Merry Christmas!!

We had a lovely Christmas with family.  We started at home opening gifts from Santa and exchanging gifts as a family.  We headed to Christmas Day worship service at The Vine, which was awesome.  We had brunch after church at G-Mom's house... we should definitely make Christmas Day french toast a tradition!!  And we ended the day by traveling up the mountain for Christmas dinner at Grandma and Granddad's house.  Here are some pics from the day!!

Mom had a quilt top made by my great-grandmother quilted by my great-aunt.  So special.

Happy Holidays!!!

I know it's been forever, but we've been busy around here! We celebrated Thanksgiving with the Needhams. I'm so lucky to have married into such an amazing family. Truly, they rock!!!

Our family, not really sure what our moms were doing here

Mom and me being silly making "the face"

Those that started it all. Aren't they the cutest? I didn't take this pic, but I love it!

Then we celebrated the 3rd anniversary of our engagement by decorating our Christmas tree on December 6th, like we do every year.

the tree

the stockings

the precious pups. don't let them fool you, they are not as angelic as they appear.

We celebrated Christmas in Alabama with my family. We had lunch with my brother and nephew, then we partied with the Trousdales. They are good folks who know how to party!

My brother Bo, my nephew Johnathan, me

the kids, we look ecstatic!

the girls, I'm pregnant. that's my excuse.

My sweet husband got me a new-to-me Cannon Rebel camera!! I took lots of pictures of my cute animals, here is a sample. Aren't they the cutest?

We celebrated the New Year at Matt's parents' house with their family that usually gets together for Christmas. Dinner was postponed a week due to SNOW!

The Matthews family

I hope your holiday season was merry and blessed! Happy 2011!!

A NEW kind of Christmas

Long time, no blog, I know I know.

I wanted to share the Sunday school lesson I wrote for the first Sunday of Advent. Advent is a time of preparation, anticipation and hope. As Christians we celebrate Advent on the 4 Sundays leading up to Christmas Day.

During this time of the season, we are usually occupied with lists and gifts and hustle and bustle, but what are we really preparing for?

Most people have favorite Christmas traditions, whether from their childhood or new ones created as adults with our own families. What about this Christmas season do YOU anticipate the most? What is your favorite tradition?

MY favorite part of Christmas as a child was my whole family spending all day at Meme & Papaw's house. After opening gifts from Santa on Christmas morning, each daughter's family would pack up (children with favorite new toy in tow) and head to Meme & Papaw's for lunch on Christmas Day. It was so much fun, because if there was something that you didn't get for Christmas, chances are someone else did and you still got to play with it! When I was a little older, Mom and I started a tradition of spending all day on Christmas Eve watching old and new Christmas movies and baking treats! To this day, White Christmas is still my favorite Christmas movie. Or is it It's a Wonderful Life? Or the ORIGINAL Miracle on 34th Street with little Natalie Wood? What was I saying? Oh yes, a different kind of Christmas.

Matt and I started the tradition of celebrating Advent as a couple the year we got engaged. We read the Upper Room daily devotional for Advent together each night, sometimes over the phone! The first year we were married we participated in the Advent wreath making event at church and made a beautiful live wreath, remember? We complete our observation of Advent by attending the midnight Christmas Eve service at church, my favorite. The rest of this season, the rest of what we have made Christmas about, stresses me out! The lists, the malls, the parking lots, the traffic, the bills, and on and on, I can do without.

As we leave the time of Thanksgiving and are reminded of our many blessings, even though times are hard, we are still truly blessed. Our homeland is peaceful, our bellies are full, and each of us can cling to someone who truly loves us (whether family or friend). Ever since I attending the "Adventures in Missing the Point" *conference at First-Centenary, where we hosted the two authors of the book of the same title Brian McLaren and Tony Campolo, I've been thinking about ways that I've missed the point. I immediately thought of Christmas.

*This conference blew me away and I am SO incredibly thankful I was there. If you haven't read either of these authors, I suggest you pick something up. "Adventures" is a great place to start.

We recently studied the history of many of the denominations of Christianity, ending with Methodism. Each doctrine we studied had something worthwhile and admirable to give us, but it confirmed that I am right where I should be. I am Methodist to the core. I'm not saying we have it right and no one else does, I'm just saying it's right for me! Having said that, I wanted to see what the Father of Methodism, John Wesley, had to say about Christmas. My web search turned up a sermon entitled "The More Excellent Way" based on I Corinthians 12:31.

"But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way."

He based an entire sermon on the verse directly preceding I Corinthians Chapter 13, the love chapter.

We as Christians are all striving for the most excellent way (not to sound too Bill and Ted-ish) in our walk as Christians, that's the point. Advent is about preparing our hearts to celebrate the birth of Jesus, our King. So what is the most excellent way we can spend the season of Advent 2009?

Christ is God's greatest gift to us. And the more I walk with him I come to realize His purpose for dwelling among us, was not ONLY to save us from sin, but to TRULY bring God's kingdom to Earth. We are called as His children, disciples of Christ, to bring God's kingdom to our world (as we know it).

Christ even taught us to pray:

"Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name,

thy kingdom come,

thy will be done,

on Earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who have trespassed against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil."

Matthew 6:9-13

And we are told to "seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." Matthew 6:33

All of these lessons appear in the greatest sermon ever given, Christ's Sermon on the Mount. It tells us just how important the message of the kingdom is to our lives. Jesus spent some time preaching, but what we read about mostly is Him healing the sick and feeding the hungry.

As we think of our own celebrations of the birth of Jesus, what can we do to truly honor Him and celebrate His reason for coming to Earth? What can WE do to bring God's kingdom to OUR world? I'm not talking about ditching Santa and breaking the hearts of children worldwide. Just consider starting a NEW family tradition. For your relative who has everything, make a donation in their name to a charity you think that they would appreciate, or volunteer together as a family. Think about what YOU can do to make Christmas about REAL MIRACLES again.

I will admit, this lesson was not totally uninspired. The seed was planted on my heart LAST Christmas by my friend Sarah's blog post that included the link to the Advent Conspiracy promo video for 2008. I tried to get Matt to buy into the Advent Conspiracy totally, throw out the lists and make donations in our friends' and family members' names, but he wouldn't hear of it. He loves giving gifts. SO, I'm going small scale this year, starting with a few folks I know who will really appreciate it. But really, I'm just trying to follow the advice of my dear John Wesley.

"Do all the good you can,

By all the means you can,

In all the ways you can,

In all the places you can,

At all the times you can."

Maybe if we Christians followed this advice more often, the kingdom of God might be a little closer to our world's reality.

New Year, new puppy, no sleep...

So a lot has happened since I blogged about the pre-Christmas season. We added 3 more Christmases to our previous 2 for a total of 5 Christmases!! We rang in the New Year in STYLE. And, the event that has taken most of our attention, WE GOT A NEW PUPPY!!!

I was totally horrible with the camera this year. I think after the wedding, I was good not being in pictures for a while. We both sat back and enjoyed being with our families this year, which explains the lack of pictures from the Trousdale Christmas, Christmas with Bill and Lisa, and Christmas with Donnie and Betty!! Really the only ones we have are Christmas morning at our house opening gifts, not too exciting.

We rang in the New Year in style at a black tie invitation only event in downtown Chattanooga! We came by invitation of THE BAND (that makes us cool). My friend from back in the day at MHBS, Justin Crisler, plays with his brother in a tribute band, “Alabama Blues Brothers”. It was a great show, and some of us may have had a few too many.

It turns out (Matt fessed up) that Matt thought I was getting him a puppy for Christmas. We’ve talked about getting a puppy after we put a fence up with our 2008 tax returns for over a year. He thought I had bent the rules and gotten a puppy before the fence to surprise him at Christmas. Now he loves his Christmas gift (so he says), and I must say it was pretty awesome (though a little private so I won’t discuss it). But no matter how great a gift is, if you are expecting and want a puppy, if it’s not a puppy… IT’S NOT A PUPPY!!!

So after we got back from visiting Matt’s dad after Christmas, all he could talk about was how much he had thought about his puppy before Christmas and how excited he was to get a fence this spring so that we could get a puppy. We wanted a beagle, pure breed, male puppy, and oh by the way not from a breeder. Great, this will be easy. He talked me into “touring” the new animal shelter, McKamey Animal Center. They told us that they had just adopted a beagle puppy out a few days before. Nice. He stopped at the awful pet store in the mall where there was a beagle puppy, not an option. Then when we went to PetsMart for kitty litter and food, he came to the register with a book on beagles!

Dear Lord, it was pitiful. So he came home and got on petfinder.com just to look (realizing that pure breeds are very hard to find at shelters, especially puppies, we knew we may have to search a long while to find one). Well, he found this puppy he thought was so cute, so I called the lady in Perry County TN (half way b/n Jackson and Nashville). It turns out a hunting dog (wearing the trademark orange collar), probably bred on purpose, showed up at someone's house and had 4 puppies!! All pure breed beagles, mom and puppies were turned in. The mom is still available for adoption. Anyway, I told Matt that the lady was willing to meet us the next day (Jan 2nd) at the Saturn Parkway exit on I-65, and if we crunched budget numbers and could do it then we would go get him.

The puppy is a boy (Matt wanted another boy in the house since me, the cat and Hurley are all girls!). He is 10 weeks old and weighs 5.5 pounds (smaller than Hurley was at that age). His name is Einstein. It remains to be seen whether he will live up to his name!! Right now, he is a handful wanting to chew on everything!! It’s constant!! Pants legs, shoe laces, wicker file box, afghan, rocking chair, rugs, you name it – he tries to chew it!

Hurley was NOT AT ALL happy about the new addition (as you can see by the look on her face above). We took her with us to get him (we had to pick between 2, and of course Matt picked the rambunctious shoe chewer over the more cuddly one!). We wanted Hurley to feel part of the process instead of us showing up with a new baby. When she realized that the puppy got in the car with us, GAME OVER. She was PISSED. She bit him when he tried to get in the back seat with her. She growls at him when he gets near her. And she tattles on him when he chases the cat. It’s freakin’ hilarious!

Einie just loves Hurley; he follows her everywhere. He even puts her leash in his mouth when we are walking like he is helping!! Today at lunch we had a breakthrough. Hurley played with him willingly for the first time! She was play growling with her mouth open (but not biting down) and he was rolling on the floor. SO CUTE. Here’s the video.

Anyway, that’s what’s been going on with us. Up every three hours during the night to let Einstein go outside. We’re sleepy but happy. Pray for us as Matt starts classes for grad school back tonight!!

It sure is Christmas around here!!!

Since our last (substantial) post, we spent Thanksgiving in Indiucky, started celebrating the advent season, helped little Knox celebrate his 1^st birthday, began the first tradition in OUR family, had Christmas in Dixie, and one more in Chattaboogie. Amidst all of this, we managed to complete our Christmas shopping 3 days before Christmas (other than actually MAKING the homemade gifts)! WHEW!! Can you see why we haven’t blogged in a while?

Right after chopping all of my hair off, we went to Indiucky for Thanksgiving. We left Tuesday for my (Jill’s) mom’s in Burlington, KY (just outside Cincinnati). We had Thanksgiving dinner with Mom and several friends in town on Wednesday night. Thursday morning we drove to New Albany, IN (across the river from Louisville) to the Needham Thanksgiving celebration. I was asked to bring the PECAN PIE to Thanksgiving, which I thought was a pretty big deal. My friend Christie supplied me with her family’s recipe since I had never made one, which was a hit. Friday morning was breakfast at the Needhams’, to which I contributed MY family’s famous and always loved chocolate chip pancakes. We spent the rest of the weekend at Matt’s dad’s house. I promptly misplaced my camera on Wednesday afternoon, so there are no pics from Thanksgiving. I did find it once we were home.

I decided that I wanted to have an Advent wreath this year because we started doing the nightly readings of the Upper Room Advent devotional guide last year. Matt agreed. So we went to our church’s Advent wreath making event and assembled a beautiful wreath of live greenery and candles. We’ve enjoyed taking time each evening (but a few misses) to read the short devotional and scripture to prepare for the coming of Christ on Christmas Day. See our pretty wreath?

I traveled to Atlanta the first Saturday in December to celebrate Knox Rogers' birthday! It was a great party. Of course Ashley made all the decorations, favors and food. It was absolutely adorable!!! Everything was puppy dog themed. Here are a few pictures from my camera of sweet Knox's big celebration. To see Ashley's pics, click here.

The first tradition of OUR family, we decided last year, would be to decorate our tree every year on December 6^th, the anniversary of our engagement. We thought it would be a special way to remember the beginning of our family when Matt proposed while decorating our tree, as well as a wonderful way to start Christmas at our house (since it is near the start of Advent as well). There is also a pic of our Christmas card clothes line in the dining room. I love it!!!

The Trousdale family gets together every year in early December, so that we can celebrate with each other and not feel rushed or torn around the actual day of Christmas. This year, Aunt Pam hosted in Muscle Shoals. Whenever we go to Muscle Shoals, we try and see one of my oldest and dearest friends, Betsy. Betsy and Bradley are expecting their first baby, Rubye Kate, in early April!! See!!

Here are a few pics of the Trousdale Christmas. I was really bad with pictures this year!

This past weekend (the weekend before Christmas), Mom came down from Kentucky, and Brenda (my godmother) came up from Birmingham to celebrate Christmas with Matt and me. They were our first overnight house guests since we got married! We had a wonderful time talking and laughing, exchanging gifts, eating, and watching Christmas movies together. We really enjoyed being able to enjoy this season with them!!

I suspect there will be no posts until after we celebrate Christ's birth, so the Blacks are wishing you the Merriest Christmas!! May you be truly blessed and safe this Christmas, and remember the reason we celebrate is the gift of our Lord!!