The goose is getting fat!

My sister Lauren and I spent this afternoon in conversation and smiles (and chocolate peppermint fudge!) with Ruth. We got chatting a little about Christmas, our plans to go see the carols in the city together, and Ruth loaned us Andrew Peterson's Behold the Lamb of God to listen to and enjoy. On the way home, Lauren and I stopped off and did a little Christmas shopping, and the result of all this is that I'm now very much in the mood for Christmas.

I'm a dork about Christmas. I know that lots of people are sad about the commercialism and the craziness of the holiday, but it's always been such a special (yet low-key) time for our family that I can't help getting all excited. I don't mind the big crowds in the malls. I love planning a menu and opening the pantry to find extra snacks for "just in case" guests pop in. I like stumbling across nativitymovie re-runs on commercial television. I love hearing 'Jesus' and 'peace on earth' in the mouths of people everywhere, even if they don't always understand what it means. I like writing my cheesy yearly newsletter. I love opening cards from friends, many of whom we only get to catch up with once a year. I relish our family's corny Christmas traditions. I even like hearing Let it Snow on the radio when I'm melting in the humidity.

Last year my mother tried to suggest that maybe we're too old now for some of the Christmas traditions we've celebrated for ages. She thought we might have outgrown things like finding gifts in our individual pillowcases (mine is the blue Smurf one) on Christmas morning. Or getting tiny boxes of cereal (ones we were never allowed, like Fruit Loops and Coco Pops) for our breakfast. We shouted her down, and the traditions lived and thrived for another year.

One family tradition that I think will last for many years to come is the setting up of the nativity scene. When I was a little girl, my grandfather made a small wooden stable with a star above it, and my grandmother gave us a set of nativity characters. They're posh and formal and slightly medieval-looking, but every year on the first of December, we set them up in their little hay-lined manger (with my brother enacting various idyllic and not-so-idyllic barnyard scenes incorporating sheep and lambs and the occasional rampaging donkey). It's a tangible reminder of what it's really all about. Ah, Christmas!

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conversations:

Staish -- oh, you got it! The new photo is from the upstairs window, remastered with the Japanese photo tool thingy :).

Bethany -- yes, new hair! Well, a fringe really. You can see proper-ish pictures here and here. And when it's in a ponytail, it looks a little like a bob from the front.

Greetings from the void

I apologise for the lack of posting and commenting, and offer you a sheepish face until next week when I hope to a) find where the date stamp on my blog posts has disappeared to, and b) attempt some regular posting again.

What's new in your worlds?

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conversations:

Simplythis -- you already know this, but I love how you write about books and your responses, and especially as regards these ones. You are quite awesome.

Southeastcountrywife -- yes, it's creeeepy.

Sarah -- I think you nailed it (again!): the issue is not about imagination or fantasy, but whether evil is celebrated. Bravo!

Lauren -- the first comment from you! Woo :). Hmm, we need to do more research, I thinky.

Karli -- awesome!! I'd heard pieces of info about "real" vampires before, but never real facts. Thanks for posting those!

In the Twilight zone

I hate controversy and I run (on tiptoe, so no one will notice) from confrontation. I do, however, like a good discussion if it's rational and full of feeling without angst or anger.

So let's talk about Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series. Have you read them? If yes, what did you think? If no, why not?

I haven't read them, so my information is based only on what I've heard secondhand. I'd love to pretend I'm cool and make it like I'm not reading them purely because they're not literary masterpieces or because I'm immune to pop culture. But the fact is that I'm a desperate follower and all too influenced by what everyone else is doing.

The real reason I'm not reading them, I guess, is because of the subtle deception such supernatural stories create. I guess it's tricky, because none of us likely know any vampires in real life. It's easy to shelve them in the "pretend" corner with fairies and elves and trolls because they don't seem real. And they're not, really. Not the handsome, passionate vampires we find in storybooks today.

But history has revealed that there are real people who get their kicks from vampiric behaviour (I'm reminded of a specific news story I read years ago that still makes me sick). The vampire legend itself stemmed from stories of demons and evil spirits -- which, as Christians, we know are true. Nothing very romantic about that.

I don't believe that everyone who reads the Twilight series is going to be harmed in some deep way just as I don't believe that everyone reading Harry Potter is going to turn into a wizard.

But it seems slightly scary how today's popular fiction repeatedly attempts to make evil appear ever more attractive. Isaiah 5:20 says, Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness.

It's something to think about.

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conversations:

Sarah -- I think what you've said is a really good point. If we're looking for hope in one man, we're always going to be disappointed. Unless we're talking about The Man, of course :).

Simplythis -- thank you, Ruth! You know I'm such a chicken, especially about putting thoughts out there, double-especially when it comes to hot-button issues. It's nice to know someone understood me :).

Staish -- I don't know lots of the ins and outs, but Obama's pretty big on abortion. See Beth's comment at the last post for more info. <3 to you.

Beth -- I think you nailed it. If God doesn't know what He's doing, then it doesn't matter who's president. And since God *does* know what He's doing, it still doesn't matter who's president, because it means God let him be put there. So God bless Obama, I say!

Whoa-bama!

or my first and last post about the election

I am glad that I'm not an American and therefore didn't have to vote in this election. Mind you, the free Starbucks and Krispy Kremes would have been super-nice. But there was something very cool about getting all excited about the election and then realising that I cannot add to or change the results in any way. It reminded me in a way I possibly wouldn't have understood otherwise that God is sovereign over all of this. It's simple, but I'm forgetful.

Regardless of who I would or wouldn't have voted for, I'm excited about the election of Obama for the same reason a lot of people are. I think Patrick Moberg's illustration summed it up perfectly.

For hundreds of years, men and women of colour have been persecuted and killed because someone else decided they were less than fully human. And now America has elected a black man president.

This is pretty huge -- and very awesome.

But for hundreds of years, babies in the womb have been persecuted and killed because someone else decided they were less than fully human. And none of them will get the chance to run for president.

This is also pretty huge -- and very terrifying.

We are so proud of our tolerance, but we are only tolerant when those things we proudly tolerate do not impinge on our freedom.

We have begun to learn something -- but in other ways we know nothing.

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conversations:

Sarah -- thanks so much for your encouragement and prayers! I look forward to seeing what God does in the next few months. How are your own writing projects coming along?

Staish -- I. miss. you. xox

New beginnings, times two.

November is the month of new beginnings for me. Crazy that the beginning of the silly season should also be the time to launch into new projects, but that's how she rolls, baby!

New project #1: the [half]year of writing furiously
I've written furiously this year already -- the novel-writing project saw to that -- but since July, I've been really prompted first by some subtle hints from above, and then by the encouragement of my family, to give this freelancing thing a shot. I've done lots of odds and ends with writing over the last couple of years; now I'm aiming to give it six months of concentrated effort and see where it takes me. I don't want to be rich, but I do hope to be able to earn a little doing something I really care about. I intend to work my tail off and see what doors God opens -- or closes. And at the end of six months (and probably at the end of every day until then), I'll take stock and see what surprises have appeared along the way. Watch this space.

New project #2: the year of reading chronologically
I've done read-the-Bible-in-a-year plans before, and found them really helpful in guiding my everyday Bible study. What I don't like, however, is knowing that on the 1st of January, I'll be reading Genesis 1, and that around Christmas time I'll be wading through Revelations. So when Justin Buzzard launched The Year of the Bible, starting November 1st, I was all ready for it! It'll be good to have that sense of discipline and direction guiding my daily Bible reading. Plus, the .pdf you can print your reading checklist from folds into a nifty little bookmark. You have no idea how appealing this is to a dork like me.

I covet your prayers regarding item number one up there on that list, and as for item number two: want to join me? We can compare notes on what we're reading in Scripture, and talk about the Bible, and get all excited and stuff. Yay!

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conversations:

Narelle -- boy, thanks! That's encouragement indeed. Maybe I will have to try working it up into something publishable :).

Abbie -- what a fun way to spend a birthday! I totally want to steal this idea :). Please pass on late birthday wishes to Grace from me :).

BookJournal :: bookfest!

On Saturday morning, my mother and sister and I loaded up our car with those wonderful green fabric Woolworths bags and drove to the Rotary Club bookfest not far from here. I'm guessing they have a couple a year, because we went last in May, but obviously their book stocks are far from being depleted.

There are seriously few things more fun than digging through piles and piles of old books. But I wasn't completely well this particular sunny morn, so I found the whole experience slightly more overwhelming than usual. Also: prices were too expensive! Oh lovely Rotary people, if only you realised: you would clear so many more books out from those death-trap towers of boxes if you just reduced your prices!

Nevertheless, we found some treats, and then when we had spent all our money, we found ourselves in a kind of overflow room which was highly disorganised and yet was full of wonderful non-fiction. I found three wonderful books I wanted to take home -- my favourite finds of the day -- and the lovely older man with the adorable accent (I remembered him from May and I think he remembered me) offered them to me with a discount and a compliment, both of which were delightful.

So now I am happily dipping into Meet the Authors and Illustrators volume 1. I was given volume 2 years ago, and have devoured it over and over. I'm pretty sure it's meant as a resource for grade school teachers, as an accompaniment to literature studies. But to me it's like fairyland -- profiles of sixty different children's book authors (many of whom I love) with stories of their childhood, tales of their inspirations and motivations, and details of their writing processes.

I am a process person, completely fascinated by how others go about their creative work. This is, quite possibly, why I love reading craft blogs so much; they provide an insight into the mind and workspaces of very clever people. And seeing how and why others do things is probably the biggest inspiration I can grasp hold of. It just makes me want to make stuff!

If you are even remotely similar, I think you'd love this book. Plus: there are cool writing prompts based on the authors' works or suggestions. And plus plus: I discovered that Elizabeth George Speare (one of my favourite authors ever; she wrote The Bronze Bow) loves Ellis Peters (one of my other favourite authors ever). This information makes me feel like I have good taste.

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conversations:

Beth -- I can definitely, definitely relate to your comment. It's funny, but when the Word or prayer seems driest to me, I'm tempted to let it slide. Crazily, that's the time when I really need it most, so why would I give it up?

Staish -- Thank you for your pixellated intervention! Introspecting ceased.

Meaghan -- oh, I'm a rebel from waaaay back :). And re. your other comment: yes, I can definitely relate! There are few words that quite fit those times.

Beware the double-minded [wo]man

Sometimes the all-or-nothing tendencies that want to run rampant in the creative parts of my life get me confused. One teeny example: yesterday I was fed up with the sheer paltryness (may have just invented a word right there) of my own writing and was ready to vow never to let another word see the light of day -- unless I was sure to the millionth degree that it was the most right, most perfect, most impossible-accurate-to-the-point-where-it-gives-you-shivers word for the job.

Today, I am thinking about signing up for NaBloPoMo, a method guaranteed to provide quantity of words but not necessarily quality.

What is wrong with me? Oh to be sure and stay sure!

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conversations:

Staish -- Yippee!! Manly Mousse Date!! *gulp* Oh my! I hope my little memory didn't put scarifying thoughts into your mind :Z.