Look What Santa Left Under (well, next to) Our Tree!!

I'm thankful that today, for the first time in over ten years, I live with a piano. I almost got a piano from Freecycle a few times, but for various reasons it never worked out. And now, thanks to the TA Union (I never thought I'd have good things to say about them--but for now I love them!), we have one of our very own. And it doesn't have to be tuned. And it's (relatively) easy to move. And I can turn down the volume and play at night after Scout is gone to bed.

Technically, this is Virginia's Christmas present. She's a lot of the reason we felt it was time to own a piano. But, since she can't fully appreciate it yet, I'm going to be taking care of it for her for a while. And of course, we felt good about getting it out before Christmas because she has no concept of such things anyway, and I did need to practice for the musical number I'm accompanying tomorrow.

I've been looking at pianos longingly for quite a long time. I try to play whenever I can. I pack a pile of music with me whenever we visit family with a piano. And every time we've stayed in a place where I could play one, I've felt like I was stealing a dance with someone else's boyfriend, wondering when the next opportunity would come along. But this baby's here to stay! I did jump up and down and clap my hands like a little girl for several minutes when James pulled out the keyboard portion. I can't believe it's really mine...I mean ours...I mean Virginia's. I spent a few hours this evening making sure it feels sufficiently welcome.