Texas in December

Thought I'd share a few pics from our road trip to Texas for Christmas. First of all I'm SO thankful that our drive was easy this year! We got there in 13 hours, which was a HUGE improvement to the 24+ it took us two years ago:

and...

Ya, so MUCH better this year. Lesson learned: check the weather before you go.

Anyways, we got there on December 23rd & stayed until December 31st, so it was a nice long trip! We did a lot of shopping, gift giving, & eating. A picture with my beautiful & very generous mother in law:

Mike got a boat...

Of course it had to be blown up in the dining room...

We went to a great Christmas Eve service at The Village. The pastor talked about how we're in a second season of Advent now, which I had never thought of before. One aspect of Advent is preparing for Christmas, but the second Advent is waiting for the return of our Messiah. And we're never going to be fully satisfied until He does, because we are waiting & longing for perfection, which comes after Christ returns. Anyways, quite interesting. And packed! We got turned away from the first service because the auditorium was already full! By the way, they are in an old Albertsons- it's not a small church!

Christmas was at Grannie's house, with lots of yummy food & a fun gift exchange. I got to spend some time with Michael's cousin Greg's 6 week old baby, which made me very happy. No pictures, though. =(

After Christmas, we drove to San Antonio for the Baylor bowl game. On the way we passed through Waco & I went back to the campus for the first time in a few years:

Sic 'em Bears!

Baylor really does have beautiful architecture!

 We went to the Riverwalk in downtown San Antonio, ate lunch on the river, & went to the Alamo, which is in downtown San Antonio!

P.S. The temperatures were in the 70s, and I was soaking up every second! It snowed about a foot in Colorado the day before we left, so 70 degree weather was much welcomed!!

That night we went to the Alamo Bowl, where Baylor & Washington set a bowl record for highest combined point total. Thankfully Baylor came out on top 67-56. Obviously both defenses were terrible! Honestly I got tired of cheering for touchdowns...

Baylor's first ever Heisman winner: Robert Griffen III

We win! Yay!

We drove back from San Antonio on the 30th, then took off for Colorado on the 31st. So, lots of driving those days. And driving on New Year's Eve. Yay. But now we're home safe, finally getting back into the routine of work, laundry, cooking, all the fun stuff you don't have to do while on vacation. This year made for a great trip & we're hoping some of our Texas family will come out to visit us in Colorado this summer!! **Wink, wink**

Happy New Year everyone! Check out my "12 in 2012" tab under the main picture to follow me on my new year's goals! I'd love to hear about yours!

Rethinking Christmas...

Why do you celebrate Christmas?

This is a question I've been thinking about over the past few weeks. Why do we do what we do? What does it mean to celebrate Christmas?  Santa? Gifts? Good deals? Church? Family time? Giving? What is it that motivates you to observe Christmas?

Christmas for me has always been about family, gifts, & time off work/school. Which, are all part of this season, & I'm never against time off work. I just want to ask the question why. Why are these things important at this time of year? Why do we put energy & effort into decorating our homes, buying gifts, cooking a perfect dinner, & making sure we get to the Christmas Eve service (even though we haven't been the rest of the year)? I don't want to celebrate just because it's how I was brought up, or it's what everyone else is doing. I want my Christmas to be different.  I want my Christmas to be about a time of remembrance & celebration of the life of a baby who came into the world to help me realize God's love for His children. Me. You. Us all. 

I wasn't always a believer in the whole God thing. I took the stance for a long time that I was living my life to be a good person & to enjoy the time I had here on Earth. But about 7 years ago God came into my life & changed everything. I started to see God doing things in my life to get me to notice Him. I began reading the Bible & learning about how God came to Earth because we had 'religion' all wrong. He showed me that my life has a purpose & meaning: to love God & love others. That's what my life is about now. I believe that Jesus is the way to Heaven. I believe that Jesus is the truth above all things. I believe that Jesus is the light that was sent to save the world from darkness. Because my life has been changed, the way I celebrate Christmas also needs to change.

I'm not trying to argue that gifts, Santa, & family time are bad, please don't get me wrong. I just want to take a look at why I do the things I do around Christmas.

I read this blog that first got me thinking about all this. I highly encourage you to check it out when you have time. It gives really focused & practical traditions to start that will help keep us focused on the why of Christmas.

Desiring Virtue: Cultivating a Christ-Centered Christmas

Here are some traditions I would like to start in my family:

• Advent Traditions: Advent wreath, Advent readings- see here for a free Advent devotional book.
• Meditation Traditions: Names of Jesus ornaments, changing the way we decorate
• Worship Traditions: Christmas Eve church service, play/sing Christmas hymns, giving only 3 gifts
• Imitating Christ Traditions: Being intentional to care for orphans & widows, the church, & the poor during the season.

All these traditions are explained more on the Desiring Virtue website. You can click on links above to each entry. I hope to write & explore more about them in the near future! 

I am so thankful for my family & for the traditions my parents set for me & my sister. I in no way mean to criticize the way I was raised or say our traditions were bad. I love & want to keep many of the traditions I grew up with! I just look at the little family I have now & realize we can choose how we want to celebrate. The why. The reason behind all that we do, for our family, will point back to a God that came into my life and gave me indescribable joy, purpose & motivation. I hope you will join me to try to give Him a little more consideration this Christmas season.