Brace Face

So I am getting braces again. Yes, I am older than 13. And no, apparently 6 years of braces weren't enough. I want more. 6 years of not wearing your retainer however, is enough to negate the previous 6 years in orthodontics. Yes. I had braces or other such orthodontic torture devices in my mouth for 6 years. From age 10 to age 16. I have stubborn teeth.

I will only have braces for 6 months and this time I promise that I will wear my retainer EVERY night!

I'm not very upset about getting braces again. I can live with that. I am upset that people are going to think I look 13 with them on. People just started asking me if I was 16 and now I am dropping back down to 13. Crap.

Crayons

This year for Christmas I got "Color Sticks. Soft crayons that are like drawing with lipstick." They are pretty cool but kind of messy for claiming to be "No Mess" art supplies. Every year for Christmas I get crayons. Let me tell you why.

On Christmas eve my family all opens one stocking stuffer before we go to bed. One year I opened a box of crayons. I wasn't particularly pleased with this gift and began to cry. So much that my mom offered to let me open my big gift. My tears, however, didn't work on my dad who pointed out that I "should be grateful for getting anything and that if I kept it up I wouldn't get to open any other gifts".

Well later on, in the summer, I felt really horrible for crying over the gift my parents had gotten me. What kind of a bratty child had I become? I remember apologizing all through that year. I really wasn't a brat. I promise.

That became a running joke in my family and ever since then my parents have gotten me crayons for Christmas.

They are a good reminder to be grateful for what I am given, otherwise I could end up receiving it every year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Make a Snowflake!

Make your own snowflake

Snowed In

Now it feels like Christmas. It hadn't before. We were snowed in today and my family spent time together baking and shoveling and watching movies and shoveling and playing games together and shoveling and just relaxing. It is a rare thing for all of us to be home all at the same time. Maybe that's why it hasn't felt like Christmas.

This has been the first Christmas that I have worked every day of the week. Ordinary, everyday things like work can suck the feeling of Christmas right out of the air. This month I couldn't help but thinking that this is how Christmas will be like for the rest of my life. Christmas is becoming stress.

My mom did an excellent job of making Christmas so much fun. Everything was a big deal. Baking. Shopping. Church events. Advent. Gingerbread houses. Every part of Christmas was something to get excited about. I miss being 8 and inviting friends over to make gingerbread houses. I miss singing in Christmas choirs at church. I miss finding so much joy in Christmas lights. I miss being little and not being able to sleep Christmas eve. I miss struggling over reciting Luke 2. I am so glad that my parents created such wonderful Christmas traditions and memories for all of us. Most of those traditions are still here, they've just changed a little.

What is your favorite Christmas tradition?

SNOW!!!

As I look at my window I can see my yard covered in 4-5 inches of beautiful snow!!! I love it. Everything gets so quiet and muffled when it snows. The sound of snow crunching under my feet is probably my most favorite sound in the world. Snow slows the world down and covers everything in a beautiful, fluffy layer. I love snow!!!

I'm going to go sledding now...

Let it Snow. Let it Snow....

Check out tomorrow's forecast! I am totally going to get to go sledding!

Dec 22 Tomorrow

Cloudy with snow. Some sleet may mix in. High 34F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 90%. Snow accumulating 4 to 6 inches.

Dec 22 Tomorrow Night

Cloudy with snow. Low 24F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of snow 80%. 8 to 12 inches of snow expected.

White Christmas

Will it be a white Christmas? Find out what your chances are!

Notice Ohio has a chance... woop woop!

BRRRRR!!!!

Can You Feel the Christmas Spirit....

I have met the nicest people this holiday season. First it was the person who stole my comforter and then it was the angry-flip-me-off guy. Last night I met an angry man who was uber-sensitive about his car. Chris, Emily and I were walking out our car and we walked past a car with the gas door opened. So I reached over and shut it. Well apparently the driver did not appreciate my act of kindness, because he pulled up next to us and starts yelling at us for hitting his car. Even when we try and explain what happened he continues to yell about how we were banging on his car. I end our part of the conversation by yelling "MERRY CHRISTMAS" at him and we get in our car and drive off. He sat there for a little while, Cushing us out. He then tried to follow us but we eluded him. See if I ever try and help someone out again!

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Have you ever wondered who buys Christmas tins? Most people I know just reuse tins that were given to them. New goodies are placed inside and the gift is passed on.

So what kind of people actually buy the tins in the first place?

Take Note of Today

Two important things happened today.

1. I accepted a full-time job offer with my current employer. This means that come July I will no longer be an intern, but a real adult with a real job. God is good and this makes graduating that much sweeter. Woop woop!

2. I got flipped off today. It wasn't a happy I'm-going-to-flip-you-off-and-then-smile kind. No. It was a Shake-my-fist-at-you-and-I-hope-you-die kind. Now, I know that this type of thing normally isn't normally considered important, but today it was. Why you ask? Because I don't know what I did to deserve it. If I am going to get flipped off, I better deserve it. He's the one that was driving 15 MPH under the speed limit. And I am allowed to change lanes and pass people on the highway. Oh well. Merry Christmas sir!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Just so everyone knows: it snowed.

And that makes me very very happy.

Merry Christmas!

The Future Foretold

I wish I had a funny story to share with you all. But I don't. Instead I will leave you with this funny picture. Enjoy.

From a 1954 Popular Mechanics Magazine:

The story of The Three Bears has been continued.

And there was much rejoicing.

I Hate Feet

I hate feet. I can't help it. Feet are gross things whose only job is to keep the rest of your body from touching the things they step on.

I am really glad that I have feet, but people better not touch my feet, or worse, touch me with their feet. I will flip out.

I have had "friends" who thought that they could "cure" me of this feet hatred. (I wouldn't call it a phobia. I'm not afraid of feet, I just recognize their grossness.) These "friend's" method of helping me over "my problem" was to hold me down and put their feet on me. Gross! Needless to say, it didn't help.

My brother, Bryan, made the comment that perhaps I stepped in too many gross things as a child and this led to a hatred of all things feet. I guess this could be the case.

But I think that I have just realized the true nastiness of feet. Someday other people will join me. Just wait.

The truth will triumph.

3 Questions

"Woah! That guy looks like....wait... that's a tree!"
~Meik
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My friend Tamara asked a really good ice breaker question yesterday. I am throwing the question out to you, my blog readers.

What are three things that without a doubt you know are true?

I can't wait to hear your answers.

Blogging, Smoking and Luke

Blogging takes center stage. Check it out.

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The other day I was driving to work and I saw an interesting sight in the van next to me. The lady in the middle seat was smoking a cigarette and the lady in the front was definitely hooked up to an oxygen tank. Yes. The windows were definitely closed.

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Last night in Bible Study we looked at Luke 2:1-20 and read the story of the birth of Christ. The thing that stuck out to me was verse 1.

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.

Ok. So Caesar Augustus is considered to be the greatest ruler of the Roman Empire, and what is he doing when God comes in the form of a baby? He's counting the people in his kingdom. Yes. God is orchestrating his arrival on earth. People are where He said they would be. Angels appear to shepherds. Inns are full. And the most powerful ruler at the time is counting people. Seems kind of absurd.

Yet, I do the same thing all the time. God is doing amazing things around me and I miss it because I am trying to count people. I try and control the situations around me. I make plans. I lose the correct focus. I miss God's work.

Verse 20 stands in sharp contrast to verse 1:

The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

The ruler of the land was counting people and lowly shepherds were praising God for the birth of Christ. It's not hard to figure out who was doing the most meaningful thing.

I must ask myself if I praise God more than I count people....