Christmas was awesome

and we were richly blessed.

I have no clue what's been going on in the blog world as I have been fully involved in the real one. We saw Andy and Ellie (and kind of saw Deacon), my dad, my mom, her new engagement ring, my brother, rob's whole family, and Olivia's language explosion.

I'll be back when it's not 1 am to give more details, but I wanted you all to know I missed you. And I hope that you have a Happy New Year!

Don't forget about the Lutheran Bloggers' Conference

You can find all the info here.

I have to talk to Rob to make it definite, but I really want to come.

Should we bring Olivia? It's not really kid friendly environment, but she is a Lutheran Blogger.

"Ask the Pastor" on Issues Etc.

Tune in at 5 CST.

Watch this video

Hat tip, Bunnie.

Our Christmas Decor

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Originally uploaded by Devona.

Here is Olivia, helping put the ornaments on the tree. Which was in actuality, just her taking all the ornaments off the tree after I put them on.

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Originally uploaded by Devona.

Here is our entire Christmas Village. It has all of our favorite places to go: A brick house, two churches, a coffee shop, and a book store. Do you like the giant tree?

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Originally uploaded by Devona.

This is a close-up of our Christmas Village. The house in the back is supposed to be the house that we settle down in some day, far off. A huge brick house, with a giant front porch, and slate shingles.

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Originally uploaded by Devona.

And here is the Christmas Village at night.

Here is our tree all lit up at night after Liv went to bed.

OK fine! I'll give my take on Lewis, too

Our dear Deaconess, Angie, went to see the LWW with us last Friday. She hadn't read the books, and she said that she didn't "get" what was so great about Lewis. I mean, isn't he just laymen trying to give sermons?

And that's what we all think of him. He's some Christian giant, and that he's one of the greatest Christian Theologians of the modern world. It is really too bad, too. Because that isn't who Lewis was, and it isn't who he tried to be.

Lewis was a great Christian, and a great scholar. And because he was both of those things, he became a greatly loved Christian apologist, and philosopher. He was always a genius.

I think that if Angie had been introduced to him that way, she might have never had such a bad taste in her mouth about him. She might have read Narnia and really loved it. She did love the movie.

John H. has some great posts over at Confessing Evangelical and I think that they're worth a read.

I don't have time at the moment to post all my deep thoughts on the matter. So instead I'm just going to quote myself (isn't that tacky):

Considering that I read the stories as a child first. And that I had no Christians (or literary giants) around to instruct me in the ways of Christian allegory, I take my first impression of the stories as the response that Lewis intended.

I was moved tears that Aslan died. I was slightly afraid of him all together. I was disgusted with Edmund. I loved Lucy (hehe, that wasn't intentional). But I also enjoyed _The Horse and His Boy_ and _Dawn Treader_ more. But since I was raised Catholic I did say, "That reminds me of Jesus." and I pondered it while I read.

As an adult, and a Christian, and a (former) student of Medieval Lit, I think that we are all reading Lewis completely wrong. I think that Lewis loved the literature that he studied so much that he wanted to bring those conventions to a young audience, the way that Tolkien was bringing them to an adult audience.

The fact that both of those authors was were Christian, and that those values permeated their literary frames is secondary.

Narnia is so great because it expects more out of kids, and it doesn't hand it straight to them. It's great because it challenges kids to say, "that reminds me of something," not because it is a direct representation of the Gospels. To place that expectation on Narnia is a disservice to the fine work that they are, because they are very poor example of what we want them to be.

I think that I have a slight advantage (emphasis on slight) in that I've read Lewis as a literary scholar once or twice in research for papers in school. It is helpful, I think, to read his work that is less hyped, like his literary critiques.

Another great way to get a feel for the broader works of Lewis's fiction is to read this novel. Till We Have Faces is an amazing depiction of faith. But, it is an impossible allegory. Read it, and then take what you've learned about Lewis's style and apply it to the Narnia series.

That's your Love and Blunder homework for the Holiday. Then we can all come back and discuss. :)

Hair cut

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Originally uploaded by Devona.

Here it is. Olivia's new 'do.

Five facts

I've been tagged by the Great Aardie to list 5 facts about myself, so I'm gonna list them. I have not thought this out in advance, so we'll also be learning a little about the stream-of-consciousness mind a la Devona. This should be fun...

1. When I listen to music I listen to the same three or four CDs for months on end, on repeat. Then I rarely listen to them again on my own.
2. I really really need a new sewing machine, but I always find something that I need more.
3. I'm kind of glad that I had a good reason to quit going to school because I spent a lot of time wondering what it was exactly that I intended to do with my degree.
4. I can get obsessed with an idea, like how I will decorate the house I buy, and get really depressed when it doesn't happen the way I thought it would, even though my ideas were all fantastical.
5. I hate doing dished more than anything (even laundry) and often find excuses for not doing them for days at a time: "I have to write a blog. We need toilet paper. I wanted to go to the thrift store."

1st haircut

I gave Liv her first haircut. She needs more help than I can give, but I at least got it out of her eyes.

She has permanent bed head in the back. It's always fuzzy, and it always looks like she hasn't had a bath in weeks. Her bangs were crazy, and down to her nose, and since she would never let me pull it back in a ponytail, I just trimmed them to her forhead. It's cute.

I was nervous that I'd cut them too short or uneven, and I was afraid that I'd lose her hair that I wanted to save, so I found a creative solution. I took tape, and I put in her hair across her forehead where I wanted it to be trimmed to. Then I cut along the top edge of the tape. All the hair stayed on the tape so I could put it in her baby book, and her bangs are even, and just the right length. I'm so smart. :)

I wanted to post yesterday

but blogger wasn't working for some reason.

Yesterday was Olivia's Baptism Birthday! Congratulations my little Olivia!

You're one year and one day old in the Lord.

Do you like my handy-work?

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Originally uploaded by Devona.

This is my attempt at making a Christmas card to get printed on postcards so that we can send them to family. Rob said that I should have done it in InDesign, but I don't know how to use that program so I did this in Photoshop.

I think it turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself. I had to do a lot of touchup for the large photo at the top. The background is added. I blended Olivia's formerly obvious black eye (oops). I had to add the shadow back in since it wasn't there when I copied Olivia on to the new backdrop.

All together I think this took me four hours. That's not bad. And I took all the pictures myself. So the only cost to us is the printing. I'm pretty proud of myself.

So, is it ugly? Should I just beg Rob to do it, even though he's really busy, since he'll so even better than me?

Be honest now, I can take it.

Mrs. Brazier

It is one thing to be called Mrs. Brazier by strangers that are the same age as me. It is a totally different thing to be called Mrs. Brazier by one of my sister-in-law's first grade friends.

I really thought that she was mistaking me for Rob's mom. Then it occurred to me that I am Mrs. Brazier. Scarier still, I'm a mom. I'm old. I spend my time wondering if the next car I buy is going to be a minivan. I look forward to coaching under 6 soccer (*cough* football).

This coupled with that phantom gray hair I discovered on Monday, and my recent crippling back injury make me want to go buy a plot in a cemetery just in case.

So, just to feel good about myself, I'm going to make a brief list of all the reasons I'm still young and cool:

• I like cool music by bands from which the members are still alive and they're still performing regularly
• I have tattoos, and they don't look all stretched and faded
• I can wear sequins and look fashionable
• When I don't have Olivia with me I get carded for alcohol
• I think that I'm right most of the time, and that the older generation is just doing everything wrong
• I still sing at the top of my lungs

I think that's enough to make me feel better. Phew!