“we plunged into the cornucopia…

…quivering with desire and the ecstasy of unbridled avarice.”  -ralphie parker

while i love A Christmas Story, i’m grateful that i’m long past the obsession over piles of gifts at Christmastime. during my preteen and high school years my siblings and i opted for stocking stuffers and a family ski trip for Christmas in lieu of bigger presents. for the past few years my family has agreed to combine our would-be present-buying funds to donate to a worthier cause. each Christmas we take turns choosing a need we can contribute toward and are able give a more significant gift than any of us could’ve offered individually.

this year lee & i also chose to forgo our exchange of presents in favor of providing gifts and necessities for a family in need. our decisions weren’t directly inspired by the advent conspiracy movement, but the idea is the same: we don’t get stuff we don’t need, others get things they do need, and the holiday season is much more enjoyable without the stress of buying and wrapping the “perfect” gift for each in a long list of people. and it sure doesn’t hurt our focus on the real reason we celebrate.

the best Christmas gift we received this year was a clean bill of health for my mom. this is not the first time we have rejoiced in a victory over the cancer, but with the past few weeks bringing good results from an MRI, CT, PET scan, CAT scan, ultrasound, & biopsy, we are confident that God has had the final word on this battle.

so our Christmas cheer could not be dampened even when our holiday plans were rearranged with the oklahoma blizzard determined to keep us stranded in our respective locations. we all love a white Christmas, but this was ridiculous! each year brings its own memories and adventures i suppose!

we finally did find our way to each other, and had a wonderful, extended holiday. i hope yours was very merry, too.