After finishing up our last Advent litany on Christmas Eve, we opened some presents and went off to church for mass. Christmas Eve is one of my least favorite services when we’re up here in Spokane. Because it’s usually the biggest, it’s the least liturgical service of the year. Growing up, midnight mass was the most magical time of the year. It seems like the first snow of the year started while I was in midnight mass. Well, add the fact that all the snow had melted this year to the non-liturgiality, it was just okay. I had to remind myself that snow and liturgy do not the season make.

On Christmas morning, after chewing down lefsa, bacon, and oranges, I headed to church to get in my alb. I am the chief assisting minister at Salem every year, and I was penned in before I was told this year. I had just learned my canting parts the evening before, so I think the first line of the hymn of praise was messed up. I made it through though. Assisting in the liturgy, especially the canting, is one of my favorite things, but I like to actually know the music before I go in. We did the presents thing when we got to Mommy and Daddy’s, and ate, and then we played Cranium with Forrest’s new Turbo Edition Cranium. It was sweet.

I stayed up late, organizing four inches worth of journal articles and study guides to read this semester: Milbank, Tracy, Wright, Grenz, Schmemann. I have my hands full this year.

Well, I woke up this afternoon (yes, afternoon), exhausted from another Christmas Day. My tonsils were swollen from nasal drip, but I had a really cute baby staring at me. Hopefully we can get some pictures of her soon. Cameras, USB cables, and the sun have not been cooperating.

We’re going to see the Wallace and Gromit movie in the Garland Theatre here in about a half hour. So I should go.

If you missed this SNL short, it’s hilarious.

Time is going by way too quickly here and I don’t want it to end. It’s so great to have friends to hang out with all the time. We just got back from Ryan and Taneisha’s house after spending practically the entire day visiting and playing games. I’m trying to make the most out of our time here which usually means cramming in lots of visiting with everyone. But that almost seems to make the time speed by even faster. *sigh* I do miss things about our house, like our great king sized bed & Kyrie’s room and just the comfort of having our own space … but I don’t really care for the location. I wish we could move the house up here. Oh well. God knows what He’s doing and He has us where we are for a good purpose. We’ve just gotta finish God’s will for us in Monroe before moving on to anything else.

The snow here is absolutely gorgeous. The mountains are so refreshing - I kinda forgot about mountains after living in Monroe, which is silly. I might remember to take a picture one of these days. I’m going to get some sleep before worship later.

I am feeling kinda down. It’s about 3:30 AM now. I should be asleep, but I feel awful. I am sick of the “Christmas season,” and it’s not even here yet. The shopping is killing me. It’d be easier if Rachel and I could shop separately for others, but she’s too indecisive (and into this thing called a budget), and I’m too picky. Throw in a baby that hates being in crowded places and noise, and it’s miserable. My only successful day of shopping was when I was alone, shopping for Rachel. I actually felt satisfied that day. I wish we could shop before Advent, but it’s not really practical when we’d have to pack an extra two boxes just to bring up gifts

I feel like we’ve been doing way too much since we’ve been up here, and I’m losing my focus. We already have the next 2-3 days scheduled too. I appreciate getting to see family and spending time with friends, but it’s all so crammed. I am fortunate to get four weeks up here. I can’t imagine vacations if I had a normal job.

I haven’t read a thing since I’ve gotten here. I feel unproductive. I feel like church has been a side note. I feel extremely selfish. Is this really Advent?

I realized something today as we all gathered at my parents’ house today: my family is noisy and a bit wild, and things get hectic when we’re all together. I love it and I hate it at the same time. The hate part mostly has to do with the fact that a lot of noise can stress me out, but the love part is what makes all the stressing out worth it. I love that everyone is always joking around or chatting or laughing at something that one of the little kids did or said. It might get a little crazy at times, but it’s hard to be depressed around a family with so much energy. Something about the beautiful snow and great sledding conditions combined with the spirit of the Advent season just makes me happy. And to top it off, I have the best baby ever. She’s been smiling and cooing so much lately. She looks at me intently and shapes her mouth to try to make different sounds. It’s been sounding more like talking recently, and it’s just so sweet. I just look at her every now and then and feel so enormously amazingly blessed.

Stanley “Tookie” Williams, cofounder of the Crips and Nobel Peace Prize nominee, was executed early this morning after California’s governor denied clemency.

Left to Right: David (almost 2), Kyrie (almost 2½ months) and Timothy (almost 3).

Q: What’s President Bush’s position on Roe vs. Wade?

A: He doesn’t care how people get out of New Orleans.

Scot McKnight has written a great post on the emerging church. Anyone that reads Doug Wilson’s tripe should at least read this.