Snowy Day.

The view from the end of our driveway looks a little different than it did on Halloween.

Good thing I finally found my boots.

Here's a sight that few are privileged to see: me, straight out of bed, 

no shower or makeup.  I just couldn't wait to get outside and take photos.

I wish there were more photos of dogs running in the snow.  But until I can get Teddy and Truman to stand still or I get a camera that takes better "action" shots, this is the best I can do.

Waiting for Christmas.

Unpacking boxes of Christmas decorations and has to be one of my favorite parts of the Christmas season.  The entire season of Advent is about waiting, anticipating the moment when "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us."  And it's that waiting and preparing that is my favorite part of Christmas.  Christmas Day is great, but it's not the best.  All the days beforehand are most meaningful to me--days of playing my favorite Christmas CDs over and over,  baking, watching the same holiday movies over and over (we've watched Elf twice this week), crafting gifts for family and friends, and remembering anew how amazing is the gift that God sent to the world in the form of a baby born in Bethlehem.

So we're nearly a week into Advent.  Thursday  night we started a brand-new Christmas tradition:

Our first ever REAL Christmas tree.  We had an incredibly pathetic, small fake tree for the last several years, and when we moved we decided not to keep it.  We opted for the scent of real pine and the imperfections/character of a tree that spent some years growing outside.  We opted for a tree that is actually taller than me.  We opted for a month of trying to keep Teddy and Truman from drinking out of the tree stand.  (That hasn't been much of a problem.  Yet.)

It's a Korean Fir.  I kind of thought that Christmas trees were just Christmas trees till our trip to the tree lot on Front and Garfield.  Choosing the perfect tree became a bigger job when we realized how many varieties there are.  The Christmas tree farmers were contagiously enthusiastic as they extolled the virtues of each tree type.  We settled on the Korean because it's strong branches are perfect for heavier ornaments, 

and because it's cool-looking.

At first we didn't think this star would work on the top of the tree.  But Matt figured out how to rig it.  Whew.  It's been on our Christmas tree for eight years now, I wasn't ready to give it up yet.

All decked out.

This is one of my favorite ornaments.  Matt gave it to me in 2002, the year we were engaged.  There's a photo of us inside.  We were really young.  And really skinny.

Our tree skirt makes me smile.  We've had it for several years now and I hope we'll pass it along to our children, grand-children, great-grand children.  Maybe that's a little too optimistic for a piece of painted burlap.  But I just love it.

"But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,

who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,

from you shall come forth for me

one who is to be ruler in Israel,

whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.

Therefore he shall give them up until the time

when she who is in labor has given birth;

then the rest of his brothers shall return 

to the people of Israel.

And he shall stand and shepherd his 

flock in the strength of the Lord,

in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.

And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great

to the ends of the earth.

And he shall be their peace."

Micah 5:2-5a

Wishing a very blessed, joyful Advent season to you all!

Sunshine, Soup, and Stories (bad and good).

For this weekend, a few random things:

• This has been a weekend full of sunshine, so warm that we've hardly needed jackets. What a gift.

• Soon I'll be making this carrot soup. I'll be doing mine with almonds, yogurt, and ginger. It might be yummy to replace some of the carrots with parsnips. And while we're talking about soup (which is pretty much my favorite thing), here's another recipe that is very similar to the tomato soup that I make. It's so delicious and simple that I'll never buy another can of tomato soup again.

• Matt and I spend Wednesday nights with an amazing group of college-aged adults. We call our gathering the Bridge, and we pray together, share about real life, and seek to grow deeper in our relationships with each other and with Jesus. When I have prayer time with the girls and we talk about what's going on in our lives, one of the themes that I've noticed is how our imaginations can run away with us and our thoughts spiral into a mess of worrying, dwelling on old hurts, or judging and criticizing those around us. This has been true in my own head lately. The future is uncertain, relationships are hard. I throw myself pity parties and let the hurts and frustrations take root grow into bitterness and anger as I begin believing lies that God isn't enough, that He has given me the short end of the stick, and that the actions of others determine my level of peace and contentment (or lack of it). I am slowly learning to break old thought patterns and replace the lies with Christ's truth. This blog post calls the negative thoughts "bad stories" that we tell ourselves over and over, and encourages us to interrupt the bad stories with "good stories" that are true and lovely. I've found it to be particularly inspiring in my journey right now.

How Matt and Carrie did Halloween.

The day dawned cold. Winter coat and scarf cold. It was so windy Friday night that we lost power from roughly 8:30pm till about 5:00am Saturday morning. It was a happy moment when I woke up and saw the numbers on my digital clock flashing. I love electricity. A girl's gotta blow dry her hair, after all.

These pictures illustrate one of the things I love best about autumn. No matter how frigid the temperatures, how cloudy the skies, or how much rain falls, the trees around our home make an amazing landscape.

These cute little pumpkins were destined to become our dinner later in the day. It was my first time making my own pumpkin puree. The main benefit it had over the canned stuff was that we got to toast the seeds. The puree became pumpkin tortilla soup. Delicious.

It's not Halloween at the Whites' without some of our favorite guilty-pleasure snacks. Pizza rolls top the list, followed closely by Matt's beloved bacon/water chestnut appetizers.

And Halloween is all about movies. We're not into horror movies in general--I like to sleep at night, and I'm already plenty afraid of the dark as it is. So we've generally stuck with scary "classics", which tend to be a little less insomnia-inducing. Lots of Hitchcock. The Shining a couple of years ago (though that one did keep me up for a night or two ... couldn't get "Redrum! Redrum!" out of my head ...). This year we went with Carrie. I'd never seen it. Loved it, especially once I got past the weirdness of hearing the characters say

"Carrie White" every 30 seconds.

I love the Halloween-creepy expression on THIS guy's face.