Santa

Lucy at a mere five months really just loves to be held and frankly doesn't overly care who is holding her, I would like to think that she cares when Marc and I hold her, however, I am not even 100% certain that is always true - she just loves to be held and loves to watch people. Last night I got the opportunity to work at the Spaghetti with Santa dinner for my local Lions club. While setting up and the crowds began to stream in and eat dinner I was chatting with Santa (who by the way was an AMAZING Santa - check out that beard, plus he was OUTSTANDING with the kids, they all loved him) and he and I were talking about how he has 79 visits to make during the month of December alone (although if I were looking for a Santa at an event this guy would be on the top of my list) and then he was making faces at Lucy. At one point he exclaimed - "do I get to hold her or do I just have to stare at her cuteness" - so I placed her down in his arms. Lucy while, the pictures don't necessarily capture it, blew spit bubbles at Santa, babbled, and snuggled right in and nearly fell asleep in his arms as she sat there for about twenty minutes. It wasn't until I had to leave to go clear the tables that I thought I should probably snap a picture (oops) and so hence her photos look like she is half asleep - because she is.

I was excited to be able to get a couple pictures with Santa  and not have to pay an arm and a leg in order to get them. While I don't know that I would have intentionally gone to seek out a Santa (at the mall or somewhere) to take Lucy's pictures with, I think I will be thrilled to have some pictures a few years from now. Being unprepared I am thankful she was in a bit of a neutral outfit yesterday as I didn't even think to pack an outfit in order to get her pictures with Santa. It will be fun to have a series of photos each year of her with Santa, hopefully next year she isn't afraid of him.

Have you been doing anything Christmasy lately?
Any plans to visit Santa?

Have you found a rockstar Santa?

Christmas Eve

I LOVE Christmas eve, seriously possibly more than Christmas day itself. Growing up Christmas eve was always the bigger day. It was the day when all of my family got together, had a huge meal, open gifts, and went to the eleven o'clock candlelight service. When we were really little we even went to church in our new Christmas pjs. It was glorious. To make the candlelight service even better (as if it wasn't already epic enough) we often fell asleep on Grandma or Grandpa and at the end of worship during the silent night one of us grand-kids always got to go outside with Grandpa to ring the bell. I am not sure why the tradition there is to ring the bell at the end of worship but it was and if you got to help Grandpa ring the bell it was even better.

Now that I am a pastor Christmas eve is a little different and I love it for different reasons. I love it because I get the opportunity to worship with sooooooo many people and many people we haven't seen since Easter. I love it because it is festive and we get to sing all the wonderful Christmas songs. I love Christmas eve because it is filled with such hope and anticipation.

My traditions for Christmas eve have obviously had to change, I no longer can be home in South Dakota for Christmas eve as I need to be here leading worship. My parents, brother, and his girlfriend as well as my fiance are all around this year and I believe my mom is cooking dinner to be ready for me to grab between services three and four and Christmas day is becoming a bigger deal. This year we are traveling down to Minneapolis (a couple hour drive) to meet up with my uncle and cousins for lunch. My guess is tomorrow we won't be up at the crack of dawn (or as my parents would argue before the crack of dawn when we were little), we will sleep in and enjoy a lazy morning. Santa still comes (whoop whoop) and we will exchange presents Christmas morning while chilling in our sweats. We will read the Christmas story and remember the story that claims each and every one of us.

We don't currently have any little kids who will be up crazy early and be nuts, our gifts will not contain tons of assembling (I would guess at least) or batteries that need to be found. For my immediate family we are between generations, my brother (24) is currently the youngest, and trust me he'd be happy to sleep until noon if we didn't have to be in the cities by 1.

I am thankful for God who comes to us as a human, a tiny human baby thousands of years ago. I am thankful for the promise of Jesus' return. I am thankful for the Holy Spirit who continues to meet us each and every day. I am thankful for the light of God that continues to shine in even the darkest of circumstances. I am thankful for family and friends who are willing to travel to spend Christmas with me. I am thankful for my family and friends who will travel to be present at my wedding in June. Thanks be to God for all the ways that God is working and the showering of blessings.

Proud to Be a Lion

This is a pic one of my friends took, yes I know I was being cheesy (it was intended)
and yes, I knew Marc was behind me photo bombing the picture
but I think the picture is hilarious and I couldn't help but post it.

Yes, I am a member of the Lions Club. Yes, I sort of fell into on accident. No, I didn't ever intend on being a lion. Yes, I am beyond thrilled to be a Lion. Yes, I know every organization has it's faults and the Lions club isn't an exception. All this being said, this fall I became a Lion. I believe I am the 2nd youngest in the club and the majority of our club's members are older than I, however, I couldn't be happier to be a Lion. Slowly but surely we are working to lower our average age.

Monday night our Lions club had a spaghetti dinner feed with Santa. It was wonderful to see over 250 people come through the doors and eat together and to have the anticipation of the little one's who couldn't wait to go talk to Santa. Santa heard Christmas wish lists, handed out candy canes and small toys, and brought out smiles and joy that is beyond words.

Why you may ask am I so thrilled to be a lion? I am proud to be a member of an organization that helps to fund scouting programs, provides glasses for those who couldn't otherwise afford them, to be a service club within our community who reaches out and extends love to those who otherwise may not receive the help they need. It is an honor to sit in on a meeting when the discussion is how much money to give to a particular cause.

I am proud to be a Lion and look forward to seeing where our club can serve in the future.