Best Shot(s) Monday--Advent

Our family has been attending Berry United Methodist Church for a little over 2 years now. We missed the first two weeks of Advent, but I brought my camera to church yesterday and I captured some shots.

One of the things I love about our church is how creative people are. Here's Matt. Not only is he the frontman for the much beloved indie rock band Anathallo, he is also a master at making origami flowers. He made a ton of them for our congregation to hang on our own version of the Jesse Tree to symbolize this week's advent theme of Joy.

I also love the fact that our pastor, Sherrie Lowly, dances with the kids during the service just about every Sunday. Here she is doing laps while dancing with Cadence and Rudden. I've met few pastors who are as compassionate and mindful of children as they are of the adults in the congregations as Sherrie is.

We may not be a large congregation, but I love the warmth and openness and humility i see in the folks who do show up on a regular basis. I've learned so much from being in their midst.

I am so thankful to have found a community where I feel like I can lay down roots, where I know the arms of welcome will be open wide to anyone and everyone, whether they be agnostic with Taoist sensibilities, a recovering evangelical still full of doubts and questions, or a boisterous 3 year old who can't sit still. Most churches these days make me feel downright uncomfortable, so to have found one that feels like home is not something to sneeze at.

Go see other folks' Best Shots on Tracey's Picture This.

I Went to a Kid Party At Chucky Cheese and Lived to Tell About It

Our little friend Caely turned 4 this week, and we partook of the festivities at Chucky Cheese. I admit I was scared to go, but Cadence would never have forgiven me if she knew I kept her home from an opportunity to eat CAKE.

When we first got to the party, Cadence was scared of the giant robotic animals on stage, and she begged to go back home. Once those robotic furry creatures started dancing and performing, however, she decided they were harmless, and before the night was over she got pretty chummy with Chucky himself.

There were a lot of kids there that we didn't know, but Cadence's friends Rudden and Baby Jack and Zane were there, as were my friends, their moms, so it was fun to hang out amidst the chaos of singing robotic stuffed animals, video arcades, rides and a vast array of little toys and prizes.

My favorite activity, though, had to be the Sketch Booth. It was kinda like a photobooth, except that Chucky Cheese (a computerized version, and just his hand at that) himself would sketch a picture of you from a snapshot taken in the booth. Amy and I had a hard time getting the kids' heads in the camera frame, which resulted in this funny series. I think that's Zane's hand in the middle photo.

The kids are all growing up so fast...Baby Jack was just about to be conceived when Ted and Cadence and I started attending Berry Church where we met these families. Now he's toddling around everywhere. Cadence wasn't even walking at the time...I'm just glad she's got some friends who really feel like family to her, and I look forward to many more birthday parties to come. Even ones at Chucky Cheese.

The Tree Saga Continues

As some of you may know, I did not grow up in a family that decorated Christmas trees. So it should come as no surprise to you that I had no idea what to do once we got our tree home. Ted, who DID grow up in a family that did Christmas trees, was somewhat of a help, but as this was his very first tree as the DAD, it wasn't entirely obvious to him either as to how to proceed. We managed to get the lights on, as you saw in the previous post, but we weren't sure what to do about a garland. So for the first couple days, the tree just sat there, as you can see in the sad photo above. But not for long!

As you can see, we managed to decorate the tree just fine. We settled on a ribbon garland, and although it took a couple tries, I think Ted did a good job. We had just enough ornaments, mostly ones from Ted's Grandma Yia Yia, who helps out with a Christmas Bazaar every year. I absolutly love the kitschy stuff! Here are some of my favorites:

Here's that lonely covered wagon ornament from the top photo. As you can see, it's got some company now.

The Foam Snowman. A total classic, especially with the tiny crocheted hat and scarves and sequins for buttons.

The Stuffed Granny Boot. We have this in red too. Ted's favorite, and one of mine too.

The Gingerbread House. Looks yummy enough to eat.

And then there's the friendly ghost with the not-quite-James-Dean coiffure. Or is it a cloud? Or a marshmallow? Does it matter? Probably not.

Then there's the adorable rollerskate. Love those little tiny button wheels! This is so much cuter than the rollerskates I had as a kid.

Check out the three-headed Santa. Funny thing is my high school friend Ed saw this in my Flickr stream and informed me that his parents got this same ornament from their church bazaar. Weird!

By the date on this one, I'd say it's older than some of you reading this post.

Here's a trio of ornaments. The heart one on the right is actually something I picked up at the Seeds of Change marketplace. A woman (I think her name is Erin?) made these out of scraps from clothes she didn't want any more. That got me thinking about making some of my own...I haven't had any success, yet, I can tell you that.

And here is my favorite, y'alls. Is that robot rad or WHAT?! I can't believe Yia Yia's been holding onto this all these years!

There are many more ornaments, and I have to say they look awesome on our tree. Not Martha Stewart awesome (*GAG!*), but my kind of awesome.

Our next step is to make a popcorn garland. I think maybe with cranberries. So the saga continues...

Best Shot(s) Monday--Bring on the Holidays

I normally wouldn't post a photo of myself because I usually hate my own photos, but I kinda like this one. I took it on our hayride yesterday at the Pioneer Tree Farm in McHenry, IL, a place where you can get organically grown Christmas Trees for the great flat price of $35.

And here are Cadence and Ted sitting across from me on our hayride. Cadence wasn't so sure about the bitterly cold winds, but once that wagon started bump, bump, bumping along, she was happy as a clam.

She was kinda more interested in finding pine cones than a Christmas tree, and there were a few times when she almost threw a fit amongst the trees, but I was determined NOT to ruin the experience of getting our very first Christmas tree, so I didn't give up on our search for "the perfect tree."

I finally found a tree that was just right. It may not be the most perfectly shaped tree in the world, but that's what makes it perfect for me. Ted had mixed feelings about cutting down a live tree, but when he actually put blade to tree trunk, it came down pretty fast. Well, I just hope it wasn't a Talking Tree...

And here's that same tree in our living room. It's the perfect size for our big window. We haven't decorated it yet, but I have a box of handmade Christmas kitsch ornaments from Yia Yia and her friends who run a Christmas bazaar every year, so I think our tree's gonna look mighty fine once we're done with it.

Go see other folks' Best Shots on Tracey's Picture This.

Of Sunsets and Snow Angels

Orange, pink and purple. These were Mallory's favorite colors because they were the colors of the sunset. I found out this morning that my friends Chris and Lee's 7 year old daughter Mallory died Sunday morning. She was waiting for a new set of lungs because of complications from cystic fibrosis. I knew the situation had been critical for the past few weeks, but when I checked up on their journal this morning and read the latest post titled "Memorial Service and Reception," it hit me like a ton of bricks, and I broke down and wept.

I didn't know Mallory too well, but I've known her parents for 15 years. Her dad Chris used to bring in a lot of different musical acts to the coffeehouses that my old church used to put on. That's how I got into listening to indie music, and as you can imagine, I feel that I owe a great debt to Chris for that alone.

In reading Mallory's mom Lee's blog posts the past few months, I've been impressed at how strong the whole family has been through this ordeal. As a mom, I was particularly impressed with Lee's ability to write with optimism and hope while at the same time not hiding the seriousness of what they were experiencing. I know a lot of the grief I am feeling now is empathy for Lee, just because I'm a mom too.

We woke up today to a fresh blanket of snow, deep enough to play in. There's something indescribably beautiful about waking up to snow, especially the first snow of the season that sticks around for more than a few hours. Cadence made her first snow angel today. This is a big step for a kid who refused to even step in the snow last winter.

I made a snow angel too, and as I lay in the soft, cold snow, flapping my arms and legs and looking up at the deep blue conciliatory sky, I thought of Mallory...