Well, Christmas is over, and as Jenny insinuated, I’ve been a deadbeat in the realm of posting. Funny how I just said I was going to be back and then disappeared for 3 weeks. I’ve been thinking about why I put off on posting, and the best reason I can come up with, besides a certain amount of lethargy is fear. I have decided that I am afraid of people’s judgments. So here is my attempt to say, “screw it” and write unafraid of people’s assessments of me.
But back to Christmas, This year was one of the best Christmas’ I think I’ve had in a while. I don’t think that I can place one thing that made this Christmas any more Christmassy than the last, but somehow it came off that way. But in an attempt to share why my holidays were good here is my list of favorite Christmas ‘things’ from 2006:
- Relaxing in my basement with friends, sipping tea/coffee, watching the fire on my TV and listening to Christmas music.
- Playing Crokinole with my family around the kitchen table while listening to the Sufjan Stevens Christmas album.
- Waking up without the sound of an alarm in my ear.
- Hunting for Christmas music. Here are my top ten favorites of this year (in no particular order):
a. Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing – Sufjan Stevens
b. We Wish You A Merry Christmas – The Muppets
c. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas – Coldplay
d. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) – Deathcab For Cutie (or U2 for that Matter)
e. Little Drummer Boy/Peace On Earth – David Bowie & Bing Crosby
f. Fairytale of New York – The Pogues & Kristy McCall
g. Put The Lights On The Tree – Sufjan Stevens
h. Joy To The World – The Trans-Siberian Orchestra
i. Happy Holidays (Beef Wellington Remix) – Bing Crosby
j. Darcy The Dragon – Roger Whittaker
- A Christmas Day fondue with some family friends that involved 4 different types of fondue.
- Playing Settlers of Catan.
All in all it was a good break, one that restored and refilled me to the point where I am now looking forward to the coming semester. The thought of another 3 1/2 months of school is no longer something to start a spiral down into depression. I get to be a Teaching Assistant in class that excites me, I get to take a class with a brilliant man whose knowledge of the Bible is scary and highly interesting and I have less on my plate so I’ll be able to take moments to breath and enjoy being where I am, something that often got lost in scheduling last semester.
Merry belated Christmas and happy New Year.
While doing some reading for one of my classes this quote stuck out to me, it seemed applicable somehow: "the majority of current church practices are cultural accommodations to a society that no longer exists" (Eddie Gibbs & Ryan K. Bolger, in Emerging Churches)
