the Season

I would like to share my thoughts on Christmas, "the holidays", and anything else that comes to mind. Some are deep, some not so much.

- I think I may addicted to sugar. Like, I am totally fine with eating cookies for lunch or dinner or both. This doesn't normally happen during the other 11 months.

- It bothers me when we (and by "we" I mean people) refer to giving gifts or getting present as "christmas". For example, "our church is helping to provide christmas for those who won't have one." I kinda thought that Christmas had already been provided a long time ago. A news station in our town holds a "Christmas is for Kids" campaign every year. That bothers me. I am all for giving (and getting) gifts. I actually think in some ways it is a way to celebrate and worship Jesus. I am even good with Santa (more on that in a bit). However, something doesn't sit right in me when the act of giving "christmas" is what Christmas is all about.

- I have begun to love cooking. This has been a new thing over the course of about 2 months. In fact, I really really want to get fancy cooking stuff and even take a cooking class.

- Santa. It has been an on-again, off-again discussion between Paul and I regarding what to do about Santa. We are giving Jonas a "Santa" gift this year and will probably continue to do so. But, we are still undecided on how to balance the fun of Santa with the truth of Jesus.

- We hosted a Holiday Open House/Housewarming Party a few weekends ago. It was sooo much fun. It was a blast to have our dear friends in our new home, some for the first time. It was fun partnering with Paul on decorating and cleaning and cooking for the party. It was fun to get out all of our Christmas decorations and find a new place for them in our new home. I love how it turned out.

- We have been conversing about family values for about a year now. The other night we saw The Blind Side. That movie made me think, and I am not quite ready to write my thoughts on it. But, one of the values we have is to be relationally open (see previous thought)...that is why we had so much with the open house.

- Jonas has been so much fun lately.

- We are finished with our Christmas "preparations". Done with shopping. Done with wrapping. Done with shipping. Now, we are just enjoying the season. I've been baking some, which is more fun than a chore. We've played some board games in the last few nights. We've sat and enjoyed hot chocolate and a good TV show. After such a whirlwind August - November, where we had about 2 weekends that didn't have "to-dos" on the calendar, we are enjoying Christmas.

And now for some pictures.


decorating our home...




open house spread

the little lollipop looking things are actually cake pops...so fun and so yummy!

snowing at the Maney's