Routines

Routines are weird things. Day after day they are the same and I get bored with them and wish they weren't there. But then without them nothing ever gets done, I get tired of inconsistency and wish for "normalcy." Because of Christmas and time off from work and visitors there hasn't been much of my normal routines these past couple of weeks. It's been fun but it has also kind of been tiring. Not so much tiring because of everything we've been doing, although I did get sore from sledding. But tired because I feel like I haven't accomplished anything, and tired because sometimes I don't know how to deal with the situations that arise, where I should be and what I should be doing. So, in some ways I'm glad the vacation is almost done.

A Christmas Poem

I'm not super happy with it, some of it is pretty clunky, but here it is anyway. Merry Christmas.

The Nativity is set up, to bless the Christmas days,
To remind us that the Father, sent his Son to earth, to save.
Joseph stands nearby protecting, his wife and little one.
Mary kneels beside the cradle pondering, all that has been done.
The shepherds sent by angles come, to see the Lamb of God.
The wisemen journey seeking, the Light below the star.
The angels from the Heavens, sing praises to their King.
The stable stands mute witness, that He will shelter all.
He needs no palace nor kingdom, to rule or reign above.
As a babe He was potential. Our faith in Him was strong.
Now he lives again, our Savior, our life, our song.

Jane Eyre

In High School I once did a Relay for Life with some of my friends. Having no idea what it would be like I brought a book to read. Just in case. Unfortunately it was drizzly most of the day/night, and my backpack was too close to the edge of the tent so my book got somewhat waterlogged. It was a borrowed book. I ended up buying another copy of the book to give to the person I borrowed it from because I felt bad. The book, as you might have guessed from the post title was Jane Eyre. Although I felt bad about ruining someone else's book I wasn't sorry to get my own (although waterlogged) copy.

I liked it when I read it the first time. I just finished reading it the second time and I don't know how I missed the power behind it. Jane has a moral strength you don't often see in books, especially not in the more romantic genres.

Here are a few quotes from it that really connected with me, this time around.

"I had the means of an excellent education placed within my reach; a fondness for some of my studies, and a desire to excel in all, together wit h a great delight in pleasing my teachers, especially such as I loved, urged me on:"          -p98

This is how I felt about my schooling.

"Life, however, was yet in my possession; with all of its requirements, and pains, and responsibilities. The burden must be carried; the want provided for; the suffering endured; the responsibility fulfilled."       -p365

I liked how she described life and the responsibility that is a part of it.

"Reserved people often really need the frank discussion of their sentiments and griefs more than the expansive."         -p416

Sentimental December

Last week I was annoyed when I heard Christmas songs, and shook my head at Christmas displays in the stores. Now it's perfectly acceptable, rather nice actually. I feel like jumping into Christmas before Thanksgiving or even Halloween are plagued by a grass is greener mentality. Meaning they are ignoring the now in favor of a hazy future, even if that future looks good.
Anyway. As it is December first, and thus the Christmas season in my books I unpacked my few Christmas possessions. There is something enchanting about blowing off the dust of forgetfulness and pulling out old familiar items that seem to speak through the hands, whispering of past pleasantness with friends and a different me, even if there are no distinct memories. That I think, is part of the magic of the season. There are so many material items, foods, songs, and acted out traditions that only happen at Christmas that over and over again that enchanted dust is blown off.
The other day I was talking with my parents and brother about the one time we had Christmas with my grandparents. None of us remembered it very well at all. We decided that because it had been so entirely different from our other Christmases, so few of those memory things were unpacked or done that it hardly seemed like Christmas and so it faded from our minds like it barely existed.

Our DecemBear Advent Calandar