Happy New Year!

Here's a small sampling of photos I've taken over the past year that never saw the light of day. They've been trapped in folders and on memory cards, without edits or the benefit of a bit of Photoshop. This is my way of saying goodbye to 2008. So, goodbye, 2008...it's been real.

You best get ready, 2009. I'm going to rock your socks off.

Christmas 2008

My Christmas was really awesome:

• Good Christmas Eve dinner at my parent's house
• Christmas Eve services with our families
• Quick pizza/wings hangout with Di (Dave's sis), John, Miranda and Cord.
• Christmas morning alone with Dave, just how I like it
• Christmas Day hosted at our place with my family
• Gave Christmas portraits to my parents and sisters
• KitchenAid mixer.  k-i-t-c-h-e-n  a-i-d  m-i-x-e-r
• Christmas lunch/dinner was not planned well by Dave and I, but my family waited patiently and it ended up being worth the wait
• Seeing Sebastian
• Game with Dave's family
• Christmas movies watched around and on Christmas: Home Alone, A Christmas Story, Nightmare Before Christmas, The Family Stone, and Mamma Mia (I know it's not a Christmas movie, but we watched it)
• Day-after-Christmas homemade waffles (it's definitely shaping up to be a tradition)

For those of you who are materialistic snots, here you go:

• What I gave: hat and scarf, red hoodie, books, magazine subscription, prints with custom typography, portraits, Mamma Mia!, White Christmas, Christmas decor, socks, underwear, My Little Pony, Berenstain Bears book, Chutes and Ladders, Candy Land
• What I received: Cute Christmas decor, silicone baking pan, Pier One gift card, hat with big buttons, house socks, cords, sweaters, camera remote, Peace Like a River, The Tales of Beetle the Bard, KitchenAid mixer, Partini game, The Host, photos, makeup bag, lotions and sprays, Kohl's gift card
• I have to be honest, I truly did enjoy giving more than receiving this year. I really put a lot of thought into my gifts, and loved giving things that I made myself.

Merry Christmas

Oh, there’s no place like home for the holidays,

For no matter how far away you roam -

When you long for the sunshine of a friendly gaze,

For the holidays - you can’t beat home, sweet home!

I met a man who lives in Tennessee, and he was headin’ for

Pennsylvania and some homemade pumpkin pie;

From Pennsylvania folks are travelin’ down to Dixie’s sunny shore;

From Atlantic to Pacific -

Gee, the traffic is terrific!

Oh there's no place like home for the holidays,

'Cause no matter how far away you roam -

If you want to be happy in a million ways,

For the holidays - you can’t beat home, sweet home

I met a man who lives in Tennessee and he was headin’ for

Pennsylvania and some homemade pumpkin pie;

From Pennsylvania folks are travelin’ down to Dixie’s sunny shore;

From Atlantic to Pacific -

Gee, the traffic is terrific!

Oh, there’s no place like home for the holidays,

'Cause no matter how far away you roam -

If you want to be happy in a million ways,

For the holidays - you can’t beat home, sweet home!

I'm a Cookie Ninja

Seriously.

Check my skills. He can't even capture my awesome knife wielding. I'm like lightning.

AdventBlog: Day 4 (giving)

I've decided to give as many homemade gifts as possible this year, and that gift-giving includes you!

I know most of you have already purchased, wrapped, and stashed your Christmas gifts...those are just the kind of readers I have.  ;-)  For those of you who might NOT be fully prepared, I wanted to offer a little something to help you along. Here are Christmas tags in two different color schemes. Please save and use them if you can! Make sure to download the "original" size so it will print out correctly on an 8.5x11 piece of paper. If you would rather have the PDF, please email me and I'll send it your way!

If you want something more specific, please don't hesitate to ask. I'd love to customize the color scheme for you.

Happy Christmas!

AdventBlog: Day 3

Derek preached a really great sermon today on "hope," more specifically "hoping in God." Here's a quote he used that I can't get out of my head:

"Creatures are not born for desires unless satisfaction for these desires exists. A baby feels hunger; well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim; well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire; well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing." -C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

AdventBlog: Day 2

Dave and I finished up decorating our home today. Something happens to me when I'm done dressing up my living space for Christmas: I start anticipating the holiday. The decorations are a great kick-off for me. I love how the entire mood of the house changes. Suddenly, everything feels peaceful and cozy. Here are a few corners of our home (aaaand a christmas self portrait with my new haircut):

• We decorate. Jesus had a manger and a cave.
  
• We hustle. Heaven stood still.

AdventBlog: Day 1

ad⋅vent  [ad-vent]
–noun

1. a coming into place, view, or being; arrival: the advent of the holiday season.
   
2. (usually initial capital letter) the coming of Christ into the world.
   
3. (initial capital letter) the period beginning four Sundays before Christmas, observed in commemoration of the coming of Christ into the world.
   
4. (usually initial capital letter) Second Coming.
   

Beginning tomorrow (well, today) and for the rest of December leading into Christmas, I am going to focus this blog on the advent season. Hopefully, it will be helpful to someone other than me. Really, it's simply going to be an exercise in letting my mind wander as I think through what Christmas means.