But the Greatest Gift of All Was Him

It's been a crazy few days (so much for posting every day...not that I had anything to say anyway), but it's finally a relaxing day here in the house with everyone around and no extras. It's been really great having my grandparents here but it's nice to have the dog not jumping all over them begging for attention only to be ignored. We'll see them again tomorrow though, so it's all gravy from my standpoint.

But today is Christmas day, so I'll keep my promise to tell you what I received this morning from my family. And since it seems to be popular, I'll depict it with visual aids.

In increasing order of importance:

Cash: Lots of it. Which is really a great thing for a broke college kid.

iTunes Gift Card: This is fantastic because I wear songs out really fast once they're downloaded.

Sequin Fedora:   Now I can quit stealing from the boys during rehearsal (which kinda takes the fun out of it...but I still look stylish).

Facing the Giants:  This movie is fantastic. You'll laugh; you'll cry. I'm excited to finally have a new movie, although I've been craving a Moulin Rouge viewing if anyone cares to join in.

Portable Bottle of Burberry Brit: My favorite brand; my favorite scent. It's all wrapped into a tiny little bottle that can be stored in my purse (of the same brand) and used when I forget to spray before I leave home, or if I'm out and about and get really smelly and need to freshen up. Mom's been talking about getting a little bottle for years (I've gone through several full size bottles of this particular scent over the years as well).

Disney Sing It Family Hits: The game we didn't know existed that we spoke into existence, apparently. Now when we get back to school we're totally having a karaoke party!

Padfolio: This isn't the exact one, but you get the general idea. Now once I get a business suit that I'll be shopping for next week and a pair of black pumps that are appropriate for the job hunt, I'll look incredibly professional when I wander around.

Food Chopper: This is incredibly exciting because I can now chop onions in approximately half a minute instead of chopping for half an hour by hand. I can't wait to try this thing out.

Foot Massager: I'm for real about to try this thing out in a while. Now after a long performance that I've stood through in heels I can go home, fill this thing up, and relax. Now if C would get my foot cream back, I'd be in good shape.

Lastly, and most excitingly
BILLY ELLIOT TICKETS:    I. CAN. NOT. WAIT. FOR. THIS. SHOW. I watched the trailer earlier when I was making sure this was a Broadway Across America show and figuring out where the seats were in the auditorium, and I was tearing up and getting chills. I just hope S doesn't freak out if I start bawling during Angry Dance and Electricity during the show (similar to my reactions during Defying Gravity at Wicked this past summer).

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas as well, and that you never forget that the reason we even give gifts for this holiday is because we were given the ultimate gift when Christ was born.

Witticism of the Day: Just in case no one informed you at that candlelight service you were at last night, the candles represent the light of Christ that should be shared with the world and not hidden and kept to yourself.

These Are a Few of my Favorite Things

As we approach Christmas, we also approach the end of the year. I thought I would begin my reflections of the year early in order to make sure I get everything in. There were so many exciting things that happened this year, but I only have space for a few. Here we go.

Favorite Location of 2010:



Highlight of 2010:



Favorite New Addition of 2010:



Favorite Pair of Shoes of 2010:

To be continued.

Witticism of the Day: The holidays are for catching up with the people who move away from you.

And the Award Goes To...

Tonight L and I drove around for our annual Christmas light viewing party. We saw a few things we liked, but mostly we just saw atrocity. Here's how you can avoid being criticized by people like us.

1. NEVER mix LED light strands into your decor with regular lights. It ruins the entire yard. That being said, if you live in one of those neighborhoods where they require you to put out lights lining your driveway and the sidewalk and the rest of the neighborhood used regular lights, don't be the one to put out LED strands instead. It ruins the entire neighborhood which is completely uncool.
2. If you live in a neighborhood that puts out arches, be a team player and put your arches up. It brings unity to the neighborhood and brings cheer to all who pass through. Also, don't try to be different with your arch (i.e., if the rest of the neighborhood has an alternating red/white pattern with their arches, don't put up LED or multicolor arches).
3. Make sure the lights you put up are proportional to the size of your home and yard. If you have a massive home and put out one little decoration, it really makes you look lazy. If you can't afford to do this, don't put up decorations at all.
4. NEVER put up more than one theme for your yard. If you want to be commercial and put Santa out, then leave it with a Santa/reindeer/elf theme (except for those cute cutouts of Santa kneeling at the manger because those are incredible to see); if you want a Peanuts theme, don't mix it in with Disney characters. Having seventeen Santas, snowmen, Disney characters, and nativity scenes in your yard all at once is trashy.
5. Above all, keep in mind that Jesus is the reason we celebrate Christmas, so keep the decorations tasteful.

Keep in mind, sometimes the most beautiful homes are the ones decorated all in white lights. Sometimes, they're more beautiful with multicolor lights.

Favorite Decoration of the Year: This year's choice is the same as last year's - the strands of lights that hang down in one straight line from the tallest branch of a tree. I have no idea how people get them up there (or more importantly down), but it looks really cool if done properly.

Witticism of the Day: Never send your junior high school child out into the freezing night air to play Christmas tunes on their trumpet. It's festive, indeed, but it makes passerby want to call Child Protective Services on you.

Vacation

I'm finally done, and now it's time to relax (but hopefully I get to work tomorrow at least some so I can have some money). In honor of this occasion, I'll be describing my plans for the break in this post. My goal is to post every day if possible just to see if it's possible that I have anything interesting to say.

• Post Daily
• Drive around town and look at Christmas lights. By this, I mean L and I will drive around town and act as though we're judging the lights displayed, discussing the best new addition to the scene this year, the worst new addition to the scene this year, the best display we pass, and the busiest display we pass (although it's usually the same house ever year...I mean, do you really need seven nativity scenes, fourteen santas, Winnie the Pooh characters, the Peanuts characters, angels, and lights around every tree in your yard?)
• Search for a job! Priority #1, btw.
• Strive to reach my goal of wearing an old dress to what I'm referring to as "college prom" in the spring by visiting the friendly neighborhood YMCA daily and attempting to not eat too much.
• Hold potluck dinners: We learned last Christmas that this is a fantastic way to hang out with friends without spending all our money (like when we visit our friendly neighborhood sbux daily just to have something to do).
• Go to the park with my bestie like we used to back in the day (awww)
• Work out a song to sing before everyone scatters again
• Visit the new outlets (and not purchase anything...as if it's possible)
• Force E to go dance with me at a monthly dance party somewhere
• Force A to hang out with me (it's been a year bubba)
• Learn SAS!! Priority #2
• Visit the zoo a few times: Mom announced this evening that we have an annual membership to the zoo!
• See a movie on Christmas day that doesn't make me bawl (thank you Marley and Me for ruining last year)

We'll see how successful I am at these things. I'll keep you posted.

Witticism of the Day: Blinkers are our friends; use them. Seatbelts are our friends as well; most definitely use them.

Let's Do This

Tonight's post is short on account of finals.


Today was splendid, despite having to study through most of it. It really is the little moments that count. I spent a lot of today around a wonderful group of people who I very rarely get to hang out with, so it was quite a treat. It just goes to show that not only do our voices blend well together, but our personalities do as well. Despite the many moments of the day that made me smile, including lunch with my family, I have to say tonight took the cake.


It wasn't just the pancakes in the middle of the night, or even coming home smelling of bacon and maple syrup. The highlight of my day, and likely my week, was walking into the house just in time to bless the food by singing Doxology together. It gave me supreme chills.

I hope you find a moment this week to make you feel the same. There's really nothing like praising the Lord in any way He has blessed you to do so.


Witticism of the Day: It's a stressful time for all of us no matter what our circumstances. Make sure to take a few minutes of your day to devote to taking a breath and reflecting on all the blessings in your life, however small they may seem.

Later...

It's that time again, boys and girls. We're all going crazy studying for our finals/taking our finals. This also brings on that which goes hand-in-hand with studying, procrastination. I will now investigate the forms of procrastination.

Anti-productive Forms:

• Facebook: We all know it's inevitable and all too simple to check obsessively.
• Likealittle: This handy tool came just in time for finals procrastination.
• Blogging: Oops.
• Watching television: While excellent for taking a break once in a while, watching all day causes supreme lack of productivity.
• Shopping: You can claim it's for supplies, but we all know that the survival kits and goody bags provided through various outlets supply this for us and that if you go shopping it's just to waste time. If it's Christmas shopping, you should do this once you finish all your finals or go to ONE store and take care of what you can there intermittently.
• Parties and other assorted gatherings: These are acceptable as long as you do not attend for an extended length of time, but it's much too tempting to remain where the fun is, so I recommend not attending at all. You can get all your socializing in at the beginning of next semester.
• Intramurals: Sorry boys.

Productive Forms:

• Quick Errands: This includes grocery shopping, haircuts, doctor check-ups (waiting rooms allow for some studying to be done), truly shopping for supplies (assuming the goody bags failed to include necessities), etc.
• Cleaning: If you're like me, your room must be completely in order before you can begin to be productive. Make sure you don't turn this into scrubbing down every surface just to waste time.
• Exercising: This will wake you up, get your blood flowing, and fully prepare you to get down to business. Plus, it helps you work off that food you ate when you went to lunch so you could see that friend just one more time before the break.
• Meetings: As long as these don't turn into social hours, you're all good.

Remember, if you're in doubt, it's probably not productive. Also, make sure your study groups don't turn into social hour as well. Productive studies everyone!

Witticism of the Day: Dressing WAY up and staying in is much more fun than getting super dressy and going in public.

Did You Know?

This time every year I start listening to way too much Christmas music (although, can we really listen to too much considering it's worship?) which always gets my gears in motion. This morning began my annual thought cycle on Mary (you know...she gave birth to Jesus). I thought I'd share these thoughts will all of you lovely people.

It's so hard for me to wrap my brain around what it must have been like for her. I try to put myself in her shoes: I'm a sixteen year old girl and an angel appears to meand tells me I'm having a baby and I'm like, "...but I'm a virgin?" and then the angel tells me it's GOD's son?! I'm thinking I'm going to wake up in a hot sweat and pace around the room for several hours. Then I'm going to go back to sleep for a short time and then wake up and think it was just a dream. That is, until my betrothed comes over and tells me he had a similar dream. Then I think it's just a weird coincidence. Then I get morning sickness...that's when I really freak out.

Then all my friends start disowning me because I'm an unwed woman having a baby (I do not condone this behavior in this day and age anyway) and no one but my betrothed, who is fantastic and weds me to save me from as much judgement, believes what's really happening. I feel like at this point I would start having some shaky faith in what the Lord is trying to do through me which is why I'm always in complete awe of Mary.

I always wonder though, did she ever doubt? Did she ever just crawl in a corner alone and bawl her eyes out? Or was she really the woman of faith we know her as? I like to think she had a handle on the situation and rode into Bethlehem with her head held high and her heart bursting at the seams at the joy that was to come. At the same time, I still don't think she knew the extent of what was to come. This is why all the Christmas songs about Mary are my favorite.

I hope this has provoked your thought process. I'll probably continue to have Christmas themed blogs for a while, so get used to it : )

Witticism of the Day: Getting fancy for no reason is one of the greatest joys in life.

Classtastic

This post is dual-faceted. I had a topic in mind and was completely rearing to type it up and then before I could make it home to dump here I came up with something else. Fortunately for you (or unfortunately, depending if you came to this site of your own free will or if someone forced you to in which case I sympathize with you, deeply) I'm going to spill both my magic lists of the day.

List 1

Reasons I belong in high society:

1. Ballroom dance is my favorite hobby.
2. I must attend live theater on a regular basis.
3. I'd rather have wine than unclassy beverages.
4. I loooooove organizing events.
5. I'm more comfortable in a formal gown than jeans.
6. I have charishma (...I think).
7. Being classy is my real favorite hobby.
8. I prefer my men in tuxedos.
9. I belong on the Upper East Side.
10. We all know high society could use a little dose of my charm.

You know it's true.

List 2

Current Goals for the Future:

• Be in Paris for every French holiday once I can afford the incredible expense travelling to a country using the Euro can be and once this whole body scanner drama dies down.

Yeah...that's pretty much it. I just thought it would be more exciting in list format. Doesn't the bullet just accent how important it is? Don't answer that; of course it does.

Witticism of the Day: Coping mechanisms should be as diverse as the situations in which they must be deployed. Ultimately, however, you have to come to terms with whatever it is you're coping with.