Happy Chrismahannakwanzikkah!

A couple weeks ago we had our church's 10th anniversary. It was really fun. We had our original worship leaders back as guest singers and I sang in the ensemble. I thoroughly enjoyed it. A week ago Tony Campolo spoke at our church. He was really great. I remember hearing him speak as a teenager. He's almost 80 (I think) and still has tremendous energy. At one point he told a story about a movie he saw back in the 50's. It showed a knight playing a game of chess with the devil. They played the game throughout the movie as the story unfolded. At the end Satan made his final move and said checkmate. The movie was over. Sitting in the audience was a man who had just won the national chess tournament. He started saying, "Why did the knight just quit?" His friend asked what he meant. The man answered, "He has another play, the king has one more move!" I loved this story! Don't give up on God or give Satan too much credit, because our King still has one more move!

Alyssa finally had her 'birthday party'! Her birthday was in June, but due to any number of circumstances it kept getting pushed back, but we had promised her this party so we finally did it in November! We called it her 'Tardy Party'. She invited a few friends for a sleepover and they basically sang 'High School Musical' karaoke the whole time! They had a great time.

Last week Roan had a little Thanksgiving program at his preschool. He was very cute.We had a very nice Thanksgiving this year. Since it was just us, we invited a friend, Jason, to join us. It was quiet and peaceful, yes, even with the kids!

Friday morning, Dean got up at 4:00 am to go to Kohl's. When he got home at 5:30, I went to Kmart and Target. We found a few good deals. One of our favorites is a new 7 piece luggage set for $50. We are excited about this because we've been using our old suitcases for 20 years! We were also happy to find a 2GB SD card for $7. I got a gold bracelet for $10 and we also bought a few presents. Dean played basketball that morning while I went back to bed!

Friday evening we put up the Christmas tree. Similar to the suitcases, we've been using the same Christmas tree since 1990! And keep in mind that when we bought the tree, we were living in a tiny 200 sq. ft. one bedroom apartment, so it was small! Our current living room has cathedral ceilings so we would put the tree on the short side of the room on boxes. Needless to say, we needed a new tree, so last year we finally chucked it and bought a real tree. After Christmas we bought a new fake one on sale. We bought it rather sight unseen, so we weren't sure we would like it, but we do! It's bigger and pre-lit and most importantly, NO BOXES.

I got up early Saturday morning for worship team rehearsal, then we had a quick lunch at Moe's before I went to work. Sunday morning was long because I sang for three services. I was there from 7am to 1pm, but I enjoy it, so no biggie. At home later I took a 2 hour nap! Nice! Roan however, got a black eye when he fell off a trampoline! He said he didn't cry, though!

We also had a lot of fun this weekend with the kids. Dean took Roan with him when he played basketball, which he loved. Alyssa was a 'cat-sitter' for a friend who went out of town for the holidays. She was thrilled. (Her own cat , however, was not too happy about it!) Dean took the kids to Foot Action and bought them all new shoes at their 70% off sale. I took them to see 'Enchanted' which was really fun. Someone on another blog described it as "perfectly, purposefully, self-effacingly cheesy, which makes it not annoyingly cheesy at all, but just really funny" which I thought was a pretty apt description. We also had a couple movies from Netflix that we watched together as a family. (We love our family movie nights!) We watched 'Transformers' and 'Fantastic Four-Rise of the Silver Surfer'.

Last night I watched 'Little Miss Sunshine' which, while it had it's moments, over all I didn't like very much.

Enjoy your holidays and remember the Reason for the season!

And the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

Luke 2: 10-14

Roan Quote: After we finished decorating the house for Christmas, I asked Roan if he liked it. He said, "Yes, it looks like we live in a gingerbread house!"