Some Random Christmas Fun

Happy Tuesday! We have a new podcast all ready for YOU! We're sharing some of our favorite moments from Christmas - and some of our dreams for 2016!

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I realize that it is EVERYONE'S dream to read the recaps of everyone else's Christmas celebrations - ha!! - so I'll lump together the celebrations we had on Christmas day and let you see some of the highlights!

We started out at my parents' house, and Ryan's mom and Allen - and his sister, Bre - joined us as well! My Aunt B was with us this year, too, which was fun! She's so funny and I always love it when she joins us.

You might remember, if you heard the podcast a couple of weeks ago, that one of my mom's traditions for Christmas day is taking a picture of everyone as soon as they come in the door. So here we are, heads and all!

My new shiplap shirt, as you may have heard us talking about this week on the old podcast. I plan to wear this every Tuesday for Fixer Upper Facebook party night - and possibly every other day just for funsies!

Allen and Bre after lunch {my mom cooked a HUGE, delicious lunch for us.}

Nita and my Aunt B!

The Freelan sons-in-law, minus one. This is Ryan with our brother-in-law, Tom. Our other brother-in-law, Jeff, was home in Kansas for Christmas.

Every now and then I stumble upon a random fun gift, and this year, my mom received it. Years ago {like YEARSSSSSSSSSSSSSS ago} she and my grandparents worked in a local bakery called the Rosemary. {How I wish it still existed. I've heard such good things about it!!} I found this rolling pin with Rosemary on it and thought it was a perfect tribute!

The group photo for 2015.

And just our little family {minus the Kansas crew}:

And here is a more realistic presentation of our family:

I also wanted to let you peek into Ryan's family Christmas - on Allen's side. This year we played some Minute-to-Win-It games, and Ryan and Rod were the first to face off in the "shake the jingle bells out of the box" game. There is a video of this, but I will spare my sweet husband the posting of it.

We also played a game that combined Christmas Bingo with a gift exchange - and all the gifts were $10 gift cards to an assortment of places.

I got a Starbucks card and tried to put it in a safe place so it wouldn't get stolen by another game-player. It did not work.

In the end, we did get a Starbucks card - and Meijer too!!

Oh! And Ryan was a taxi. Again.

A fun and full Christmas!!! :) We enjoyed it. Hope you did too!!

A Shafferland Christmas

Did you all have a good Christmas? I hope so! I hope it was a lovely time - whatever it looked like and however unconventional it may have been. {Springlike weather definitely made it feel unconventional around here! }

I have so much to tell you about our Christmases! We had a great couple of days of celebrating, and I'm not going to necessarily report in about them in order, but I'll tell you about them.

One of the perks of not having kids on Christmas is that you get to sleep in past 4 a.m. or whatever time they tend to get up.

Oh wait. No you don't.

Mom? Dad? Is it Christmas yet? Huh? Huh? Is it?

She actually did let us sleep in a bit, but she reached her saturation point and it was time to get up and get to OPENING!!!!

We started out with breakfast - a new recipe this year! We began a tradition of cinnamon rolls and coffee on Christmas morning, but with our new clean eating, I tried to make it as healthy as I could. I found this recipe over at Dashing Dish and it was DELICIOUS. Tasted just like the much more butter-saturated/fattening version, without all the calories and sugar! We had that with some turkey bacon and an orange, and it was a tasty little breakfast!

 After breakfast, we continued our tradition of reading from my Advent book. Unfortunately, right before I read the last chapter, I filled Braeya's new toy with catnip and it spilled on my hand. Even though I washed my hands, she knew it was there and attacked me the entire time I read.

 Last Christmas, we decided to skip buying gifts for each other and instead put that money toward purchasing our beloved Mo {our couch, if you're new}. We still did stockings so we could open presents on Christmas day and so we could still have the fun of getting little things for each other. We liked that so much, we did it again this year! Except apparently the year after you buy a couch, you spend your money on workout equipment. LOL!!

So we opened presents in the form of stocking stuffers!

 He loved this sign. LOL. 

 I gave him this as a sign of my deep love for him. I hate absolutely everything about gum. And when I say hate, I mean abhor. So the fact that I bought him gum is TRULY a Christmas miracle.

It's true. We have never owned a selfie stick. Until now. Shafferland revolutionized.

You think I'm kidding, don't you?

She waited SO patiently and finally it was her turn.

After presents, it was time to clean up so we could go to the celebrations for the day. But we couldn't leave without some official Christmas photos!

A pretty perfect Christmas morning!

Playing along here today!

The Shafferland Shuffle

* Last Sunday was our first Christmas celebration - dinner and a gift exchange with Ryan's mom and Allen and all Ryan's siblings. We had a great night together, feasting on breakfast food and watching kids run around and have fun ripping into their gifts! Last year we had a couple of people missing because of illness, so it was good to have everyone back together this year!

* Monday was a rainy, gloomy day, but I had a surprise that brightened it all up! My RA from my freshman year of college, Karen, was in town to visit her family for Christmas, so she stopped by to see me! She ended up staying to have dinner with us and we talked for about four hours - it just flew by! She brought me a gorgeous flower that so brightened my day. :)

* Tuesday was Nita's birthday, so we all went out to eat at Cracker Barrel to celebrate her. {"We all" means fifteen of us converged upon that dining room at one very long table! She had a wonderful time and the cheesecake we had for her treat was out of this world!!

* Wednesday morning, I had Christmas with one of my blognonymous friends, and Ryan had his carry-in Christmas celebration at work. He got his friend Matt this shirt - which reportedly, Matt loved so much, he may never take it off. LOL. {Sorry, Amanda!!} While all that fun was happening, I was home having a meltdown over my dead computer, but that night, Ryan became the hero of the world when he somehow brought it back to life!!

* Thursday was Christmas Eve, and it was a busy day for us. Ryan had to work, and I did a volunteer project at the church before working on our food contributions for Christmas day. That night, we had Christmas with Ryan's dad's side of the family. We don't get to see them very often, so it was a good and fun evening of storytelling and delicious food {Ryan's grandma cooks the whole shebang and does a great job!} and gift exchanged. Before we came home, we went to a Christmas Eve service at the church where the rest of Ryan's family attends.

* Friday was, of course, Christmas, and we celebrated three times! We had our own Christmas at home together with Braeya JoJo, and then we drove to my parents' house for Christmas with my family. After lunch and gift exchanges and photo booth fun, we packed up and went to Allen's parents' house for our Christmas with that side of the family. Whew! Busy day!

 * Yesterday I had all kinds of grand plans, but I knew we were supposed to get rain, so I wanted to take down our porch decorations. Before I knew what was happening, I took down ALL the decorations. I hadn't planned to do that at all, but it's done now!! It actually feels kind of good to have things back in some semblance of order. Lat night, Ryan and I had a date night at home - our first pizza in a month. It was heavenly!

The Saturday Six

One.

My friend Natasha sent me this video last week {it is on a Facebook page, so I couldn't embed it - or at least I couldn't figure out how. My skills are minimal} - and it is SO GREAT! The woman had a chance to shoot a basketball from half court in hopes of winning half price tuition at her daughter's school the next year...

Two.

Source

I don't think I need to explain to you my delight over EVERYTHING about this adorable hot cocoa bar, do I??

Three.

Source

For my fellow Little House fanatics, I found this post all about the first season of the TV show and it included some fun trivia that I didn't know. {Some of them I had heard, but some were new to me.} TV trivia always fascinates me, so I thought I'd pass it along! :)  

Four.

Source

I know we all say we just want to be loved - and I believe we do! - but for some, it takes such courage to ALLOW love into a hurting and/or hardened heart. This post by Bonnie Gray is powerful. And even if you don't struggle to receive love, this is a good read to understand those who do!

Five.

Source

With 2016 lurking just a week away, I thought I'd share this 2016 Bible reading plan. If you're looking for a layout for your reading for next year, this might help! 

Six.

Source

I spent another day immersed in the life of a small town this week - and I loved every minute of it. This time my book travels took me back to the 1830's in little Trinity, Pennsylvania, to read about the adventures of a midwife! Having been to four births myself, I was excited to read about the ways and practices of a midwife in that time.

The Midwife's Choice by Delia Parr is the second in a series {based on the "other books" page in the front of the book, I imagine it will be a trilogy} called "At Home in Trinity." I hadn't read the first book but did not feel that I was behind in any way because I picked up with book two.

The book captures the story of widow Martha Cade, the much-loved and respected midwife in the little community of Trinity. While the book does let readers peek into the practices of childbirth in that day, Martha's story is so much bigger than her profession. She's struggling to rebuild a relationship with her runaway teenage daughter, she helps at a bakery run by two sisters who also let Martha live with them, and she is part of a deeply rooted sisterhood community made up of all the women of the town.

While I wouldn't classify the book as suspenseful, particularly, it certainly never lacks for action. Every chapter ends with a cliffhanger, so putting it down was quite difficult! The author masterfully weaves many storylines together, which is something I so admire since I don't have that kind of writing skill in me.

Because the book was set in such a different period in history, I found it interesting to read how the people in that time handled their relationships and  difficult issues, such as infant loss and domestic violence. Those kinds of issues were prevalent then just as they are now, but they were not talked about as openly. It was fascinating to read how they were perceived and dealt with so long ago.

Delia's characters were charming and endearing, and despite the presence of many people in the book, I felt their stories were well told and developed - and I didn't feel confused or frustrated in trying to keep them straight.

In fact, the only thing that did confuse me in reading was keeping Martha's age straight in my head. Though she was in her early 40's, I kept feeling she was much older. Part of that, I'm sure, was her name and the fact that she was a widow, and also her deep level of influence within the community. Plus, her daughter seemed older than 17 years, so that made me think Martha should be more in her 60's than her 40's.

Really enjoyed this read - which was set in winter and brought a bit of cheer to our extraordinarily warm winter without any of the actual hassle of winter itself!

* Thanks, Bethany House, for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. *

Merry Christmas from Us!

Ahhh it's Christmas Day, and you probably don't even have time to read blogs today, because you are busy with a thousand other things.

But on the off-chance that you did stop by, I wanted to be the first {or the middle or the last} to wish you a Merry Christmas.

As I mentioned yesterday, just because it's Christmas, your life may not feel particularly celebratory or cozy and warm. But even so, today is a day of celebration.

The day we celebrate a New Life that made new life - eternal life - for us possible. The day we celebrate new beginnings, new ways of life made possible by His New Life.

Whether or not there are a stash of gifts under the tree, whether or not you could afford the gifts you wanted to buy, whether or not you receive the present you had your eye on all season, we have all been offered the greatest gift ever given.

Ryan and I are profoundly grateful for each of you who visit here throughout the year. You are a gift to us and I hope in some little way, what you find here is a gift of sorts to you.

We wish you a blessed Christmas day!! Many hugs and much love!

When it Doesn't Feel Like Christmas Eve

Before I launch into today's thoughts, I want to wish my niece a very happy birthday!!

 

 This was clearly a couple of years ago...but it was our first picture together! Happy birthday, Cassie!! We love you and hope this day is magnificent!

I've been reading a lot of posts lately - both on blogs and on other forms of social media - that indicate the Christmas spirit seems to be at an all time low this year. {Kind of feels like the movie Elf became real!} I don't know if it's because it's been so unseasonably warm and we're fighting things like floods and tornadoes instead of snow and ice, or if it's because there's just so much hurt and we're afraid to let ourselves celebrate for fear we'll offend a hurting soul...or what. But this year it feels like we're all just going through the motions and struggling to find that heart-miracle.

It's been a rough December in Shafferland, in a first-world-problems kind of way. Ryan and I ripped apart our house right at the same time we decorated for Christmas, so the whole house has been upended all month, between our projects and our decorations. I took the month off from "work" - mostly because the office is buried in the mess that is our projected-land. It's been nice to hang out in the living room and enjoy the lights on the tree and the warmth of the fireplace, but it's been odd to be off the schedule I'd set for myself.

In addition, we started a clean-eating plan this month, so all the treats were missing from our house, and in fact, I didn't even leave the house for three weeks because I couldn't trust myself at any restaurant or coffee shop. Being cooped up and alone made me stir-crazy and quite grumpy.

I'd been looking forward to this week and its many celebrations {and a few treats!!} but it seems like this week brought its own new set of problems.

Hard conversations with friends - the conflict-laden kind that no one ever wants to have but they must exist for issues to be cleared up. Disappointments from people you didn't expect to bring that level of disappointment. Feeling lost in crowds of people you know and love. That was the start of the week.

And then came yesterday. I'd planned to work online at home and then finish some last minute shopping in the afternoon, but the aforementioned tornado warnings forced me to flip my plans. So I got up, ran around town, did my errands, and came home to work. I opened my laptop to a blank screen. The power would come on but nothing would register on the screen.

When the things you do as your work involve blogs and pictures and podcasts and all that - having your laptop mysteriously crash sends you straight into tears. I didn't panic. I was certain it wasn't dead to the core and things could be recovered from its memory even if the machine itself was beyond repair, but having this happen two days before Christmas was just not good. I called a computer shop and was told it couldn't be seen until tomorrow or even Monday, and from there, tears ensued. I cried the entire afternoon, pausing only to sleep so I didn't have to think about the computer for a while. Ryan comforted me as best he could, via text, assuring me it would be okay. I knew it would be okay, but it wouldn't be okay then.

I pulled myself off the couch and forced myself to do something productive, which was when I discovered I'd washed an entire load of clothes with an ink pen. Black ink smeared through the washer, all over my hands, and on our clothes.

I went to the kitchen for a snack and found a spider on the stove.

I went to the couch to sit down and stubbed my toe to a star-seeing degree.

Can I get a do-over?

Pulling out my journal, I told God I knew these problems are minuscule in comparison to what so many face. I know they're first world problems. But for this day, they were also my problems, and they hurt.

So I opened Ryan's computer to do what I could from there, including writing this little thoughtlet to you. I hope if your December has been hard, that God brings you some hope and joy for your heart. If your December has lacked its traditional spirit, I hope God brings a measure of wonder to you.

And I hope the same for our little house.

{And as an update, after Ryan came home and had dinner, he worked on the computer and managed to get it started again. We'll still have to have it looked at, but he got it going enough for me to work on it. HERO!!!!!!} 

Legacy

Simeon is one of my favorite people in the Bible. Took me many years to unearth his story and realize the beauty and the value in his life, but once I did, he was an instant favorite. Simeon {if you haven't uncovered his story yet} was an old man who had received a promise from God that he would not die until he saw the Messiah.

Mary and Joseph took Jesus to the Temple when He was eight days old, and that was the day Simeon met - and held - the Son of God. The day the promise was fulfilled.

When I wrote the chapter on Simeon in my Advent book, I wondered what it would have been like to wait your entire life for the fulfillment of a promise. I wondered if he ever talked about it to others and if, along the way, people rolled their eyes and thought he was crazy. I wondered if he ever started to doubt that he'd heard God correctly. I wondered if, as years crept by, he began to fear he made up the whole thing.

This past Sunday, our pastor preached about Simeon and Anna and the legacy of their lives. He preached about how their faith was strengthened by the lifetime of work they'd seen God accomplish in not only themselves but in those around them.

Pastor Steve shared stories of people in his own life who had invested in him from their senior years and had been able to guide and encourage him out of the wealth of their own faith journey.

And then he reminded all of us that such people still exist. They exist in our own church and in the pews around us.

And then he brought them all to the front of the church.

 If you click on that picture to make it bigger, you'll see that stretching as far as our little camera could get, from the left to the right is a row {sometimes two and three people deep} of people 65 and older who have been part of the legacy of this church and of the lives of those of us remaining in our pews.

The picture isn't even as powerful as the moment was in real life. I'm not sure any of us escaped without a tear or two. We stood and thanked them with applause - for their faithfulness in lives that have had many mountains and valleys.

A handful of them read Scripture to us, and we listened while voices that have lived the truth of the words passed them forward to us.

And among that crowd were some I've known since I was old enough to have memories. People who attended the church where I grew up. People who invested in me personally.

Here are two:

June {in the red jacket} and Harold {in the black suit} are friends of my parents, and I've known them my whole life. June taught my Sunday School class when I was little, and she taught me to look up Scripture in the Bible. Harold directed the handbell choir and let this awkward junior high girl join and take a spin at something new.

I'm thankful for them and ALL the seniors God has put in my life along the way, from childhood to now, who have taught me by example how God works in life. And just a couple of days away from Christmas, I recognize the gift each of them are to me. {And Ryan has just as many in his life!}

Maybe this Christmas you can give the gift of a note or a phone call to one of the seniors in your life - someone whose walk with the Lord has encouraged you! Someone who has been faithful in leaving a legacy for you to follow.

 {This last photo courtesy of the College Wesleyan Facebook Page}