Christmas Eve

During the month of December:

-we were iced in for four days;

-we spent several days (not in a row) looking for missing keys, and on all of those days our entire day's schedule was significantly altered because we could not find the keys;

-all three kids came down with the flu, over the span of two weeks;

-I may or may not have been sick (I'm a hypochondriac, my kids were sick, how I felt may have been entirely psychological);

-I missed every Sunday at church until the fourth one (in other words, I feel as though I missed Advent);

-due to all sorts of feeling out of kilter, I did almost no Christmas shopping until the weekend before Christmas.

December wreaked a great deal of havoc on me, both physically and spiritually, so much so that (maybe thankfully?) I don't remember much of what happened with great clarity before Christmas Eve. But Christmas Eve? Christmas Eve was something truly special. We attended two services, since Christian's choir sang in one and Michaela's in another. They were at 4pm and 6pm, so in between them I drove to grab a bite to eat for the little kids before Chick-Fil-A closed up for Christmas. 

Here is my only picture, of Michaela's choir just before they left the chancel. The youth did a beautiful job leading worship, and I was blown away by how many of them there were. This is the 7th-12th grade choir, along with a few college students who were home for the holiday. Listening to them was like listening to angels singing. 

After the beauty of the worship services, a perfecly juxtaposed hilarious time picking up my parents and my brother followed. 

And that is a tale for tomorrow.

A Hard Advent

This has been a season of overwhelming consciousness of my own shortcomings and failures in every area of my life, of my absolute and complete need for a Savior. Acute and constant, my awareness of this need has almost been crushing.

An infant came, a helpless baby, eventually to bear the weight of such burdens, and they will not crush me, for one day the One who crushed death itself will return in triumph over all that is wrong with our world. Until then, this waiting is hard...a necessary, and hard advent.

Frozen-Dallas Edition

Some icy weather decided to head this way earlier than usual this year. Mike picked Christian up from school on Thursday, and by that evening we knew that school was cancelled for the next day because of what was on the way. 

When we woke up on Friday, everything was frozen. 

Tree branches hung practically to the ground, and some had grown so heavy during the night that they snapped off. 

Late in the morning, Christian parked himself on the couch to rest, and proceeded to stay there for almost the entire remainder of the day. Do you know Christian? This was not normal behavior. 

Since we knew that we would be stuck in the house for a couple of days, Mike had stopped at Sam's Club with Christian on the way home from school Thursday and bought a tree. We brought down the decorations and ornaments, too. 

One of the few things that I have to put up is this tiny sleigh made from fake greenery. Christian found it in my bin during one of his up-and-about stints, and asked where to put it. I told him to put it where he thought it would go best.

And if you can figure out what Christian is doing, as you can see his reflection in the TV, let me know. It looks like he's about to swing a golf club. If so, that's pretty tricky, since I was standing right there and didn't notice any golf clubs before or after taking this picture. 

I could tell you more about our day if I wanted to bore you right to death, since it consisted of resting, more resting, and a little bit of some extra resting. I did make salsa which was an absolute highlight. 

Then it was bedtime, and we woke up late Saturday morning, which was lovely. But soon Christian was tired again, so he hit the couch and cozied up under some blankets (our house gets really cold when it's cold outside). 

While he was resting, the girls sorted buttons, which was a sweet reminder of simpler times. 

And that was about the most exciting thing that happened all day. We did watch a guy slide down our street toward the six-lane intersection in his pick-up truck. He couldn't stop so as he approached the stop sign he laid on his horn to warn any on-coming traffic of his impending arrival. Fortunately, there was not a lot of traffic since the roads were so bad, so he was able to turn onto the street and carry on. So, that was exciting (nerve-wracking, actually), but for the most part it was quite an uneventful day. Christian took several showers, since they make him feel better when he has a headache. He just might be the cleanest boy on the planet right now. 

Mike and Michaela did venture out to Walmart to get some more lights because (no one should be surprised) we were a couple of strands short of a fully lit tree. Ha. They made it back safely, and soon it was bedtime.

Crazy times.

During the night, Christian woke up twice, once at 2:30 and once at 6:30. He showered at 6:30 (I can't remember about 2:30...I think he just took some medicine then), and then went back to bed, and just as I fell back asleep Mike came in and tapped me on the arm to ask what I thought about going to church. Since I was still somewhere between a dream and the harsh reality of an icy morning in Dallas, I think I mumbled something like,"No," as I hoped the Lord would forgive me for wanting to sleep a little longer. 

I did sleep quite a bit longer, and so did Christian. He hadn't had a fever yet, but when we took his temperature today, it was a little high, so he took some Ibuprofen and did his best to stay upright. He did rest on the couch for a bit, but he also joined the girls for a gingerbread house decorating session. Mike had picked up a kit at Walmart the night before, and it turned out to be a great idea.

I had my doubts at first. They began by fighting and fussing over who would do which part, but ended up getting along nicely and working together to make a cute little house.  

They think they are going to eat it. 

I think yuck. 

My opinion might not matter though. 

Eliana said they were going to display it outside. I told her only if she wanted all the animals to eat it. 

Mike finished the lights on the tree, and the kids and I added the cranberry-like garlands (my favorite). 

And we'll finish decorating tomorrow, hopefully. Christian was ready for bed at 7:30, and asked if we could wait until then. School has been cancelled, and he wouldn't have gone anyway. It's crazy that Dallas shuts down like this when a bit of ice comes through, but I guess they just aren't prepared for the amount of work that it takes to de-ice a whole city the way northern states are. So we'll enjoy the extra break (hopefully), and Christian can get better (hopefully)! 

Unusual

Today was a strange day. Christian slept (or otherwise rested) on the couch all day, leaving Eliana wondering what her place in the world was.

Toward the end of the day, she laid herself flat on the arm of a large green chair in our living room with her face buried in the space where the arm meets the back, and whined,"But it's Saturday...Christian is supposed to do stuff and play!" She told me she just wanted to build something, so I reminded her of the LEGOs and she hurriedly brought them into the living room so that she could at least play next to Christian, if not with him.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a more normal day, the ice that has trapped us inside for a couple of days will melt away, and playmates will be restored to full-play capacity.

Lighter

The pack was so heavy; the stones pulled the straps down so that they rubbed meanly on her shoulders, but the rocks also dug unmercifully into her back with their uneven hardness. Stubbornly, she clung to the straps even as he reached for her bag. Why, she furiously wondered, would he, or should he, take the heavy sack? He hoisted it with one hand from her sore shoulders, and gently loosened her fingers. As he took the pack, she felt such relief that she almost stumbled although she was now without her heavy burden.

To her surprise, instead of dumping out the stones and returning the bag to her, he swung the bag around with a great effort and began carrying it himself. "Come on," he said,"We'll go together. Always together."

The sun chased the night away as it got lighter.