Our Musicalhouse: rambling

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Holiday Wrap Up

My 2 weeks off from school is coming to a close & I'm ready to get back to work. I miss my kiddos & I miss my schedule - believe it or not. So...before I jump back into things, I thought I'd update the good ol' blog. Here's what I did during my 2 weeks off: The first week was dedicated to family & holiday preparations. I am so grateful for the quality time I got with my family - especially my sister, who came in from Los Angeles. We shopped, ate Mexican food, saw Sherlock Holmes, talked, laughed, & acted silly (as sisters tend to do).

We made cookies with John's folks - this is one of my favorite holiday traditions. We added a reindeer cookie cutter to the mix this year - very exciting indeed.

Christmas Eve at church - Since John is involved in all of the services (5:30, 7:30, 10:00) on Christmas Eve, I usually go with him & hang out/ help him out in between services. This year I went to the children's service & loved the message. Families actually put together their own Christ Candle to take home with them (complete with scripture & a clay stand for it) and Pastor Steve encouraged parents to light the candle with their kiddos & share the story of Christ's birth. He also encouraged them to share their child's own story with their child & I can only imagine the precious conversations that took place as a result of this prompting. At 7:30 I got to sing with my favorite people in the Praise Band & my favorite moment was the end of O Holy Night - Dori is amazing. After the 7:30 service, Etta (Pastor Steve's wife - and one of my favorite people in the world) brought us all taco soup & beef stew (my fave!) for dinner. The 'dinner' hour has become tradition & is always one of the best parts of the night. Finally, we ended the night with the 10:00 service which consists of scripture & carols - it's always so peaceful.

John and I have our own tradition that has developed over the last few years: we get home from church around 11:30 or 12 & wrap each other's presents (yes, we procrastinate until then). By the time we're done wrapping, it's Christmas! So...we open our presents to each other!

Christmas day was spent at John's parents' house in Fort Worth - complete with snow. If you've seen the pics on Facebook, you've met Ned - the snowman we built (by 'we' I mean John & Billy).

Once the holiday rush was over, things slowed down a LOT! I stayed up late, slept in every day, read 6 books, met friends for lunch, cleaned the house, watched movies, & spent time with John & my snuggly puppy dog. It was pretty awesome. :)

Verses from Philippians

1:21: For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
2:1-11: If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
2:14-15: Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.
3:7-8: But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ.
3:12-14:Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.