Merry Christmas!

So it's that time of year again. The crazy time of year, when all the Scrooges come out. And yet, there are the over-hyper-Christmassy people. It's all about shopping (my favorite activity), food (another fave), and traffic (not so much). It's about decorating with bright lights. My favorite is the tree across the street from our apartment. When the wind blows, it looks like it's doing "the Hula". I love my dancing tree. It's about the music, which I sing at the top of my lungs in the car on the way to and from.

This year I'm trying not to stress about gifts...so far it's worked. I'm mostly done. I had an awesome idea for Ryan. I was so excited about it. Told just about everybody my stroke of genius. And then, he got it out of me. I knew he would, he always does. We've been talking about getting a second cat. I had told him that I wanted to wait until ater the holidays (I don't want the cat destroying my decorations). That's what I told him. Secretly though I was going to take him on Christmas Eve to the shelter to pick out his Christmas Kitty. Well, I'm weak and when he pressured me, I caved. I spilled the beans. "Let the cat out the bag!!!" Stay tuned to see our new addition to our family.

But mostly this time of year is about God becoming human. In the form of a little baby, God came to earth. His plan to save the World sounds strange. There is even a song (a favorite of mine) that's about Joseph, looking at Jesus in the manger, and wondering why him, why here, why her. Why did He do it? Why did He come to Earth to die? Because He loved me, and Ryan, and my mom, dad, brother...And you. He died for you. Because He loved you.

Gives me goose bumps everytime. My God loves me so much, he let his son become human. Face all temptations and critisism, adulation and scorn, love and hatred. Only to die for our sin. So we won't have to be separated from God for eternity.

While this is the season of family gatherings and rushing to and fro, remember that a tiny baby came to Earth. But that's not the end of the story. Praise God, that's not the end of the story.

~Lori

PS. Sorry for my ramblings, trying to type as fast as thoughts come to me.