Thursday's Ten: Christmas traditions

today's list: your favorite personal or family traditions for this time of year :0)



1. opening one (just one!) gift on Christmas Eve
my parents always let me, and i loved it.  i think i'll continue the tradition with my kids with Christmas pajamas :)
2. Christmas Eve Mass
i'm not catholic, but i love the service
3. sleeping just one night per season underneath the Christmas tree
that wouldn't be hard for me this year...considering the tree is just across the room from where i sleep anyway...
4. black Friday Christmas shopping -- online and in person
i know some think it's crazy but i love it!
5. wrapping presents. it may not be a tradition, really, but i have a rule at Christmas that there will be NO bags involved unless it's just a particularly hard gift to wrap.
i love wrapping gifts.  is that weird?
6. movies -- A's family watches the same movies every year, starting with Elf on thanksgiving night and including White Christmas and It's a Wonderful Life...and a few others ;-)
and anthony and i watched Love Actually tonight...and i think we'll do Four Christmases before Christmas day
7. the Advent wreath. this year I put it up late, and didn't prepare by finding any books to do during the season...so unprepared, but hopefully this is the only year that will be a problem.
there's something so peaceful and lovely about lighting a candle and whispering simple words
8. my open house party...that's another thing that just isn't happening this year :( 
but there are plenty to attend, and i hope that next year's will more than make up for this year's lack
9.  caroling.  i haven't done it for YEARS, but maybe i should change that.  my cell group (small group) talked last night about the possibility of caroling sometime before Christmas, so who knows? :-)
we actually snuck to a friends house to sing a song for them last night...which is what brought the conversation up 
10.  playing Christmas music...constantly
normally i have only holiday music playing after thanksgiving.  this year has been a little strange in all regards.  i'm missing directing a choir, i'm missing decorating a space that's truly mine, and i've discovered pandora to play in the car...but i suppose i could choose a pandora Christmas station...

i'm sure as the years go by and i have children things will get even crazier.  but those are the simple traditions i've kept for the last 5 years or so.  what about you?

lost

last night i found myself helping to lead worship at a midweek service

which is always a nice pick-me-up

especially when i'm leading with some of my favorite people :)

michael, my friend who lead the service, found this video on youtube and played it at the beginning of the service.

he began it with simple words on the screen:

"a guy walking the streets of new york just can't stop himself from praising"

and then the video. WOW.

there's such simplicity here. a guy walking around listening to his ipod...but there's something rising in him that's so organic, so fresh, so come up to the top, that he can't stop himself.

it made me wonder. as i looked around the room and watched people react to the video

when did they last get so lost in worship that they just couldn't stop themselves from praising?

when's the last time *I* did?

what's wrong with us if we don't lose ourselves more often?

it doesn't have to look like anything spectacular. in fact, it often doesn't.

for me, the last time it happened was monday night at a 20s/30s worship event i attend every week. at the end of the service we all went forward to pray and worship just...happened. i found myself singing at the top of my lungs--some unknown song--and not caring one bit if anyone heard me or didn't.

i've seen people take different postures of worship, use different languages to praise, and just stand and silently weep.

i'm known to lose myself in worship in my car...which doesn't always work out financially but it always brings me to a new level (seriously: go read the story. it's especially meaningful for me to remember it now with the events of the last few months...)

all of this to say...lose yourself today. or tomorrow. or sunday morning at church. or...whenever. just spend some time being so carried away by His presence that you can't.do.anything.else.

and then...would you share with me or someone? it would be a great encouragement!

(oh yeah, and here's the video--watch! conveniently located right next to my music player so you can turn it off...i SO planned that...ok, i didn't :)

Page from my Journal 1 (Monday's Memory)

I'll be back soon to post pictures and tell you a bit about my Valentine's Day :)

But right now I'm going to share my Monday's Memory with you.

I've been feeling a bit...dry...in worship lately. As followers will remember, our worship minister recently left us for another position. The interim is...hard for me to say the least. It's not that we don't have amazingly talented leaders for each Sunday, and wonderful Godly people who are planning our worship times. It's just...the Randy touch. It's gone, I miss it, and I'm craving some deep, fall on my face, raise my hands in the air and DANCE kind of worship.

I get some of that downstairs with the youth group.

But I'm aching for it in other areas as well.

And so as I'm flipping through my journal tonight I came across an entry dated 10.9.06. It's a reflection from watching a friends toddler absolutely lose herself in the worship we were having at small group that evening. She was 2.5 at the time and was the picture of what worship should be--uninhabited and joyful. Here's what I wrote that night:

What a beautiful picture of what worship really is!

Twirling
Spinning
Adoring
Joy!

Thank You, Father for giving me just a glimpse of what you see when our hearts are lifted in praise to you!

Bring me back to a time when I praised You all day long.
Did I ever have such a time?
I don't remember it. Don't know if it was 'allowed'.
But YOU allow me to be a child again, so Father may I adore You, all day long as children do!

And that...is still my prayer.
Amen.

A look back:

*for those of you wondering, the back is still out. The sinuses seem to be somewhat fading, but I've definitely made the back worse after there had been a significant improvement over the last couple of days. I think I've taken about 10 steps backwards, and just hope that future progress is positive!*

Ellen quote that sums me up right now:

"This morning I hopped right out of bed...and by hopped I mean it took 30 minutes, 6 Advil, a pulley system and a handful of sedatives to get me out of bed in a seated position. And I know that you're probably thinking 'Ellen, you shouldn't have to be taking Advil and sedatives together', but the Advil was for me and the sedatives were for Portia; the screaming is killing her...she's tired of hearing me scream."

Sad...but true. Substitute "Lora" for Ellen and "Anthony" for Portia, and you have the partial scenario of me trying to get up off the floor tonight. It was NOT pretty.

anyway, on to the real blogging!

It's been quite a year! Here's a brief look back...

January: New Year's at Anthony's parents house; began "driving Miss Nancy"; Inauguration of President Obama
February: good friend from college visited; sweet Valentine's day; last praise team retreat ever with Randy (although we had no idea)
March: one of my best friends from high school visited this month; 28th birthday
April: Dave Matthews Band concert...uh...I'm sure there were other fun things too. We did join the zoo this month...and I did have one CRAZY day!
May: Anthony and I traveled together for the first time--to see his aunt in Atlanta; started doing some consulting work
June: 10 year high school reunion and reconnection with Dotty; good friend Laura had her baby Israel (and began the many births of summer '09)
July: Camp with youth group + Anthony's family vacation = over 2 weeks apart! Ugh.
August: Laura and sweet baby Izzy spent a few days at my house; went to Texas to a friend's wedding with Anthony and our friend Ben; celebrated a year of dating the most wonderful man :); began working at Catholic Charities temporarily; found out that Randy and LaJuana were moving
September: visited the Jack Daniels distillery; found out about Sam's cancer
October: 2nd annual ghost tour; finally cut my hair to donate (after over a year of growth); went to my very first NFL football game (between my two favorite teams no less!)
November: Thanksgiving with Anthony's family
December: Christmas with Anthony's family; 2 trips to Indiana (one for the Colts game, one for Christmas); got to sing in a friend's Christmas show downtown; also sold jewelry offline for the first time!

If all goes well...

My friend Sam (more about him and his wife) gets to go home tomorrow!

His counts are going up, and although he will continue to be closely monitored, his immune system has developed enough to return to his own home!

Praises...

You know, all day long I've wanted to post a blog and couldn't figure out *what* to write about. I guess I was just waiting for the good news!

Here's a song he posted on his blog the other day. Perhaps you've heard it before; I grew up singing it in church as did he:

Whatever It Takes

There’s a voice calling me, from an old rugged tree
And it whispers draw closer to me
Leave this world far behind,
There are new heights to climb
And a new place in Me you will find

For whatever it takes, to draw closer to You Lord
That’s what I’d be wiling to do
And whatever it takes, to be more like you
That’s what I’d be willing to do

Take my houses and lands,
Change my dreams and my plans.
For I’m placing my whole life in Your hands.
And if you call me someday,
To a land far away,
Lord, I’ll go and Your will obey.

For whatever it takes to draw closer to You, Lord,
That’s what I’ll be willing to do.
And whatever it takes for my will to break,
That’s what I’ll be willing to do.

Take the dearest things to me, if that’s how it must be
To draw me closer to Thee
Let the disappointments come, lonely days without the sun
If through sorrow more like You I’ll become.

For whatever it takes to draw closer to You, Lord,
That’s what I’ll be willing to do.
And whatever it takes for my will to break,
That’s what I’ll be willing to do.

I’ll trade sunshine for rain, comfort for pain, that’s what I’d be willing to do.
For whatever it takes to be more like you, That’s what I’d be willing to do.

Um, so if you want to hear a rough version of it, turn off the music player and click the video. It's me, rough chords because I don't have sheet music and had to play it by ear, a couple of big boo-boos, and distracting moving as I sing (can you promise not to WATCH the video and just listen? lol) and I can't promise that at 12:30 am I was completely "on" for the whole song. But, it's there. Gentle, dear readers :0) (there are more of you now than the last time I posted myself singing!)

Anyway, I'm so grateful for this miracle. No, his journey with cancer isn't over...not even close...but this chapter is coming to a close.