2011...so far, so good

Christmas was a bit different this year, since we only visited one side of our family whereas in years past we have, as I recall, managed to visit both my side and my wife's side over the Christmas break. But this year we did things a little different, spending time only in Montana over the break with my wife's mother and stepfather. We had a very enjoyable visit, and helped them with several projects around the house too. It's cool to go from the relatively flat plains of the midwest to the mountains of the West, and seeing them covered in a blanket of brilliant white snow made the view even more impressive. It is probably the last visit we will make to Montana for quite some time, as her parents are hoping to move a little closer to home in the coming year. But life has a way of changing things when you least expect it, so as always, we'll just have to see how things pan out.

After we got back from the visit we managed to take care of one little project that has been on my wife's mind for a while: frosting over the bathroom window. We have a big window in the master bathroom that is almost always covered by (hideous) pink blinds (that were there when we moved in). But my wife found some information on covering existing windows with a pane of frost, similar to how one might get windows tinted in a car, without having to buy an entirely new window. So last Saturday we went to Lowe's and picked up a bunch of supplies to try our hand at adding a little privacy and lot of light to the bathroom.

Not pictured: ugly pink blinds fully extended.

The hardest part about the project was doing the initial measurements, as the bathroom window was pretty large which made cutting the piece of frosting kind of difficult.  After we had everything measured  we went into the bathroom and doused the window and frosting treatment with this adhesive solution and then set out to actually apply the whole mess to the window.  The only difficult part of this process was smoothing out all the bubbles in the frosting, which we did with a couple squeegies and a lot of elbow grease.  The final result actually looks halfway decent, and it's basically impossible to see in or out of the window but it still lets a ton of sunlight in.

We like this version much better.

While we were in Montana we helped my wife's parents change out four light fixtures and a chandelier, which gave us a bit of confidence in replacing the chandelier in our dining room too.  I'm not sure when we'll get around to that project, but like so many home improvement ideas, I'm sure it'll happen one of these days...

This weekend I took down our Christmas tree and all assorted decorations, which was kind of a bummer since I think the tree just adds a nice bit of decor to the living room.  But it's gotta come down sooner or later, and even though in college my buddies and I left the tree up until March (or whenever Evan's girlfriend took it down) I figure we might as well get it taken care of now rather than putting it off for months.  I should have taken a before and after picture of this too, but, well, the "before" picture is a Christmas tree.  I mean, there's not a whole lot of variety for an indoor fake evergreen tree.  I thought the "after" picture was kind of funny though.

When fully assembled it's actually pretty cool.
And yes that is a rack of VHS tapes.

Even though the tree is down, though, it's just a decoration to begin with and not that important in the grand scheme of things.  The real meaning of Christmas, the birth of our savior Jesus Christ, needs no tree or ornaments or neatly-wrapped presents to be felt throughout the year.  And so as we forge onward with all the new trials, challenges, joys, and celebrations of the new year, we must not forget the rebirth and renewal that comes now from a simple advancing of the calendar, but from the surpassing greatness of the grace of our Lord and His sacrifice for us.

So here's to 2011.

Music in the Aire

One of the things I enjoy most about this time of year is the music.  It might sound a tad silly, but I just can't get enough of Christmas music.  I have four Pandora stations soothing my ears with various Christmas tunes all day at work, and there's a great Christmas broadcast over the FM airwaves when we're driving too.  I dig the classics, the hymns, the modern rock stuff (Gary Hoey does an amazing rendition of "Linus and Lucy"), and especially the carols.  Even though we can get these tunes any day of the year, there's something special about combining Christmas music with the palpable anticipation of the celebration of Jesus' birth.  Anyone can raid the pantry for a spoonful of sugar, but combining sugar with chocolate chips, flour, eggs, and butter makes for an entirely new creation far greater than the individual parts.  And so it is with the music of the season--it's best enjoyed with decorations in the home and neighborhood, presents under a tree, and Salvation Army bell ringers at the stores.  Besides, reserving "The First Noel," "Joy to the World," O Night Divine," "Silent Night," "What Child is This," and dozens of others for this one time of year just makes them a little more meaningful.

On Sunday my wife and I went to a Christmas music celebration put on by First Baptist Church right near downtown, and even though we have been to a fair number of choral performances, this one was really special. A massive assembly of choir singers from congregations around the city, augmented by an orchestra, sang Christmas songs and hymns proclaiming the birth of our Lord and Savior long into the night.  We sat in the balcony and had an excellent view of the proceedings, which included Bible readings between each song to give a context for how many classic carols fit into the Christmas story and, ultimately, the Lord's plan of salvation for all mankind.  From time to time the audience was asked to join in, and hearing the voices and music soar far beyond the old wooden church rafters was a pretty incredible experience.  Afterwards we met up with one of my wife's colleagues who was singing in the choir and it was cool to talk about the rehearsals and the final performance.  Even though there's no snow on the ground here in Oklahoma, it's stuff like this that helps make the Christmas season seem all the more real.

On a completely unrelated note, this is a picture I took last week as the sun was coming up right before I left for work.  I brought our little Canon point-n-shoot out into the backyard and attempted to catch the majesty of the sun beginning its daily ascent as its beams shot through the morning mists and frosty air.  The picture doesn't exactly do the scene justice, but it's better than nothing.  You can click it for a larger version, but really, you kind of had to be there.  :)

Minnesota residents: note the lack of snow.
Any time you want to come down,
Oklahoma welcomes you with open arms. :)

Ringing In

I don't know that I've ever been much for New Years parties. I think in college I might have gone to a few, but mostly on New Years I can be found at home with just a few people as opposed to a giant party somewhere. It's not to say I don't like the giant parties, but somehow I just never really got on board with the whole New Years Celebration thing. It seems like kind of an arbitrary event to celebrate, but then, over-thinking these kinds of things isn't really the point. Anyway, this past Thursday evening my wife and I celebrated the onset of 2010 with her parents and a neighbor friend who lives down the block from us, and we just chatted about things in town, had some sparkling grape juice, and a few snacks to boot. It was a really good time, even though the whole thing was pretty low-key. So far 2010 is doing great, but it's a lot like 2009 except maybe a tad colder. Hopefully things warm up soon around here, but whatever the temp is, at least we're not in the 15-below weather of Minnesota. My hats off to y'all up north...

Speaking of celebrations, we spent Christmas down up in Lincoln, and even though we were just with family, it was pretty gigantic. :) We made it to the 3:30 Christmas Eve service, and it's a good thing we chose the earlier one as many churches around town cancelled services that evening and the next day. Later that night there was something like 16 people over at my parents' house for dinner, photos, presents, and prayers. Most were family members, but there were a few friends over just for fun. All in all, a great time and certainly my idea of how to celebrate a given occasion.

After spending the past few days with my wife's mom and stepdad, who came down for a visit just following our return from Lincoln, it's about time to get things around here back to normal. We started taking the Christmas Tree down last night, and tomorrow it's back to work as usual. In some ways it's kind of nice to be back to a routine, though, and as the days are now getting progressively longer, it's a good sign that something great (i.e. Spring) is coming soon...

And unto you

It's not about presents
or trees
or lights
or music
or decorations.

It's not about family
or friends
or trips
or cards
or phone calls.

It's not about caroling
or hymns
or wassailing
or cider
or hot chocolate.

It's not about "Holidays"
or Santa
or elves
or reindeer
or sleigh bells.

It's not about so many things
we think about
and talk about
and preach about
and get worked up about.

It's about a sinful race
in need of a savior
who was born
to die
for us.

It's about Him.

Merry Christmas.

And back again

Once again, for the fourth year in a row, we spent Thanksgiving away from home, but for the first time since moving to Minnesota, we did not go back to Lincoln. No, this year we went down south to visit my wife's family in Georgia. We try to make it there at least once a year, and since our last trip down there was in the summer of 2007, we thought Thanksgiving would be as good of a time as any to head for the deep south for a few days. And it was.

Much of our time there was spent, like most of our vacations, not doing anything in particular except spending time with friends or, in this case, family. We watched some movies, played some Nintendo (me and a few of the younger kids logged a truckload of hours playing Mario Kart DS and Picto Chat), ran errands, went on walks, had a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, and tried to sleep in as much as we could too. It was, like most of our vacations, all too short, and we hope to make it back before another year goes past.

Saturday we met up with my cousin Jessie in Macon, and the three of us drove to my other cousin's house in Atlanta where we spent the evening visiting with her husband and four young kids. Her parents came by too, and it's always good to see them even though there were no card games this time around.

Today my wife and I, after getting back to our place around noon, put up our Christmas tree, rearranged the DVD rack (yay for Wallyworld's $2 Black Friday DVDs!), got some schoolwork done, and finished watching a movie called Man of the Year. I hope, as I often do, to go to bed early tonight, but, as often happens, I will probably get distracted and stay up late on the computer or something.

Three months to go

I like to measure time in how long it has been since Christmas, or how long it will be until Christmas. It sort of puts things in a weird perspective: today, for example, is September 15. That means there is precisely three months and ten days until Christmas. Wow. In just over three months we will have gone to Georgia, gone to Montana, hopefully gone to Lincoln, finished the school play, and nearly come to the end of the semester.

That was a haiku.

This weekend, though, was very busy in a relaxed sort of way. We didn't have to go out of town, or go anywhere special, or do anything momentous, and for those reasons it was just a nice easygoing weekend. I slept in yesterday and today, and my wife and I both got a lot of stuff done around the house too. But my cousin Beth was over last night, which was really cool. And this morning I taught my second Sunday School class of the year at our church. And this afternoon I delivered some flyers to houses in the area for a meeting at our church tomorrow. Yesterday morning I went to the camera store and got one of our video cameras back from its covered-under-warranty head cleaning, and in a little while my wife and I are going to go to the library. So it's been busy, but not busy, which is really nice. And even though it's kind of dreary and rainy today, and the Vikes lost 18-15, it's still been a great weekend.

And a short disclaimer for those who think I'm being a bit too cheerful here: Winter's coming, which means snow, bitter cold, and about two hours of daylight. I gotta enjoy what I've got while it's here. :)