A Meal.

(via)

"I mean it’s weird. What’s the basis of Christianity? It’s really a meal, it’s communion right? It’s the Eucharist. That’s it, it’s the sharing a meal with your neighbours and what is that meal? It’s the body and blood of Christ. Basically God offering himself up to you as nutrition. Haha, that’s pretty weird. It’s pretty weird if you think about that, that’s the basis of your faith. You know, God is supplying a kind of refreshment and food for a meal. Everything else is just accessories and it’s vital of course, baptism and marriage, and there’s always the sacraments and praying and the Holy Spirit and all this stuff but really fundamentally it’s just about a meal."
:: Sufjan Stevens (The Quietus Interview)

My Christmas Playlist

is all about these guys this season:

Christmas Cocoa

I felt inspired by this Cocoa in a Jar on Pinterest... So I put my own spin on it for my colleagues and friends this Christmas.

It's a good gift when you already own most of the ingredients :)

Layers: Powdered Milk, Cocoa, Sugar, Chocolate Chips, Peppermint Bark, Candy Canes

Add some stamping to the lid...

Tie some yarn and write a blurb.

IN HIM THERE IS LIFE.

AND LIFE TO THE FULL.

H-P Chi

On Saturday, Betsy and I had the chance to volunteer with an organization called Help-Portrait - a group of photographers coming together to service the local community with the gift of a family Christmas photo. The best part? Seeing faces light up all around the room as they observed themselves in photo form. What a brilliant gift to give this season!

Feeling Festive

I awoke Friday morning to a dusting of snow across our street... Then I was 20 minutes late to work due to many [almost a bit dangerous] stops for photo-ops...

How is it that every year snow is just as surprising and beautiful as the last?!

Home on Newport.

Scraping the car... It all begins.

At work, our generous parents baked a room full of Christmas cookies for us! I may or may not have eaten 5 for lunch because, turns out, I can't say No to a cookie.

Fave? peanut butter hershey kiss cookies.

The whole weekend topped off with a cookie party with sweet friends.

Oh Christmas season... cookies, snow, friendships... What's not to love?!

Creating Space.

Morning walks help create space in my life to rest in His Glory.

While this could easily be a season busied with activities and schedules, I am reminded to intentionally provide space to embrace Advent. To slow down. To rest in God's joy and peace. To remember simplicity. And the LIGHT that came into the world.

In This Season.

I love thinking about where I might be next year... what might change, evolve, transform... the person I am becoming and where this road might take me.

I hope for adventures - for risk-taking moments where I trust He is in control and I am not. I pray for opportunities for greater Trust to walk blindly where He has led. I want eyes to spot His Faithfulness in my life - to see His Provision in a way I never knew possible. To live more radically, to give more generously, to believe more boldly, and to act more often from Love than anything else. To look back and see how He has heard my prayer, and led me in a way only HE knew was best.

{via} 

Sometimes I am fearful that life feels too comfortable... where am I being challenged for real faith to rise up? On a daily basis, what risks do I take? Only with great risk comes great reward. That is how life is lived as an adventure in the face of mediocrity... to live radically, not comfortably.

I hope to step outside of comfort and into what's foreign; to see how He will grow me as I meet challenges and triumphs. I want to dream Bigger dreams of what might be possible, and believe He will bring me to the dreams He has placed on my heart. I want to chase after what He puts in front of me with courage and strength - even when it fights logic. In the season that feels like I've arrived at the dream, there's more...! I want to seek out the bigger idea, grander picture, vision of more life to be lived... and the next step to take to get there.

All this is on my heart for this season, for 2012, and for daily life. 

Lily Christmas.

Between Sufjan Christmas jams, an unreasonable amount of Christmas lights, homemade burlap stockings, and an unexpected 8ft tree delivery... The Lily has officially gone Christmas.

Visions of Christmas around our home:

 

As Betsy and I were hanging our stockings (made with scissors and packing tape... don't be fooled), we were thinking back to this time last year. Something about holidays seems to stream back memories of life a year ago - surfacing the questions that have been answered, the ideas put into play, and the unexpected avenues taken along the way. We remembered when it felt like a distant thought to live together in this city we love. And only a few hours later, the dream materialized - with an added roommate and a home. How thankful we both are.... How Faithful is the One who knows our needs and gives beyond what we deserve.

DIY Christmas craft... Trees in mason jars. Intended to look like this.

Surprise Tree Delivery via Mom & Paul. Unclear if it would fit... (it did.)