Sisterhood of the World Bloggers' Award

  Maggie Rice at homewardtraveling.blogspot.com tagged me for this one. Thanks luv!

1.What's your favorite part of the season?

My favorite part of the Christmas season is how it re-focuses every day on Christ and what he did for us. 

2. Do you have your decorations/tree up yet? 

But it's so easy to loose focus. You get caught up and distracted by the number of gifts and cards and deadlines, and all the decorations to string up, and all the baking to do and all the parties and all the events and all the excitement of GETTING GETTING GETTING. You lose sight of what Christmas is about. You lose sight of Christ in the dazzle of materialism and commercialism. So this year our family decided to do something different. We actually took down all our Christmas decorations except for the Christian ones. We didn't even have a tree. We didn't do presents. (Okay... Mom couldn't help but give us a few over the dourse of the 12 days of Christmas... but aside from that...) 

At first there was some dissension. My little sister was out of sorts. My mom admits she cried one night, upset about 'losing Christmas'.

But as the days progress, we discovered a change in the very essence of how we thought about Christmas, how we saw Christmas, and how we acted for Christmas. It became a time of celebrating Christ, focusing on him and loving others. We were filled with ineffable joy volunteering and helping widows. We had family devotionals that brought us closer together. We were more relaxed, able to better enjoy our time spent together and with friends. And oh, Christmas was the best. We were not in the least disappointed to have no stockings, tree, or presents. We woke up and ate a lovely breakfast together, sang Christmas hymns, and read the gospel accounts of Jesus' birth together. Then Mom and I went out with some precious friends and visited with, sang carols for, and prayed for a lady at the hospital (my friend's grandmother). We also prayed for another lady there and sang for her. It was such a blessing! We met a nice nurse there from Russia. She said they didn't celebrate Christmas in Russia! (I'm sure there are some people there who celebrate it. But when she last visited in 2005 they still had no word for 'Merry Christmas', no concept of the Christmas holiday.) Pray for Russia!

Then we came home and had a Christmas feast with our family. All in all it was an amazing Christmas, one of the best of my life. How much can your Christmas change when you take the Christmas spirit seriously?

3. What is your favorite Christmas decoration?

Mine has always been the tree. I have this half-secret tradition to wait till everyone has gone to bed, then sneak out of my room. The living room is lit by the fairy Christmas lights, glowing with so much warmth and color. They glint off the ornaments. Underneath the tree is a wealth of presents piled one on top of another, a mountain of shiny packages spilling past the couch and around the back. Every one is beautifully colored, thoughtfully decorated, and laced with sprigs of holly, glittering bows, silver frost, and golden leaves. It's so enchanting. I hum a Christmas carol and feel the deep peace of a silent night, rejoicing in beauty and color and light and enchantment, with no one but Jesus for company. Then, dizzy with hapiness and coziness, I curl up under the tree and drift into sleep. 

4. Your favorite Christmas tradition?

Probably the Christmas Eve service at our Colorado church. In a tiny log chapel our little congregation (more like a big family) gathers and sings beloved, timeless carols by candlelight. Is anything more enchanting. The kids act out an impromptu Christmas pageant. The senior pastor plays Herod (and gets so into character that we're splitting our sides with laughter). He's only rivaled by his grandson, one of those special people who can make you laugh without even trying. His performance is even more hilarious in its spontaneity. Afterwards the kids get candy canes, and then I give my best friends and family presents, and the sweet darlings give me some gifts as well (which I still have, and still love). Sigh...

 5. Your favorite Christmas memory?

I don't remember what made that Christmas so great, but I just remember thinking This is the best Christmas of my life. It was about three years ago. Everything went so perfectly. Everyone was dizzy with joy.

6. How about your favorite Christmas song? 

TOO HARD. I love Veni, Veni Emmanuel. I love Good King Wenceslas. I love Lo How A Rose E'er Blooming. I love Infant Holy, Infant Lowly. And then of course the entire Handel's Messaih. And what would Christmas be without Stille Nacht? 

7. If you could get anything you wanted for Christmas, and I mean literally anything, what would it be?

Literally anything? Oh, child... you don't know what you're saying. 

My first thought is I'd want to go to heaven and be free of sin, right here, right now. But I know that's not God's will for me. I've got to stay and further the kingdom on earth. Next I thought I'd like everyone on earth to be saved and the world ends and we all go to heaven happily ever after the end. But that's not in his will either, is it? No, God saves exactly whom he wants to when he wants to, amen. 

So then, how about just a closer relationship with God? I'm so weak. I need to know him more, love him more, be more like him. If my relationship with him would improve, everything else would improve proportionally. 

8. If you could give one thing, anything, what would it be?

I would give salvation. 

9. Do you prefer online shopping or, er, the other kind where you actually leave your house?

Ew, leave my comfort zone? Online shopping. ;)

10. What do you do on Christmas eve? 

See 4. Although this year we did Christmas eve at a different church, which wasn't the same but still good. I have two churches, two church families. They're both very close to me, so I'm kind of torn between two worlds. I dream passionately of a world where those two church families will meet in one place as one family, and we'll all worship and rejoice and love together. That dream will be more than realized in the coming of the kingdom of God. But for now I'm just a child of eternity on the run from entropy. 

Here are my questions for you!I'm just going to tag anyone who reads this post. You can answer all or any of the questions in the comments below! 

1.  If you were tossed into a fictional world, which world would you want it to be?  (In other words, which would you have the best chance at surviving?)

   

  

2.  If you could take three people with you to that world, who would you take?

3.  If a stranger suddenly struck out at you and attacked you, would you actually have the courage to fight back? Even if you had that courage, would you actually be able to bring yourself to harm a living being? Would you have the grit to poke them in their eyes? And even if you had the sand to do so, would you be at all successful?

4.  What would be the ideal way to meet your future husband/wife, in your opinion?

5.  If there's one character from a book/movie you would never want to find sitting in your living room, who would it be?  (Leaving out the ones that are too big or abstract to sit in your living room- i.e. Sauron...)

6.  If there is one character from a book/movie you would want to find sitting in your living room, who would it be?

7.  If you could live one day of your life in the style of a movie, what genre would you pick?  (Animated, comedy, romance, crime, adventure, action, etc.)

8.  What movie from that style would you pick? And furthermore what character would you most want to be?

9.  If someone were to compose a soundtrack for your life, who would you want it to be?

10.  What's the purpose of life if life has no purpose?