Airbags are mean.

The most beautiful thing I've ever owned.

The Thing You Never Did.

You know how some people have those skills that make you think you have done nothing of worth in your life because you haven't done that . . . ?

Take a look at this.

This is my friend Eve. When she wanted to start taking music lessons, her mom decided that the harp was cooler than the piano. Thus, she has this incredible skill. Keep in mind she's only 16.

This is the thing I never did. Especially when I think of that scene from In the Good Old Summertime, when Judy Garland sells the only harp in the music store and claims that anyone can learn how to play it.

The Best Thing Ever.

These are my parents.

My father is currently in Mexico. Building something, I think.

Today he called, and we missed it.

My mom cried. And though she's now fidgeting with things to keep herself calm, I can tell the only thing she wants to do is cry over how much she misses him.

Marriage is the best thing ever.

Fortune Cookie Fail.

Toe Seizures.

I discovered the other day that I only have canvas shoes.

What caused me to realize this was two inches of snow and -10 degree weather.

When I wear my canvas shoes in the cold, my toes seize and send sharp shooting pains through my foot. Remedy? Solid, warm, Canadian winter built shoes.

Where would one discover this remedy?

Not in Moose Jaw.

SO better than Christmas.

I'm really attached to Thanksgiving. Really attached. I begin to anticipate its arrival as soon as school starts. I bring as many people as possible home with me, so they too can enjoy the beauty that is Thanksgiving.

I love this holiday so much that I've started telling people it trumps Christmas; which it obviously does. My reasons for this are valid. Let me explain.

Thanksgiving is way more chill than Christmas. There's hardly any hype. We still get time off, we're not expected to work (other than homework), the food is all the same and we cherish the time spent with friends and family. Because of these purely personal preferences, I've begun to question why we as Christ followers prefer Christmas; and I think I've come up with the start of an answer.

I posted a blog about a year ago regarding the Christmas season. Here's a little excerpt.

. . . we see the wreath hanging on our door and the lights from the tree on our desk and the hope we once had fills us again. It's going to be okay.

It's going to be okay because love came to earth to save us from the plights we had gotten ourselves into. Jesus Christ came to save us. And though it happened in the past and we still have to 'suffer' through our [lives] now, he came; he lived; he loved; he died; he saved.

It's going to be okay.

We're going to be okay. What a relief, we say, and we settle into the peace and relaxation of Christmas. Don't get me wrong, this isn't even close to a bad thing. But what we fail to realize is that two months before that, we are presented with an opportunity to recognize with thanksgiving the beauty of what is to come - Christmas.

We have a tradition in my house that before we begin thanksgiving dinner we all have to say what we're thankful for. Too many times I've had to scramble for an answer. Not because there's nothing to say, but because I haven't tuned my attention to all there is to be thankful for.

Christmas comes and presents us with something - peace, grace, salvation and usually a lot of stuff. Thanksgiving comes and expects something from us. Something that we, as North Americans, aren't always ready to give - thanks. Thanksgiving is hard because it requires us to be intentional. It requires us to turn our eyes away from our selves and up to the One who provides; to humble ourselves enough to feel small and open our hearts enough to accept the blessing.

May we today, in the midst of rest, homework and turkey, feel small and become aware of the immense gift we have been given.