Thanksgiving, and the Day After

It's weird being all grown up and moved and away from immediate family. Yesterday, after video chatting with our families, Jorjette and I drove to D.C. to enjoy Thanksgiving with some aunts and uncles.

They live near the National Cathedral. We took a little walk before dinner and passed Homeland Security and walked through American University.

And their row house is fantastic and everything a row house should be.

Today, the Friday after Thanksgiving, we're back in Grantham, moving onto the Christmas season.

We bought a $20 Target Christmas tree and, well, it looks like a $20 Target Christmas tree. But it's cute and  we're in good company.

And Eleanor enjoys the season.

 Alright, that's all. Enjoy the weekend.

Christmas thoughts

As a semi-well educated, hip twenty-something, I'm fairly good at complaining. One such occurrence happens frequently whenever I hear someone (typically a pastor or a "Christian by trade") call the listener to remember the "reason for the season" and to "get back" to the true meaning of Christmas. My initial response, as a whiny young person, is to explain to everyone around me that Jesus' real birth most likely didn't happen anytime around December and that a call back to the meaning of Christmas would bring us back to some sort of Roman (or is it Greek?) pagan holiday which really has nothing to do with Jesus' birth.

I know, I annoy myself.

The next step in the conversation (one I rarely get to) should be about the redemption that can happen with holidays like Christmas. And hopefully, we can be reminded of the redemption that Christ can bring to all of life. That's something I can celebrate. So it is at this time of year that I would like to call everyone to remember not the true meaning of the holiday (I am neither Roman nor Greek and don't necessarily care to celebrate their pagan holidays), but rather to embrace the redeeming love brought through our lord Jesus that extends through our whole lives, even to our holidays.

Snow falling and Another link

Snow is falling. Christmas is close. Presents are under the tree. Good feelings all around. I've been doing nothing except watch movies/tv shows and reading books. I don't think Christmas break could be any better.

I hate doing this but I think it's worth sharing. Burnside Writer's Blog has some of those pictures based on those "cats with the funny sayings" pictures that have been so popular in the last few years. I think they're pretty grand. Here's a few of my favorites: