The Salad Days

This is our 3rd Christmas in Minneapolis, and while the first one was brown, the last two have been white. Not only that, everyone around here is clamoring over the old fashioned Christmas we are having. As I took an ordinary trip to our trash can tonight, I stopped on the way back to look at the mini canyons of snow which I pass through to and from the trash, and for one moment, I looked around. I saw the Christmas lights up and down the block, and an entire city utterly covered in snow. As we have settled in for our yearly feast, snow has no bearing on the meaning of the holiday. But as I stood outside in the 0 degree night taking in the scenery around me, it did my heart good. This advent season has been dramatic in many ways, so the simplicity of a snowy landscape struck me as a piece of common grace on this Christmas Eve.

Steph and I were in the basement on the computer, having put the three kids in bed. Suddenly we hear, "MOM!!" Steph and I were frustrated by Corrie's lack of ability to control the volume of her voice, since her brothers were trying to sleep. I told her to come downstairs, gave her a slight reprimand for her volume, and then asked her what she wanted....

"Mom, Dad, I went poo-poo and it was shaped like a candy cane."

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

I did my first movie blog in 5 months....there's a link to the left.

A week ago, my wife was awfully sick for a day, so I spent the day with Jack and Corrie. We took advantage of the indoor park at the Mall of America, and then came home to play outside in the snow. We had a great time.







We have a school right down the street that has a great sledding hill. It's the perfect size for kiddos:

Steph found this wonderful essay on Christmas by RC Sproul. I agree wholeheartedly with his overriding thesis: that people need to chill about Christmas.

RC Sproul on Christmas

But when I got home from my 6-4 shift at the store today, Steph had shoveled ALL of the snow in the front and back yard. Folks, it just doesn't get any better than that. What a great way to start the weekend :).

Corrie: "Mother, things are so much better now that you're out of prison..."