Never in my blogging life of 16 years have I ever posted twice in one day. Just had to sneak this one in before the clock strikes twelve. I’ll leave you alone until next Thursday. Promise.
Here are my twelve tribes in all their pajama glory. #12 got lots of love from his cousins.
Three big boys. Three big girls. Three little girls. Three little boys. I couldn’t have come up with a more symmetrical arrangement.
We forced one more Nativity scene and I expect it will be our last. What else were we to do with a 10-day-old in our midst? He was the star of the show. If you’re counting, we are short one sheep. The 6-year-old refused to put on a silly costume and join the fun, even though Opa bribed him with suckers. I like his spunk.
Something about Christmas brings out the kid in all of us. PB’s natural fun-loving personality really shines during the holidays. He brings home all kinds of goodies. Every day. They are piling up.
Bags of Farm & Fleet Tootsie Roll Pops are a staple around here. In December, though, the stash is considerably expanded. After all, there are Christmas programs and dance recitals and extra church services. The demand rises dramatically, so PB keeps his pockets jammed full of suckers to pass out when the kids’ start to wiggle.
One year, PB brought home a yodeling pickle ornament. It’s motion sensitive, which means when I get up at 5:30 a.m. and tiptoe out to the kitchen, a shrill voice coming from a dark corner scares the Charles Dickens out of me. So fun!
It’s not all candy and toys for PB. He also goes in for a good game to play with the grandkids. This one is sure to be a hit with the 6-year-old and 8-year-old grandsons. We need to give them more reasons to talk about butts.
Of all PB’s fun finds, these get my seal of approval. They don’t cause cavities, they don’t yodel, and they have nothing to do with butts.
These flimsy “glasses” transform the Christmas tree lights into fun shapes. We have glasses that create snowmen, reindeer, trees, candy canes and gingerbread men. These magical specs cost $1.69 each, which is the best deal in town.
See what I mean? The glasses help you see something that nobody else sees. It’s magic.
I’m wondering if Simeon had a special pair of glasses.
In Luke 2, when Joseph and Mary brought their 8-day-old baby boy to the temple, Simeon saw something that nobody else saw. The elderly gentleman took baby Jesus in his arms and declared, “My eyes have seen your salvation.” (Luke 2:30)
Everyone else in the temple saw a baby. Simeon saw salvation. He must have had Holy-Spirit-glasses. Oh, for eyes to see like Simeon.
Even though all the stores and television ads are telling you otherwise, Christmas doesn’t arrive until December 25th. Shocking news, isn’t it?
The Christmas season is in full swing. All the music, all the decorations, all the credit card purchases. All of it.
But wait.
This is Advent – a time of preparing for Christmas. Just as Lent is the time leading up to Easter, Advent is supposed to be slower, quieter, and more introspective as we get ready for Christ to arrive. Instead, we jump into full-on celebration right from the start of December and by the time the 25th rolls around, we are exhausted and kind of glad it’s all over. We’re getting it all wrong.
“Advent is like the hush of the theater just before the curtain rises.” Frederick Buechner
Four weeks are built into the Christian calendar to “help us cultivate waiting, hope, and longing. And longing isn’t short. Longing literally takes a looooong time or it’s not really a longing, is it?” (A. J. Sherrill, Rediscovering Christmas)
Oh, I know. Waiting isn’t easy. We are so used to immediate gratification—getting what we want when we want it. Advent waiting, though, allows God time to do deep work in us, if we sit still long enough.
I’m trying to reign in the hustle and bustle during Advent. I’d like to save some mental, emotional and physical energy for the day the waiting is over and the true celebration begins—Christmas Day! I don’t want to be so stuffed with Christmas by the 25th that I sleep through the real show.
My inbox greeted me with two messages on this Thanksgiving morning.
I signed up for the NYT emails so I can play Wordle. I get SpurgeonBooks emails so I can pray the Word.
Feast your eyes on two ways to give thanks today.
“Everything will be OK. Try to enjoy the day. You can do it.” vs. “Always thankful to our merciful God”
Take your pick.
“Give thanks as you move through the day. And hug your people tight.” (NYT) vs. “We all have some cause for thankfulness, therefore will we praise the Lord from the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same.” (Spurg)
It helps to know Who to thank.
Also, you didn’t think we would finish the year without a plan, did you?
The 2025 Bible Reading Plan was left wide open for December. But never fear, we will finish strong in 2025 with an Advent Reading Plan. Also, fear not—most days are only a few verses. Grab yourself a cup of coffee in the wee hours of dark December mornings, light a candle, and join me for a moment of stillness and study of His Word. The same Word that became Flesh.
“I do not want to just read books; I want to climb inside them and live there.” ~Unknown
I’ve climbed inside some great books this year–47 to be exact. Picking my top ten won’t be easy, but here goes.
10. The Dean’s Watch, Elizabeth Goudge I read one Goudge book every year for the sheer enjoyment of it. The English countryside in her captivating stories is a perfect escape for me in February. There’s always transformation, redemption, and beauty, but never in a formulaic way. This is a good one to climb into.
9. Water From a Deep Well, Gerald L. Sittser I’m a church-girl, but I didn’t know much about the sweep of church history. It may sound boring, but Sittser made it come alive starting with the early Christian martyrs and moving through the desert saints, the monastic movement, the mystics, the medieval laity, the reformers, and evangelicalism. We stand on the shoulders of centuries of faithful believers.
8. David’s Crown, Malcolm Guite Guite wrote a sonnet for every one of the 150 psalms with a creative twist. The last line of each psalm is the first line of the following psalm and this pattern is woven throughout the book. Then the last line of Psalm 150 is the first line of Psalm 1. So cool. He’s a true wordsmith.
7. The Bartender’s Tale, Ivan Doig This is a rollicking-good story set in Montana in 1960. Doig’s characters are so well developed and the settings so masterfully described that reading his books only feeds my fantasy of living in Montana. Talking about this novel with my neighborhood bookclub made it even better. Plus, snacks were served.
6. The Re-Set, Jeremy Riddle I listened to the audio version of this book. Riddle read his own words with such passion and conviction, I was brought to tears more than once. He had some hard things to say about the state of worship in the modern church, but always with a heart of love. I’ve given this book to every worship leader I know.
5. The Storied Life, Jared C. Wilson Jared Wilson is “Author-in -Residence” at Midwestern Seminary which means his job is to write stuff. After publishing 26 books, he wrote a book on how to write books. I don’t know if I have a book in me, but I’ll definitely use his wise words to propel me into 2025 with fresh inspiration.
3. Kristin Lavransdatter, Sigrid Unset I wanted to read a book set in another country, so I picked a 1,124 page novel about a Norwegian woman in the 1300’s. I’ve never read medieval literature, or Scandinavian history or a book that’s more than 2″ thick. I new experience for me—and I liked it.
2. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens PB and I immersed ourselves in Dickens this Christmas. We watched the 2009 animated film with Jim Carrey as Scrooge. We read “A Christmas Carol” together. We took the free course from Hillsdale College, which consisted of six delightful lectures by a literature professor. Then we watched “The Man Who Invented Christmas”—the story of the journey that led Dickens to write his Christmas masterpiece. God bless us everyone.
1. Trusting God in the Darkness, Christopher Ash This was the book that impacted me the most this year, which I read while studying the book of Job. Themes of suffering, loneliness and despair were gently dealt with in Ash’s book. Every single page has sentences underlined or notes written in the margin. It’s too good to say any more about it. When you’re ready to wade into deep waters, get a copy and read it slow.
a small drop of ink 