Christmas Cookie High

Visions of Sugarplums...& Giant Origami?

Joy to the world, the Lord is come. Let earth receive her King. Let every heart prepare Him room, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and heaven and nature sing!

It's the Little Things

When Xee took a five day trip to Phoenix last month I gave him a "quest" of sorts. I told him to bring something back for me. "Something that shows you know me," I told him. You see, for a few years Xee travelled quite a bit and he often came home with little things here and there that he purchased because he was thinkin' about me. They didn't always suit my fancy and they often didn't fit, but he was thinking about me. So when he came home from his trip, unpacked his bag in front of me and there was no indication that anything new had made it's way into his luggage, I wondered.

That night after Phoebe went to bed he pulled out his laptop and told me to listen. He had downloaded a song he heard while driving around in Phoenix. Maybe you've heard it. Remember When by Alan Jackson. A simple gift reminiscent of our inseparable days of courtship when every song brought one another to mind, when the world around us seemed to fade into the background of this exciting new love between us. A very thoughtful gesture from my husband.

This morning I hurried Phoebe out the door and grabbed the iPod Shuffle, ready for a workout. I put the headphones in, turned it on, and there it was. The song. Knowing I would grab the iPod for my exercise ritual at the beach, Xee had added it to the playlist and set it up as the next to play. I smiled as I listened to the words and realized that parts of this song don't apply to us yet. And in this lies the promise that one day they will. We still have so much to experience in this life together. Does he know me? Yeah....I think he does.

Let There Be Light

So we are feeling a bit silly about our little light fiasco. It was our first time hanging outside lights and since the perimiter of our home isn't very long, it didn't occur to us that we needed to use a second extension cord and outlet. In our defense, it was late and in our usual brain-fried state at the end of the day, we did not consider that is was simply...a blown fuse. Thank you Silvia, for pointing that one out!

And I think it wasn't really the lights that made me grumpy. It was likely the disappointing news that Xee was not able to get time off work so for the first time in ten years, we will not be spending Christmas with our family in Fresno. Thankfully there is Skype and so we will be with them via computer cam. It will give us the chance to build our own family traditions here at home, just the three of us. Indeed it will be different, but the joy of Christmas remains. Because it is not about the lights, or the tree or tradition, and though we love our family, it isn't about them either. It is about Jesus, and His great love for us. It is all about Him.

Having a Moment

Okay, I am having a bit of a bah-humbug moment. You see, I asked my wonderful husband to put lights up this year. Actually, I ask him every year and well, my request has finally been granted.

Xee spent a good chunk of time yesterday hanging icicle lights around the front of our home and to his dismay, when he went to plug them in he realized that he had goofed up somewhere along the way and ended up with a female end of the plug...can't plug that into the outlet. So off he goes to fix it. He switches a few strands around and voila-lights! At least for a few seconds. They are bright and beautiful and Phoebe is in awe and THEN... darkness. What?

Alright, time for Xee to investigate. He moves his ladder along, plugging each individual strand into the extension cord and concludes that it is the last set that must be faulty. Today we run over to K-Mart (c'mon people...TARGET isn't open yet) and exchange the strand for a new one. Off we go to run some more errands and then home to fix the lights. And Xee is up on the ladder once more. Hang the new lights, plug them all in AND yes! Lights are working. So I think. A few minutes later I run out to grab the mail-that's it. I give up! What is with these lights?

TO BE CONTINUED...

Gymboree class is so much fun!

Mmmm..blueberries.

Our resident dishwasher...

Sometimes works in the nude!

Is there a doctor in the house?