it twas a very white Christmas

I hope all of you had a great, joy filled Christmas and took time to make room in your hearts for Emmanuel--like Halen did. (Loved her blog entry here.)


The Candlelight Christmas Eve service went well considering we only had one rehearsal. There were only a few minor glitches with the song, but all in all it was well worth the nervousness and prayers. Kathy and I were talking about recording it someday.

After the service we headed to James' grandparents' house for their annual Christmas Eve party. However, by the time we got there everyone was headed out the door, but that made opportunity to have some rare one on one time with his grandparents.

Christmas Day we ventured out in the storm to my parents' house for Christmas dinner. My grandparents' (mom's parents) were there as well as my uncle Mike. It was a good time of prime rib, berries with lemmoncello, fresh roasted coffee, gifts, and an impromptu concert by my brother. Quite a nice Christmassy treat.


We certainly woke up to a wintry wonderland yesterday and did today as well. Here are a few pictures. I'm too chicken to venture out in the cold snow right now so I took these from my backdoor and front window. Don't worry, that's not "the happy little chair" sitting out there in the extreme elements. It's does give you a bit of reference of how much snow we have though. It's been very windy too so I imagine that's why there is no snow on those trees back there.

I hope to get better pictures soon when I muster up some courage to actually go out.

In the meantime I woke up early today to finish my "chores" so I could cozy up and read this amazing book...

My James gave it for me for Christmas. It was number one on my list and my favorite gift I received this year. The author, Jane Brocket, writes this blog. I love her writing and visual style and how she talks about "domesticity, not domestication"-- two completely different things. And how some women crave domesticity and don't feel fulfilled or settled with out it. I am certainly in that category. It's a nice thick read so I'm very excited!

Side note: my James said it was quite the feat to explain when asked what he got me for Christmas. Can you imagine?... "So what did you get your wife for Christmas?" James: "Uh a book on the gentle art of domesticity." "Ohhh, uh ohhh interesting..." while their inner monologue is saying, "Jerk! What a sexist pig!" He eventually had to explain that it was what I asked for - number one on my list.

I'm sure I'll write more about this wonderful book. I've only read the introduction and I'm already quite in love with it.