Finish This: Week Fifty-one {and Merry Christmas!}

Merry Christmas to all! Can you believe that it's Christmas Eve already?! And next week is New Year's Eve, and then bam - 2015! Jeepers creepers.

Bek, don't get ahead of yourself. Today is a day for family, singing, candles, and link-ups. Stay focused!

By now, I hope you know the drill. I'm linking up with the awesome hostesses of Finish This: Nicole at Three 31, Jen at The Arizona Russums, Becky at The Java Mama, and Lisa at Coastlined.

{Next week is The Great Big Year in Review post - I'm so excited to hit "publish" on this puppy! If you'd like the prompts so that you can participate, comment below or email Nicole and we will hook you up. You don't want to miss this big kahuna of a post.}

My favorite Christmas tradition is opening one present from my parents on Christmas Eve... it's always pajamas and my sisters and I always wake up Christmas morning in new pajamas. For several years my mom has been complaining that there are no. more. pajamas. anywhere {with four girls, it's close to true!}, but somehow she works some Christmas magic and we always get pjs. It's my favorite. {I thought about sharing a picture, but then I thought you readers might not appreciate it.}

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My most memorable Christmas was probably 2012, because my grandpa was having a good day and he was able to stay awake and play dominoes with the family for a couple hours. It was one of the best days in Grandpa's last year, and my mom rightly noted that Christmas Day 2012 was a true gift, because it ended up being Grandpa's last Christmas with us on earth. I treasure my memory of that year.

The best gift{s} I've ever received, besides the grace and love of God, growing up in the best family ever, and having the most fantastic friends in the world, was the TARDIS blanket from my sister last year. I'd been asking for TARDIS slippers and she kept telling me she was not getting them for me. I didn't believe her, but it turned out she was telling the truth. My mom gave me the slippers and my sister gave me a warm snuggly blanket. I was shocked that a) she was telling me the truth and I hadn't believed her and b) that such a beautiful blanket exists.

The gift I'd rather forget was totally my idea and my sisters were dragged along in my madness. After performing The Nutcracker for two years {and between the four of us, there were only a couple dances we weren't in}, I convinced my sisters that we should perform it {AGAIN!!} for our parents... in our living room... with music for only 4 songs. So we practiced every time the 4 of us were left alone together, and on Christmas morning, that's what we did.
My poor, patient sisters... my poor, long-suffering parents...

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There you have it - Christmas memories galore! I hope your Christmas is holly-jolly, calm and bright, and full of the love of Christ!

Not Alone Series: Advent

Hi friends! I know that today is Saturday and NAS link-ups are on Tuesdays, but sometimes even with Amazon Prime, things take longer than planned. So I won't make you wait another moment; let's get on with this Advent post!

What are you doing for Advent? How are you preparing your heart for this season?

So many bloggers mentioned Ann Voskamp's Unwrapping the Greatest Gift: A Family Celebration of Christmas*, so I ordered it myself. Then I read another blog about how she was excited to read this book with her children, and I took another look at it and finally clued into the word "family" and translated that to "kids" and so I cancelled my order and ordered the grown-up prequel, The Greatest Gift: Unwrapping the Full Love Story of Christmas*.

That is the really long and dramatic story of how I'm preparing for Advent. Funny, because the story of Christ's coming is also long and dramatic. I mean, mankind fell not even five chapters into Genesis, and Jesus came 42 generations after Abraham. I can't even fathom that. My grandmother has researched my family history back to the Revolutionary War, and I'm pretty sure that's fewer than 15 generations.

Ann Voskamp is leading me through the generations, starting with Adam and Eve, all the way through to Christ's coming. What a beautiful story of grace and mercy. God loves us humans so much!

NAS is taking a break from linking up until the New Year, so I plan on sharing some highlights from this devotional throughout the month. What's your favorite Advent reading/tradition/devotional?

*affiliate links

Recently...

...reading The Locust Effect by Gary Haugen, founder of International Justice Mission, and Victor Boutros; Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin - less than 100 pages to go!

...contemplating the beginning of doula certification and the coming workload. My first desire is to GO GO GO in a crazy and futile attempt to get it all done at once, but I know that I will be more successful in a chunk-by-chunk approach.

...waiting for some essential oils and a poster frame to arrive in the mail. Can't wait for either - thank God for Amazon Prime!

...watching "The Mindy Project" - only one more episode of Season One!

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...anticipating Halloween with Cami and Samara! Last year we went as the Fantastic Fox Family, and this year we've got some pretty "rockin'" plans... no spoilers here, though!

...planning Christmas presents already. Thinking of both DIY options and more intentional purchases.

...working on finding my next crochet project. I finished Cami's birthday present with a striped cowl and matching headband, and now it's decision time for above-mentioned Christmas presents.

...hoping for some cute boxes at Michael's for beautifying my home, and some fake flowers can't hurt, either.

...dreading the end of Doctor Who Season Eight. I know we're only halfway done with the season, and there are still plenty of characters to develop, but already I'm dreading watching the last episode.

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...ready for my next audio book! I ordered The Girl Who Came Home and it's waiting for me at the library as I type.

...grateful for text conversations, spontaneous phone dates, peanut butter, family, doula adventures about to start, and the grace of God. 

Happiest Season of All

I read this post recently and the whole thing really spoke to me {I was going to name a specific paragraph, but then I reread the post and decided it was all really wonderful}. I love that Advent is not waiting meaning sitting on your hands, but it's really about preparing and making ready and fully embracing the season in which God has placed you.

This season, and maybe even the whole of 2014, I think God is focusing on how He pursues me. I was reminded of a story in this book and how much God has both given to and given up for me. Yes, gifts are a bit cliche this time of year, but this Sunday my pastor shared some really lovely and practical gifts that God has given to His bride, like the fruit of the Spirit. God has given us gentleness, patience, self-control, etc. I love considering how richly God has blessed and equipped believers for our daily lives.

God has also blessed my family with togetherness! Christmas is my favorite time of the year because ALL the sisters are home! So far we have never been apart over Christmas, and I hope that this tradition can continue forever :)

Praying God's abundant blessings over you and your family this Christmas!

Christmas Time in the City

It's December. I can share Christmas-related items now {just ignore the fact that I've been listening to Christmas music since November 20th or so}.

Samara and I got a tree!!! Isn't it cute!?

We went to a tree farm nearby and cut it down ourselves, and then we tied it onto Samara's car by ourselves, too. This part.... well, you know how there are some things you say "I'll laugh at this later" so you don't cry in the moment? Well, Samara and I just skip to the laughter part because we are nuts. 

All around us, people are winding their string through their car windows and over the tree, securing the bundle of holiday joy onto the roofs of their vehicles. We got this, we think. And so we begin. One window in Samara's car doesn't roll down, so I open that door and we improvise. 

Over, under, over, under. The string goes around and around the tree and car and then is secured with knots. Samara and I survey our accomplishment with pride, and then it hits us. If the string is through the windows, then we can't open the doors to get in the car. We burst out laughing and determine how to get into the vehicle without undoing our work.

Thankfully, we both managed to utilize our ballet training and enter {and later exit} the car without disturbing Charlie. Oh, that's what we named the tree. We were going for a Charlie Brown tree, but we could also call it Rudy or Frosty. Votes can be made in the comment section ;)

Well, I'm in the holiday spirit now, aren't you? :) Happy December!

Christmas is Coming!

But the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary will be here first!!! People.... Saturday....this Saturday.

I love my church and meetings and stuff, but when I heard that our congregation meeting was cancelled this week, I almost jumped out of my seat with joy. We will surely finish Season 7 was my first and unholy thought. {I regret nothing.} EDIT: Just got an email prompting me to buy tickets for the showing on Monday. Done and done; like a true fangirl, I got up early the morning tickets went on sale.

But to stick with the topic suggested from the title, Christmas is fast approaching. It seems especially fast this year, and while I know that part of it is that I'm getting old {depending on who you ask, of course}, I think a big part of the seemingly rapid pace towards Christmas is the fact that I'm not counting down the days to going home before the holiday. You guys, this is the first time in 3 years that I don't have to get on an airplane before I can be home for Christmas. If the angels weren't already singing, I would tell them to start!

The challenging aspect is that Christmas shopping has yet to happen. I take that back. I've bought one gift. Yikes.

After reading Jen Hatmaker's book 7, I've been thinking about Christmas in a different light. I mean, we all know that Christmas is not about gifts or stuff, but about God's story of redemption unfolding on earth. Yet...we still buy each other gifts. I think reading 7 messed with me more than I admitted to myself, because I can't think of Christmas in terms of stuff anymore.

It's hard, because I don't want to be a Scrooge at Christmas. But I don't want to just be a consumer {purchaser} of stuff. If I'm going to buy something, I want it to be meaningful, and not just in the "how did you know this was what I wanted!?" way.

So what I'm considering for gifts this year is buying from organizations who are doing something for the least among us, organizations that {the majority} are non-profit and that need donations or purchases from people whose basic needs are met. Um, that would be me. So here are a few that I would like to present to you.

Jen writes about Open Arms, an organization in Austin that employs refugees at a living wage.

Davi writes about Love-Water.org that provides clean water to countries that suffer diseased water.

Love146 works to end child trafficking; Not4Sale also fights human trafficking and slavery.

Save the Storks offers free ultrasounds to women planning an abortion.

I'm sure there are hundreds of other organizations that are also accomplishing great things for those in need; these are just a few that are either recommended by trustworthy people and/or work for causes that are on my heart. If you know of other organizations that are employing people so they can be free {like Amazima - store here} or if the organization is working for a cause {like Bound4Life - store here}, please let me know.

And because she's amazing, Jen Rossum shared this guest post regarding budgeting and planning for Christmas shopping. Please ignore the fact that I ignored the third step about not starting in November. Ahem. At least you've got several weeks to go. {Fangirl comment: But there are only FOUR DAYS until Doctor Who!}