Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is also my grandmother's birthday so every year we go to the Christmas Eve service at my church and then we come home and have Gramma's birthday dinner. A couple of really great things happened at the service. First of all, we took a cash only offering and the pastor said we were going to give it to someone outside our church family. Later in the service he started to say that he had told his wife that he would take care of Christmas Eve dinner. Then a pizza delivery guy came in and handed him some pizzas he asked his name, the guy says he's Zach, asks how much it is and the guy says it's $20. He hands him some money and then the pastor says "We took a little tip earlier, I think there's about $2300 in there. Merry Christmas." I was totally not expecting it! I thought it was a really good idea. I prayed that it worked out well for that delivery kid when he got back to the pizza place.

Another thing I'd like to share, is related to my volunteer work at MOPS(Mothers Of Preschoolers). I lead the song and snack time there, the kids are 2-5 and this semester I taught them Away in a Manger which they sang for their moms on the last day. I actually did the first and third verses with them, which most people wouldn't do. During the Christmas Eve service the worship leader brought all the kids up front, asked them questions, etc and then they sang some songs. They came to Away in a Manger and one of the little boys I teach is doing the hand motions, I look over to the other side, and some of the little girls I teach are over there singing clearly. They move on to the other verses and most of the kids don't know it. When they get to the third verse, my MOPS kids are doing the best of all! One of the girls is singing strongly and the worship leader gives her the microphone. She sang a good part of the verse. I was so excited and proud of the kids, I teared up a little.

Christmas Day

We needed to get to my uncle's house before my cousin left for her mom's house, so we woke up at 8:30 and my husband and I exchanged our gifts to each other. We were low on stocking stuffers this year, all I had for Jerrod was a bag of Starburst Favereds, but he didn't have anything for me so it was okay.

I gave him a Tanooki Mario shirt. The tanooki suit from Mario 3 is his favorite.
( Pictures of the Tanooki Mario shirt... )

I also crocheted him a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. It's Donatello which is his favorite. It was really hard to get it finished without him seeing it, but he really liked it.



( More pictures of Donatello... )

Then we went over to my uncle's house. My cousin Sidney opened her present from me first. My present for her was a case for the iPod touch I knew she was getting. When I showed it to my mom she said that my cousin is “Just junior high enough” that she might not know what it’s for and I should put in an iPod cutout. On Christmas Eve Sidney told me that she knows everything. The following is an account of the conversation when I gave it to her.

Sidney opens her box and there’s a brief pause.
Me: Do you know what it’s for?
Sidney: No
My Mom: See, I told you.
Me: It’s an iPod case.
Sidney: Oh!
My Mom: You should have put in an iPod touch cutout.
Me: I was going to, but then yesterday she told me that she knows everything!
My Mom: Bazinga!

( Sidney laughing and holding her iPod touch case... )

My sisters both seemed to like their scarves. Holly said she didn't have a yellow scarf and wore it for the rest of the day and today when we met for lunch she was wearing it again.

( Pictures of my sisters in their scarves... )

My mom wore her wrist warmers, too!
( My mom in her wrist warmers... )

My aunt Melodee seemed really happy with the Penguin I made her.
( Melodee opening her penguin... )

Before dinner, I read the Christmas story. I read from Matthew since they read from Luke in church the night before.

I started crocheting almost a month ago and now I'm crocheting a bunch of gifts for the upcoming birthdays and Christmas.

I made this "cane cozy" for my grandfather's birthday(Dec 15). It was my first improvised project.


This scarf is my sister's Christmas present. Her favorite color is Yellow. This is my first scarf. Ravelry Project.


My first "amigurumi" project! I made this cat for my mom's birthday present(Dec 20). It's made to resemble her real cat. I was surprised by how quick the pieces were to make. The hardest part was putting everything together. Ravelry Project.


I made this star to go in a Christmas card for my husband's Granny. Ravelry Project.


These wrist warmers are my mom's Christmas present. The bamboo yarn I used was my first "fancier" yarn. It's really soft! Ravelry Project.

Here is our decorated Christmas tree. We don't have a topper yet.

We picked out our Christmas tree at Peltzer Pine's tree farm the first day it opened. It was delivered last night. It is a Leylandia Cypress.

Originally published at Pretty Geek. You can comment here or there.

“And how did little Tim behave?” asked Mrs Cratchit, when she had rallied Bob on his credulity and Bob had hugged his daughter to his heart’s content.

“As good as gold,” said Bob, “and better. Somehow he gets thoughtful, sitting by himself so much, and thinks the strangest things you ever heard. He told me, coming home, that he hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day, who made lame beggars walk, and blind men see.”

A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens

Download an audio version of A Christmas Carol free at LibriVox. You can also read A Christmas Carol online at Project Gutenberg.

13 cute non-photo Christmas icons



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1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2He was in the beginning with God.

3All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

4In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.

5The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
The Witness John
6There came a man sent from God, whose name was John.

7He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him.

8He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.

9There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.

10He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.

11He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.

12But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,

13who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

14And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

15John testified about Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.'"

16For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.

17For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.

18No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

This has always been one of my favorite passages of scripture. It's always so cool how it mirrors Genisis 1:1 by starting with "In the beginning,". That first verse alone says so much, calling Jesus God and pointing toward the idea that we call The Trinity. It's a beautiful setup for the rest of the chapter. Of course, the first John talked about is not the John that wrote the gospel of John, but John the Baptist. But then of course he starts talking about Jesus again, refering to him as "the light". The image of "the Word becoming flesh" really excites me. I often read part of this at Christmas. That's what Christmas is all about, of course. That's what John is about, really; The Word becoming flesh and dwelling among us. You get a little thrill, don't you? :)