My Top Ten of 2008

With 2008 coming to a close, it's inevitable that I reflect on the past year and think about what changes have occurred in myself, how my life has moved forward, and what experiences God has used to teach me. A more thoughtful post on all of that will probably follow at some point, but for now I'll stick to the fun things that made 2008 special. So for now, my top ten of 2008:

10. Celebrating the one-year anniversary of the Girgismelson household. People can grow so much in one year, and it's so exciting to do that together.

9. Discovering John Mayer's Where the Light Is album. Amazing, 'nuff said.

8. Starting grad school, as annoying as it can be at times. Starting my practicum at Jackson and realizing that these kids are my passion. Feeling a sense of purpose and realizing that this path is absolutely where God wants me to be.

7. Discovering the amazingness of scarves. Yes, that's right, scarves. I can put it on my top ten list if I want. They can make an old, boring outfit brand new!

6. Having to take my work schedule down to 10 hours a week because of school. Fewer pens to buy!

5. Making new friends from class; strengthening and deepening friendships I made in 2007. Especially those from house church, they're part of our family.

4. More frequent girls' nights!

3. Realizing that I do have opinions about politics, and for the first time being truly invested and excited about the democratic process that we SO take for granted. I guess Obama winning would make the list as well :)

2. Blogging!! And becoming obsessed with other people's blogs. 

1. Being challenged to rethink and re-prioritize my faith in totally new, unexpected, and more meaningful ways. Realizing what "love your neighbor" actually means, and seeing that churchy American culture doesn't always get it right. Constantly being challenged and pushed by people who live out their faith in exciting and revolutionary ways. Continuing to be amazed, surprised, and humbled by everything God has given and is teaching me through my marriage, friendships, career choice, and community. He continues to reveal himself in so many ways, reminding me that it's NOT about me, and He is so good. 

One more: developing my baking skills and becoming more adventurous with the baked goods. I heart cookies and tarts.

Here's to 2009!

A Very Happy Christmas

Last Christmas song post: Winter Song by Ingrid and Sara. Embedding has been disabled so I just had to link to it...but beautiful.

This Christmas has been so meaningful; although it's always an uplifting and heart-warming time, this year has been especially so because I've taken time in the days leading up to December 25 to truly think about what this holiday celebrates, and the implications that meaning has for my life and how I should live it. I'm aware that this is often an extremely painful time for a lot of people, which makes me want to cherish and hang on to these great moments even more. I'm so thankful for family, a beautiful Christmas Eve service, a quiet and unscheduled time to spend time with loved ones and laugh at silly things, and most of all, love. Christ came today so that we could experience real, true, authentic love. Love is alive, and it's a happy Christmas. 

Song Obsession of the Week - Christmas Edition

The Weepies, "All I Want." Cute Christmas song!

My Favorite Things

I love Christmas! So far this has been a very thoughtful Christmas season, with Advent and all the talk about stuff, but just because Christmas has been turned into a money machine doesn't mean we can't still enjoy the season with all of its memories and traditions. Here are a few of my favorite things about Christmas:

• Cold! And all things related - sweaters, hot chocolate, snow, blankets, and slippers.
• Christmas songs. Something about Christmas music makes me feel happy immediately. Particular favorites: O Come, O Come Emmanuel, O Holy Night, Little Drummer Boy, Jingle Bell Rock, White Christmas, and anything from Michael Buble, Josh Groban, or Sarah McLachlan.
• Food. Cookies, cocoa, candy. That's all you need.
• Christmas movies - Love Actually, Elf, Miracle on 34th St.
• Family. So many hilarious and wonderful memories, like my dad stealing my brother's new scooter to ride around the block in his flannel PJ's. When you're 5000 miles from home in a country that doesn't celebrate Christmas, you get all kinds of random and crazy memories.
• Decorating, especially the Christmas tree. One of my favorite memories of our marriage so far is decorating our first tree last year.
• Laughing at Scott and his obsession with all things Christmas, especially Barry Manilow's holiday album.
• Christmas lights. Anything can be made beautiful with just a few strategically-placed twinkle lights. Except maybe the crazies who buy every electric Santa in Wal-Mart and place it in their yard. Hello, Griswolds.
• Shopping for presents (unless I wait super late, like this year). Picking out things for family, friends, and even strangers is so much fun, and it's exciting to be able to give a little joy to someone.
• Christmas Eve services - with the candles, the songs, the people celebrating with hope...this might be my most favorite of them all.
• Last, but not least...CHRISTMAS BREAK! No school = joy!

Advent Conspiracy

Christmas is my favorite holiday, but it has been taken and transformed into just another marketing tool for making some cash, showing up our neighbors, and seeing who can get the best and most expensive toy. So sad. When did XBox, HD TVs, and Bratz dolls become more important than people? In a world where people are willing to literally trample someone in order to get to stuff, it seems like we're almost beyond help. This video was shown in church at the beginning of Advent, and has some really challenging and thought-provoking things to say.


It's sad that we have to do something radical, to "conspire," to give our time and resources to building relationships with people. These ideas are so against the grain of what our culture teaches us to believe that it seems like an overwhelming task to try and restructure how we do Christmas and how we reprioritize our lives in general. When did loving people become out of the ordinary? When we began spending 450 billion dollars on meaningless stuff to try and make ourselves happy. Just thoughts to ponder.

Song Obession of the Week - Christmas Edition

Love this! Barenaked Ladies featuring Sarah McLachlan - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Why the Cookies Aren't the Point

Hannah already beat me to blogging about the cookies, but this has been on my mind a lot lately, so here we go.

A couple of weeks ago, a few people at our church decided they wanted to organize a "St. Nicholas-style cookie drop" for the low-income, drug-ridden neighborhood around it, dropping little bags of cookies at each door, with no church advertisement or hidden agenda but with a simple note saying, Merry Christmas, you are thought of. The idea was that, however small, this gesture might be the only indication some of these neighbors get that they are valued and remembered this Christmas. The plan was received well, but it was also met with many questions about logistics: "We're going door to door in a meth neighborhood, at 5:00 in the evening, delivering...cookies? Is that safe?" Or "Who's going to eat these random cookies left on the porch in anonymous bags?" Or "Won't someone's dog or cat eat the cookies?" All legitimate concerns - I probably wouldn't eat random cookies that I found on my doorstep. Unless I just really had a craving for something sweet, then maybe I would.

We were talking about this in House Church last week, and someone shared how she had all of these concerns when she heard about the cookie-drop idea, and how she thought it was kind of pointless, but that after thinking it over some more, she realized: the cookies weren't the point. The point was to give something to people who never get surprise gifts or Christmas cookies. The point was to share something in this commercialized, dollar-drive holiday season without agenda or without a requirement of recognition. The point was that our small church, with the few resources we have, found a way to show people they were cared for, even if it was by dropping some baked goods in plastic bags on their front porch. How often do we get stuck on the cookies? How frequently do we get so preoccupied with whether they're the right shape, the right fluffiness, or the right texture, that we forget to taste them and enjoy them (which is why we bake them in the first place, right?)? Life is what happens when you're obsessing about cookies, apparently.

This all relates, I promise. This Advent season is really the first time in a while that I think I have truly comprehended the meaning of Christmas. Duh, it's Jesus' birthday. But it's also a time of great hope, and of looking to the future with anticipation because we've been given a frame of reference in which to live our lives and to love each other. It's a time of celebration because we believe in the promise that He will return and make all things new. And Advent is the waiting period that leads up to that celebration, a time to prepare our hearts to really comprehend joy.

When Scott (the pastor, not the husband) kicked off our Advent series this year, something he said stuck with me. Our whole lives are spent waiting. Waiting for stability, waiting for love, waiting to make it out of a depression, waiting for happiness, waiting for "real life" to start. Whatever it is, we're all waiting for something, and once that thing gets here, it'll be something else. So, because we're always waiting, Scott pointed out, "we better learn to do it right." What does "waiting right" mean? It means setting our sights on what we're waiting for, but instead of just having a vague hope that it will come someday, taking action to prepare ourselves for that time. It means focusing on what's around me, on the people in and out of my life, in my everyday interactions that should have meaning but don't because I'm too busy worrying about the next important thing. It means having the craziest hope for the promise that Christ has made, but in the meantime, letting the reality of that hope transform us and the way we live.

So, the cookies aren't the point; the point is what we do with them. The point is not to obsess about where, who, or what next. The point is what we do with what we've been given now to be God's Kingdom on earth while we're waiting for it to come. It's hard to get that the cookies aren't the point, and they're not the point because we have hope, transforming hope. Life's what happens when you're waiting for the cookies to bake. What are you waiting for?