, a nondenominational school. After a few short weeks the holidays came, and bright eyed and enthusiastic I came home, wrapped my tiny hands around my dad's neck and exclaimed, "Daddy! Daddy! Santa Clause knows my name!!!!!"

Needless to say my parents pulled me out and enrolled me at the Beth Shalom preschool the next day, but it was too late, the Christmas Spirit crept into my Soul and hasn't left since. Clearly it is not the religious aspect of Christmas that I love so much. In large part, it's an indication that Hanukah is quickly approaching and my mom's potato pancakes will soon be sizzling on the stove. That we will light the candles together as a family for eight nights in a row. It means that my birthday is quickly approaching, and that along with New Years I will be able to reflect on the past year and have one more year of wisdom behind me. But most of all, it's the joy, the spirit of giving, the warm smiles everyone bundles under their winter scarfs and hats, the uplifting music and the sparkling lights that make me count down to the day Starbucks starts using it's red cups every year.

Most importantly, it arouses some sort of spiritual connection with my best friends from High School. They live all over the map and have mostly moved away to achieve their dreams, but this time of year never fails to bring us back together. I am one of those rare people that would never want to revisit my college years but would relive high school in a millisecond. Overshadowing the bullying, the mean girls and the broken hearts was my life as a "Theatre Kid," or a "PAL" as my jerk English teacher called us (Performing Arts Loser). I don't care if you were the valedictorian or a 12 sport athlete, being a PAL enriched my life in an unspeakable way I doubt most people can understand. On the surface, I stayed away from the wrong crowds, avoided trouble, got direction through a healthy hobby, and was guided by the most caring and able of mentors. But it goes much deeper than that. It created lifelong bonds, it taught me about human interaction, about caring about others and about being comfortable with myself.

If any of you watch Glee, that is a pretty accurate description of life as a GBN PAL. We got to school at 7:45am and didn't leave until 9 or 10pm, leaving a few hours for homework, sleep, and hopefully a shower. Comedy Troupe, Choir, Show Choir, Theatre, Vocal Lessons, Musicals and lots more activities kept us busy and gave us direction. I played Tennis my freshman year, and I didn't get nearly as much out of that as I did through the performing arts department. But it was the holidays that made the countless hours of hard work worth it. We went everywhere from preschools to country clubs to nursing homes to spread holiday cheer and puts smiles on faces that needed them. We sang "Silent Night" to a woman who was taking her last breaths in the hospital, and sang "Joy to the World" to tables of loving young families. I have repaired houses wrecked from hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, been a counselor at a camp for children with cancer, and visited with HIV infected orphans in South Africa, yet something about singing holiday music brought me just as much or more fulfillment than many things I have done in my life. I needed it just as much as they did, and the reciprocity we shared connected me with my friends and our audiences.

One time we sang at an overcrowded home for adults with mental disabilities. The home was more like a dirty, smelly warehouse in disarray, with one staff person to every 15 or 20 residents. But when we got there you could never tell. They were so excited for us to sing and the joy on their faces was priceless. As we were wrapping up and singing our grand finale, "White Christmas," a very big and tall resident who made consistent eye contact with me throughout the concert sprang into a leap, pulled up his sweatpants and darted at me faster than I could scream "ELF!" He grabbed my leg, tore off my shoe, and started massaging my foot, my calf, my thigh and... well, you get it. I literally fell back onto my friends behind me and to my sides. An experience that could have been quite traumatic only left me with assurance that I was supported by my friends not just physically but emotionally as well. Turns out the guy had a foot fetish and was too big for his small caretaker to restrain. But no worries, the show must go on, and it did as we caroled to our usual exit.

Every year since graduating from high school my friends and I have gotten back together for some song and sentiment. I don't speak to some of them the entire year, and when December rolls around it's as though things have not changed. We have all moved on with our lives and gone to the moon and back for our aspirations, and have all been successful in our own special ways. I am so proud of them and am counting the days to get the gang back together again.

In the mean time, I am eagerly awaiting my new baby-friend to be delivered. Another healthy and happy life entering this world only to make it a better place, particularly around Christmas time.