Jess: With a week left till Christmas, our new traditions just keep coming. Last week, we went to the tree lighting in downtown Crosswicks, where Santa showed up in what Wes called a "one-police car open sleigh." The tree is beautiful, and we can see it from about half a mile down the road when it's lit up at night. It was a fun time, and we'll definitely be going back to that every year that we're here. Nothing beats small town traditions.Yesterday, we went to the light show put on at the local Baptist church. It's about 15 minutes of songs, the Nativity, and light excitement. We got free cookies and hot chocolate and had a wonderful time. The church does a lot of little festivals throughout the year, and I think we learned that they're worth going to.
Today, we spent a couple of hours making our first Christmas cookies together. My family has a recipe we always use that has lemon and honey in it, and it's basically fantastic.
Wes isn't a huge lemon fan, but apparently the cookies are already growing on him. We'll see if we can make the eight dozen we made last until my family gets here for Christmas. We compromised on the frosting/sprinkles thing and we have about half and half. Basically, they're amazing, and we had a wonderful time baking together.Wes: So Jessica has turned me on to a new show. It's not very well-known, so you might not have heard of it, but it's really good. The plot is complex, the characters great, and it's one laugh after another. It's this indistinct TV series that aired for a while on NBC before it was canceled. It's called Friends, and it is amazing. I have absolutely loved watching this show, and can't stop laughing over and over again. It's not exactly a Christmas tradition, but I've been thoroughly enjoying it with Jess.
I am completely done with school work for this year. It's very, very nice to not have to worry about writing a paper or getting 1000 pages of reading done for tomorrow's class. I spent yesterday working on chruch stuff and reading FOR FUN! It. Was. Amazing. And now I get like 2 weeks off where I can do nothing but church work and read for fun! I love it! Really, I just can't wait until I'm out of school and can focus only on personal and church stuff. No more school mixed in with everything.
We're having fun with all of the Christmas stuff, and it's neat walking up to the mailbox and getting at least one new Christmas card each day. Making cookies with Jess today was fun, and even though I was helping her, she managed not to burn a single batch! The cookies, even the yuckie sprinkle ones, taste great, and I can't wait to share them with the church and everyone... Yeah right. I'm gonna eat them all.
This Sunday, I'm giving what I consider to be a cutsy sermon... Not something I tend to do a lot... But it is one of those times where I am hoping that image will stick with people even if the underlying message will not. I'm hoping that, like many of the Christmas movies out there today, even if it doesn't really seem to have much depth, it will stick in the minds and hearts of the congregations so that they will ponder over it later. Maybe God will use this sermon to lay a seed in one of more of my congregants that will grow into a deeply rooted faith.
Also, I met the youth director at a nearby Baptist church yesterday, and he didn't believe me when I told him that I was the "big pastor" of the church. He was confused and kept asking me, "So, like, you're the senior pastor?" It was funny, mainly because I still do not really believe it myself most of the time.
Well, that's all for now! Check back in next week to see how everything is going with the in-laws visiting! We'll see if this house... this family... this town... nay, this nation can survive the coming onslaught!
You stay classy, World Wide Web!
-Jess and Wes
No comments:
Post a Comment