'Tis the season to be...

This Christmas season has felt different than many in the past. There has been much joy, especially as we've watched Dorothy take it all in! But I've also been a bit reflective at times.

God saw fit to provide us with a new home during this past year, for which we are grateful beyond words. As such, we have arrived at December with somewhat limited finances. We had to simplify (limited gifts, no Christmas baking). Yet, at this time, we find ourselves blessed beyond anything we can even express. We have a beautiful, healthy daughter, and God has made us into a family. We have a lovely new home which exceeds anything we could have asked or imagined from God. We have family and friends we love tremendously and who love us also. We have a church, a faithful local expression of God's family in a nation where we're free to publicly worship the God who created us and redeemed us without fear of persecution. We have an income - Rob has just marked 21 years with Marriott and at this point God has seen fit to keep him employed there. And though it's not extravagant, this income is enough...enough for us to put gas in our car, to buy groceries for our family, to allow me to stay home with Dorothy full time, to go out on some dates, and to pay a babysitter. I could go on and on.

So...this Christmas has been a time where I've sought to cultivate more gratefulness for the many ways God has provided for us instead of focusing on what we "don't have" or "can't afford".

At the same time I've also been sobered this season by the awareness of those around me who have suffered unimaginable losses this year, and how Christmas for them can be a painful reminder of people who are no longer with them, and a time when even the simplest tasks of wrapping a gift or addressing their Christmas cards have probably been difficult for them to even want to do. My heart breaks for these friends and I pray that they will depend on God more than ever and see that he really is sufficient for their every need.

As I think about these friends and others who are suffering, it inclines me more to focus on what Christmas is really about, without the many competing ideas of what we can tend to make it all about. It is not about gifts or decorations or cookies. It's not even primarily about spending time with family and friends (although it's a wonderful blessing to do so, and helps make the season one that we anticipate even more). But really it's about celebrating the Incarnation - the fact that, at a specific moment in history, the eternal God took to himself a human nature, became flesh and dwelt among us in order that he could provide the salvation of many, and in order that he could most fully provide his people with grace in their time of need.

I think for me, this season has been one where I've reflected on these truths even more than ever before. And I hope each of you reading this will take time to reflect on them as well, so that your joy in this season may be its most complete.

Though this post is already long, I will leave you with the lyrics from my favorite Christmas hymn, "What Child Is This?" written by William Chatterton Dix.

What Child is this who, laid to rest
On Mary’s lap, is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet
While shepherds watch are keeping?
This, this is Christ the King,
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing;
Haste, haste, to bring Him laud,
The Babe, the Son of Mary!

Why lies He in such mean estate
Where ox and ass are feeding?
Good Christian, fear, for sinners here
The silent Word is pleading.
Nails, spear shall pierce him through,
The Cross be borne for me, for you;
Hail, hail the Word made flesh,
The Babe, the Son of Mary!

So bring Him incense, gold and myrrh;
Come peasant, king to own Him.
The King of kings salvation brings;
Let loving hearts enthrone Him.
Raise, raise, the song on high,
The virgin sings her lullaby;
Joy, joy, for Christ is born,
The Babe, the Son of Mary!

Merry Christmas!

Tagged

This is the first time I have ever been "Tagged" by a friend who also keeps a blog. So I don't know if I'm doing it right, but here goes. I was asked by Debbie to post the 5th photo from my 5th folder and comment on it. Here it is! It's a photo of my dear husband from when we were in California celebrating our 1-year anniversary. This one was in front of the Ravenswood winery in the Sonoma Valley where we tasted some excellent wines! It's kind of fitting, because we just celebrated our 4-year anniversary a few weeks ago, and as part of our celebration we opened our priciest bottle of wine that we had purchased on this day, at this winery. Sweetie, I'm so grateful for you!! Thank you for being a wonderful, caring husband and such a devoted father.

So, now I'm supposed to tag 5 more friends. But I don't actually know too many friends who keep blogs, just a few. So, I'm tagging Stacy, Tara, Jon's Michelle, Maria K., and Jonalee. This should be fun. I'll have to send them emails since I don't think anyone except my family checks in on my blog, so none of these girls will ever know they've been tagged unless I tell them.

[...the sound of crickets...]

More of Thanksgiving

Dorothy made this feather headdress in preschool as part of the Thanksgiving lesson. She loved wearing it, and I thought the photos were really cute, so I couldn't move on from Thanksgiving without posting at least one of them. OK, three of them.

Thanksgiving

On Thanksgiving Day we went to my mom's and celebrated with a yummy feast of turkey and all the best side dishes. Since my mom had recently been in the hospital, she decided to order all the food from Boston Market, but it was really good. I highly recommend it for anyone who isn't able to cook for whatever reason but still wants to entertain. (My Nanny also did this last year because the kitchen in her apartment is more like a closet, but she really wanted to host everyone at her place. God bless her!)

Anyway, my mom was determined to serve everything from real serving dishes, and eat at the dining room table with china, crystal, and silver. So, you would never have known that the food had been ordered from someplace if you had stumbled upon our gathering. Of course, if you HAD stumbled upon our gathering, we probably would have offered you a place to sit - but we didn't have one. My mom's dining room table was full. My mom's husband Charlie and Nanny's companion John were even warned about the "overhang" at their respective ends of the table - where the table pad underneath the tablecloth extended about 6 inches past the end of the actual table - so they were under strict instructions not to put their elbows on the table or there'd be a disaster. Funny enough, both Charlie and John heard the word "overhang" and thought it was a comment on their bellies - but this was BEFORE we ate. Ha ha!

But, I digress. Here are some pictures from the day:

Dorothy wore her black velvet dress with red cherries all over it. It is from Gymboree but I bought it at a consignment store and it was like new. There was no question of what dress Dorothy would wear to my mom's - cherries are special in my family, since Cherry is my mother's maiden name.

These photos were taken after we'd put on her second pair of tights because about 10 minutes after making her entrance, she stepped into the dog's water bowl while wearing the first pair. I mention this because the first pair of tights were white with a cherry print that matched the dress.



Here is a close-up of the dress.






Hey! It's my beautiful cousin Shannon. She is 16 and a junior already at John Carroll, the same high school that I went to. She is a smart, multi-talented, and very sweet young lady. I'm so proud of her...can you tell?


My mom and Aunt Jackie looking at some recent pictures of Shannon from her Homecoming dance. Aunt Jackie saves everything from Shannon's high school in an album (photos, correspondence from faculty, programs from school assemblies, you name it), just like my mom did when I was in high school. Someday Shannon will probably be buying a piece of furniture just to house all of these albums!

My brother Shawn, Dorothy, my mom, and Nanny (my grandmother and Dorothy's great-grandmother). The green fuzzy hat was something Nanny brought for Dorothy and she couldn't get enough of it.

This picture cracks me up - Dorothy looking at the Doorbusters ads with Uncle Shawn.

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Then, on Saturday, we were planning on hosting my whole family (including some who were not able to be at my mom's on Thursday.) Sadly, everyone either cancelled or got sick - so Rob and I were cooking an 18-pound turkey and all the trimmings, and as of Saturday morning it became clear that no one was coming to help us eat it except Rob's cousin Kristin, Peter, and Porter. So, we started making phone calls to our friends! Thankfully, our good friends Paul and Sandra were able to join us with little Anna, who is 1 month younger than Dorothy and one of her preschool and playgroup buddies. I didn't take any pictures, but we had a wonderful time and the food was SPEC. TAC. U. LAR. I mean, wow. God gave me a husband with some serious culinary skills, y'all. (And training, of course). We are still eating the leftovers and I'm still going "mmmmhhh" with every bite - even days later.

Kristin and Peter, Paul and Sandra, thank you so much for coming over and sharing our Thanksgiving feast with us. We really enjoyed spending the time with you!

Jumping In the Leaves

This past weekend, Dorothy got to jump in a big pile of leaves. Before Rob cleared the last ones away, I had asked him to reserve a pile for her to be able to enjoy this experience, which I hope might become an annual tradition.

At first she wasn't quite sure what to do besides pick up big armfuls of the leaves and throw them up in the air - which she found delightful. But it wasn't long at all before she was crawling into the leaves, standing in them up to her shoulders, laying down in the leaves and covering all but her face, and crawling through them face-down. This was all SO much fun for her that even at the end when she stumbled out of the pile and took a tumble down the hill, face first, getting a mouthful of dirt - she still wanted to go back and play some more.