Christmas

Christmas season around our house ran from December 17th, when we celebrated with the Christensens, to January 23rd, when we celebrated with the Lamons.  Technically, we also celebrate the Souhrada Christmas over Presidents Day weekend, so it is not quite over.  Because of Faith's December sickness/hospitalization, we were totally behind on buying Christmas presents and putting up our tree.  So, once school let out for us all on December 23rd, it was a bit of a mad-dash to get Christmas things done.  On Christmas Eve, I called our local hardware store inquiring whether they had any trees left.  They had 2!  We purchased the $15 Charlie Brown left-over.  It nearly fell off the van on the way home.  Because it was 8 feet, Paul was thilled--he likes tall trees.  The kids decorated it and it was "beautiful."  I actually am thinking this might be the way to do things again next year.  I posted an extra picture of Faith.  Because she was in the hosptial during her church Christmas program, she didn't get to wear her dress until these Christmas Eve photos.  She was suppose to be the star carrier.  Maybe next year.






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kids in spring!

Image
Faith missed her piano recital because her Girl Scout troop went to Mary Poppins in Minneapolis, but we recorded her song.  This is just a sample.  Samuel had a great spring concert.  He alone played the bass line for kids who "improv'd" on a song.  Can't seem to get a video up, but here's a pic of him hiding behind a music stand, blowing away.  Emilee turned 8!  A pic from her party. 
Read more

Was Jesus Polarizing?

Was Jesus a polarizing figure? My church will do a worship series on polarization during Lent.   Wish us luck!   People are already asking me, “Are you really going to ask me to interact with others whose views are so off course that they would become violent?”   That response is incredibly telling of the dynamics at play within our society—that people automatically go to the extreme without seeing the rest.   The goal of this series is to investigate whether the life of Jesus teaches us anything about polarization. I’ve been doing some scriptural research.   And I got to tell you: it’s been a tough day.   You know when you are reading a novel and you prescribe a personality, tone of voice, and temperament to a character?   It’s almost like you can hear their voice in your head as you are reading dialogue.   The author of the story, of course, plants all the seeds through their character development, but ultimately the reader’s own lens gives the character life.   (This is why p
Read more

PRIDE week communion

Image
It's PRIDE month.  For the last three years, June has been a really strange time in ministry for me.  People often refer friends, relatives, and colleagues to talk through issues around identity and gender diversity.  I get calls from people dissatisfied with their own church's stance who are trying to figure out steps to allyship.  I get calls from parents trying to do the right things.  But the most holy calls I get are from people from the LGBTQIA community, folks looking for hope after church rejection, spiritual trauma, and family rejection.   These folks are brave:  brave to recount the pain, brave to dare to accept themselves, brave to let themselves sense a glimmer of healing grace.  Their stories are sacred, and I feel nothing but gratitude that I'm let into this sacredness.   Recently I was asked by a group to provide a two-minute speech about the power of story-telling during a time of holy conferencing (the nice version of debate) at the gathering of Minnesota U
Read more