Merry Christmas, Y'all!

This is it for me until after the holidays.  Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones, from Him and Her Self.

Unconditional Love

Unconditional love means going out and taking photos at 7am on a Saturday when it's 34 degrees.

Is it worth it?

You betcha!

Holiday Math

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Best way to get presents wrapped?  Put on "White Christmas!"

When Words Fail Me

On Friday, December 14, 27 people in the town of Newtown, Connecticut were killed in Spring Hope Elementary School.  I have to admit, I did not spend all weekend watching the news.  I don't know every detail or story involved with the shooting.  Honestly, it was all a bit too much for me to handle.

I first found out when a student told me about it during 4th period.  My response, "Oh, that's horrible," and that was it.  I don't think I had really grasped what she said.  When I got home from work on Friday, I watched a bit on the news, and I checked Facebook.  And that's when the first tears started to flow...

I saw messages from parents embracing their children extra close that night.  Parents like Laura, who said, "Well, the beauty of today is that my girls [three under the age of 6] had no clue why I kept smothering them with hugs and kisses.  They thought I was a crazy lady when I hugged them and cried.  I so wish we could all cling to that innocence and goodness."

I saw messages from dads pledging to teach their sons how to resolve conflict with words rather than violence.  I saw messages from people who were just astounded at the entire thing: "How could you do that?  They're just children!"

I tried to make words about it all, but none came to mind.

"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.  We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." -- Romans 8:26

Saturday was very busy.  I tried to avoid Facebook and tv because everything was too much for me to handle.  We were learning more about the victims, like Victoria Soto, who hid her children in cabinets and closets to protect them from the shooter.  My fellow teachers, like Gabe, started posting their thoughts: "The feelings I have for my students are very much like a parent and their kids... For a little time they spend with me, our lives will forever be intertwined.  I may not have fought for them physically, and I pray I never do, but every day I fight for their futures educationally."

Sunday at church was rough.  We had a moment of silence, followed by a prayer specifically for the people of Newtown and this shaken nation.  After a weekend of off-and-on crying, I had come prepared with tissues -- and they were greatly appreciated.  It all hit me... I saw my friends as the grief-stricken parents, myself as a family member having to cope, the children having to say goodbye to friends and beloved teachers, my students as the gunned down bodies, myself as the teacher trying to remain calm and comforting.  As we finished the prayer and began singing, the tears didn't stop...

Bless the Lord, O my soul

O my soul

Worship His holy name

Sing like never before,

O my soul

I'll worship Your holy name...

And on that day when my strength is failing

The end draws near and my time has come

Still my soul will sing Your praise unending

Ten thousand years and then forevermore

Bless the Lord, O my soul

O my soul

Worship His holy name

Sing like never before,

O my soul

I'll worship Your holy name

We are a nation in mourning.  I'm not one for press conferences, but I watched President Obama's speech last night.  He began with some of my favorite Scripture, verses I memorized while in Ocean City:

"Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed daily.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." -- 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

I know today's post was not cheerful.  Don't get me wrong -- I actually had a very fun weekend preparing for Christmas.  I did not think about the people of Newtown the entire weekend, but when I did, my heart broke for them.  I don't know what caused this event, what its purpose was, or what will come from it.  I didn't really focus on that the past few days.  I focused on trying to find the words to speak of what had happened, even when words failed me.

Holiday Tour, Living Room

For parts 1 and 2 of the tour, see here and here.

Now, to the main event, my living room.  Don't expect a ton of decorations in here, though.  I decorated my mantle and my tree, that's it.

I like how the red mesh and lights do fun things on the wall.

Though it's traditional to put your Christmas tree in a front room so people from the road can see it.  However, we decided to put in in our living room so we could see it.  After all, it's OUR tree, isn't it?

For the past few years, Jason and I have had a two-foot tree.

So um, this year's tree would have been REALLY empty if not for my mom's kindness purchasing me a bucket-o-ornaments and for a few key purchases while buying other Christmas decorations.  The final product:

Old ornaments:

very significant to me because I was having a really bad week and Jason surprised me after church one day with an ornament shopathon to get my mind off things (it worked)

My favorite ornaments... for more on these, see last year's post.

New ornaments:

new ornaments from Mom

impulse buy from Michael's

What, you don't have dinosaurs on your tree?

I'm guessing I don't need to explain this one...

Holiday Tour, Front Rooms

For part one of my Holiday Tour, see Outside Tour.

When you walk in to my house, you face my stairs.  After several difficult hours, Kara (who was in town for business) and I fought the banisters and ended up with this.

It's nice, but I'm still not sure about it.  Still better than what I had managed before Kara came over...

how can you not love that goof?

I did manage to get one picture of Kara working her magic.

Now, I'm definitely a whimsical Christmas kind of person, so don't let the fancy fool you, but I did want my dining room to be kinda fancy:

It's still a work in progress.  I mean, after all, it's nothing compared to the tables featured at Holidays Fit for the King, but way fancy for me.

A few other photos from the entryway and dining room...

Fun birds (look at the "Jason" one with the hat!) from Target

Free ornaments (thanks, Martha Stewart!) and a tea light tree

Norbert, the Christmas hippo Jason made me in 2007, the "obscene snowman" as Jason calls it, and a new reindeer that "called to me" at Pier 1

Holiday Tour, Outside

I was inspired by my friend Kristen to do a holiday tour through my house.  Since I take 800 pictures, I'll be splitting the tour up a bit more than she did, though.  Hope it gets you in a festive mood!

Welcome to my house!  My outside decor is solely the work of my sister Kara. 

 She's quite talented, isn't she?

Tomorrow, step on in out of the cold!  For now, you have to wait on the doorstep :)

Wordless Wednesday (from Thanksgiving)

A Thing of Beauty

I'm so far behind with blogging, I haven't talked about Thanksgiving.  This year was more laid back with less "let me take a picture of everything that's happening!" than years before.  I did take time to take a picture of my meal before devouring.  Believe it or not, this was about half of the options on the table!!!

If you'd like to know more about my family's Thanksgiving traditions and festivities, you can read this post from last year.

Our House, Brought to you by IKEA

I mentioned, oh, forever ago that Jason and I went to IKEA to furnish the front two rooms of our house.  I'm FINALLY getting around to posting pictures of our new rooms.

In progress... One of the benefits of a completely-empty room is that there's tons of space for boxes and assembly!  And yes, it was cold enough in our house that Jason wore his hat inside.

Dining Room Before:

Dining Room After:

Purchased at IKEA: dining room table, 8 chairs and cushions, buffet, bowl on buffet

Study Before:

Study After:

Purchased at IKEA: desk, two bookcases, two chairs and footstools, cow skin rug (yes, really)

Shopping success!