Tuesday, December 26, 2006
CHRISTMAS 2006
A few random memories from Christmas 2006...
Evan got mainly video games, which made him very happy. Lisa always takes care of buying for him for Christmas, which is nice. She's the organizer of our family. All of the papers, books, and binders in the back of my car are proof that I am not the organizer.
This was probably the most excited I have ever seen Evan about Christmas. That was neat. He's really taken to an odd habit of pounding on his abdomen recently though and that was sort of annoying. Not sure I have ever blogged about this before but Evan is a highly gifted kid -- IQ someplace up over 150. That brings a lot of challenges in parenting which I will have to write about sometime. One oddity of highly gifted kids is their quirkiness. Things like arm flapping abound with these kids. I think it's because their minds are always so far ahead of the rest of us, operating in a different dimension but maybe it's just because they're quirky. It was neat to see him excited for Christmas though. He also exhibited what was, for him, pretty mature behavior most of the weekend.
I am home alone with Evan today. Lisa has to work unfortunately. I am looking forward to spending some guy time with Evan thouigh. Check with me at the end of the day and see how I am feeling about that then though. He's not up yet. I need to get him out for a quick shopping trip today. He probably won't like that but it's necessary if we want to eat dinner tonight.
On Friday night, we attended a church other than our own in order to see their Christmas play. The church is pastored by a friend of ours who has a son in Evan's class. The play they put on was written by a local guy and he really needs to get it published. It was very well-written and they did a great job carrying it off. Extremely relevant for our times.
Speaking of publishing...the company that has agreed to publish the book I wrote last year when I returned from Israel is pushing me to get it wrapped up. I need some serious time to devote to it. Because January is a very full month already with United Way allocation meetings, I need to get the book done soon.
Two different pastors we heard this Christmas used John 3:16 as their scripture. I am not sure I have ever heard anyone use that before at Christmas. It was pretty neat. Maybe I just wasn't paying attention before though. That is entirely possible. Seems like perfect Christmas scripture and fodder to me.
We had members of both sides of our family here yesterday for lunch and a few hours. I was pretty nervous about it, due to some dynamics going on in both families right now. Okay, very nervous. We made it through though without fisticuffs, street brawling, or anyone hauling a Vietnam-era flamethrower out of their garage. Overall, it was pretty successful.
I used to cook a lot when I was younger and I really enjoy it. Somehow, our schedules just sort of changed when Evan was born though and Lisa started doing most of the cooking. I miss it. I think it was because, when I would get home from work, she was ready for a break from taking care of Evan so I would take that over for awhile as she prepared dinner. Yesterday, though, I fixed the turkey and did it "my way". I stuffed it with corn, yellow squash, green peppper, and apple slices. I mixed in some pepper and parmesean. I rubbed the outside with lemon and olive oil and then put some pepper on it. It was very tasty if I do say so myself. Stuffing a turkey with vegetables helps keep the turkey moist. I had fun doing that. Also fixed a small boneless breast and just rubbed poultry seasoning on it and put it in a bag. Also very tasty.
Our pastor, in his Sunday morning message, talked about the forgiveness that God gave to us with His son. He then led into the questioning of whether there are those in our lives we need to forgive. It really got me to thinking. Generally, I think of myself as a fairly forgiving person. I am slow to anger and most things just roll off my back. I don't think of myself as harboring grudges yet, I have to admit, I do joke around sometimes about others. I need to think that through a bit and make sure that it is not actually the result of a lack of forgiveness on my part. There may be particular family members, too, where a lack of forgiveness on my part is affecting the relationship. I need to keep that in check.
Some good friends of ours gave me a calendar with Israel pictures which I am really going to enjoy. My folks gave me a book with Israel pictures. Ditto for that. The memories these pictures evoke are huge. I'd love to take Lisa and Evan to Israel this summer and just travel on our own but that probably won't happen. We have also talked about California this summer as a possible trip, if funds allow. That is probably more likely to happen than Israel. I have not been to California much in recent years. I used to travel there quite a lot and really enjoyed it.
Evan got a game called Whooonu for Christmas. It's one of the Cranium games. Those are all pretty good. This game is a lot of fun -- it tells you a lot about the people you're playing with. That is usually a good thing.
The same friend who gave me the calendar gave me a book called "A guide to prayer for all who seek God." He usually carries his around with him. It's a really neat book with readings and scriptural references broken up across the Christian calendar, all to guide you toward reflection and prayer. I really want to focus on my prayer life in 2007 ... it's gone in fits and spurts in 2006. While I still want to focus on intercessory prayer, I also want to spend time focusing on using prayer to seek God's direction for my life.
Lisa and Evan got me the PS2 game, Guitar Hero, for Christmas. It is a blast. It includes a little plastic guitar that you use to try to play tunes that are mainly from the 80's heavy metal, glam, and hair bands. As Evan says, "Rock on, Dude!" It allows me to show a side of myself few people ever see, or would want to see for that matter! Hardeeharhar.
Lisa and I got each other the same CD for Christmas which is pretty funny. She also got me 80's Trivial Pursuit which we played yesterday. My father-in-law and I were on a team and we kicked butt. (Well, actually, we kicked butt during a string of very easy questions we received.The rest of the time we just tread water.) I got Lisa some clothes for Christmas. I hope they fit.
Woke up to a little snow on the ground this morning. That's a first for this winter. Fortunately not nearly enough to have to shovel.
Well, I guess that is it for now.
Evan got mainly video games, which made him very happy. Lisa always takes care of buying for him for Christmas, which is nice. She's the organizer of our family. All of the papers, books, and binders in the back of my car are proof that I am not the organizer.
This was probably the most excited I have ever seen Evan about Christmas. That was neat. He's really taken to an odd habit of pounding on his abdomen recently though and that was sort of annoying. Not sure I have ever blogged about this before but Evan is a highly gifted kid -- IQ someplace up over 150. That brings a lot of challenges in parenting which I will have to write about sometime. One oddity of highly gifted kids is their quirkiness. Things like arm flapping abound with these kids. I think it's because their minds are always so far ahead of the rest of us, operating in a different dimension but maybe it's just because they're quirky. It was neat to see him excited for Christmas though. He also exhibited what was, for him, pretty mature behavior most of the weekend.
I am home alone with Evan today. Lisa has to work unfortunately. I am looking forward to spending some guy time with Evan thouigh. Check with me at the end of the day and see how I am feeling about that then though. He's not up yet. I need to get him out for a quick shopping trip today. He probably won't like that but it's necessary if we want to eat dinner tonight.
On Friday night, we attended a church other than our own in order to see their Christmas play. The church is pastored by a friend of ours who has a son in Evan's class. The play they put on was written by a local guy and he really needs to get it published. It was very well-written and they did a great job carrying it off. Extremely relevant for our times.
Speaking of publishing...the company that has agreed to publish the book I wrote last year when I returned from Israel is pushing me to get it wrapped up. I need some serious time to devote to it. Because January is a very full month already with United Way allocation meetings, I need to get the book done soon.
Two different pastors we heard this Christmas used John 3:16 as their scripture. I am not sure I have ever heard anyone use that before at Christmas. It was pretty neat. Maybe I just wasn't paying attention before though. That is entirely possible. Seems like perfect Christmas scripture and fodder to me.
We had members of both sides of our family here yesterday for lunch and a few hours. I was pretty nervous about it, due to some dynamics going on in both families right now. Okay, very nervous. We made it through though without fisticuffs, street brawling, or anyone hauling a Vietnam-era flamethrower out of their garage. Overall, it was pretty successful.
I used to cook a lot when I was younger and I really enjoy it. Somehow, our schedules just sort of changed when Evan was born though and Lisa started doing most of the cooking. I miss it. I think it was because, when I would get home from work, she was ready for a break from taking care of Evan so I would take that over for awhile as she prepared dinner. Yesterday, though, I fixed the turkey and did it "my way". I stuffed it with corn, yellow squash, green peppper, and apple slices. I mixed in some pepper and parmesean. I rubbed the outside with lemon and olive oil and then put some pepper on it. It was very tasty if I do say so myself. Stuffing a turkey with vegetables helps keep the turkey moist. I had fun doing that. Also fixed a small boneless breast and just rubbed poultry seasoning on it and put it in a bag. Also very tasty.
Our pastor, in his Sunday morning message, talked about the forgiveness that God gave to us with His son. He then led into the questioning of whether there are those in our lives we need to forgive. It really got me to thinking. Generally, I think of myself as a fairly forgiving person. I am slow to anger and most things just roll off my back. I don't think of myself as harboring grudges yet, I have to admit, I do joke around sometimes about others. I need to think that through a bit and make sure that it is not actually the result of a lack of forgiveness on my part. There may be particular family members, too, where a lack of forgiveness on my part is affecting the relationship. I need to keep that in check.
Some good friends of ours gave me a calendar with Israel pictures which I am really going to enjoy. My folks gave me a book with Israel pictures. Ditto for that. The memories these pictures evoke are huge. I'd love to take Lisa and Evan to Israel this summer and just travel on our own but that probably won't happen. We have also talked about California this summer as a possible trip, if funds allow. That is probably more likely to happen than Israel. I have not been to California much in recent years. I used to travel there quite a lot and really enjoyed it.
Evan got a game called Whooonu for Christmas. It's one of the Cranium games. Those are all pretty good. This game is a lot of fun -- it tells you a lot about the people you're playing with. That is usually a good thing.
The same friend who gave me the calendar gave me a book called "A guide to prayer for all who seek God." He usually carries his around with him. It's a really neat book with readings and scriptural references broken up across the Christian calendar, all to guide you toward reflection and prayer. I really want to focus on my prayer life in 2007 ... it's gone in fits and spurts in 2006. While I still want to focus on intercessory prayer, I also want to spend time focusing on using prayer to seek God's direction for my life.
Lisa and Evan got me the PS2 game, Guitar Hero, for Christmas. It is a blast. It includes a little plastic guitar that you use to try to play tunes that are mainly from the 80's heavy metal, glam, and hair bands. As Evan says, "Rock on, Dude!" It allows me to show a side of myself few people ever see, or would want to see for that matter! Hardeeharhar.
Lisa and I got each other the same CD for Christmas which is pretty funny. She also got me 80's Trivial Pursuit which we played yesterday. My father-in-law and I were on a team and we kicked butt. (Well, actually, we kicked butt during a string of very easy questions we received.The rest of the time we just tread water.) I got Lisa some clothes for Christmas. I hope they fit.
Woke up to a little snow on the ground this morning. That's a first for this winter. Fortunately not nearly enough to have to shovel.
Well, I guess that is it for now.
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