Merry Christmas from Our House!

Merry Christmas!
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

If you hear a cosmic rumbling this week, it is probably a huge sigh of relief coming from a little house in Arlington. Our Christmas party this weekend was a success...and now that it's over I can breathe easy and Christmas can really come! We had quite a few people brave the frigid winds to come see the debut of our little house, in all it's Christmas finery. It was really fun to visit with friends and we didn't run out of food, so we can't ask for much more.

We might look exhausted in this picture, which we took shortly before collapsing on the couch with plates of leftover goodies, but we loved that you can see the tree AND the fireplace. I also posted a couple more pictures on Flickr, my favorites being the mantel. What do you think?

Justice

Last night Jason and I went to a benefit dinner for the International Justice Mission, which is headquartered in DC and is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year.

I first heard about IJM in a dingy train station in Glasgow, Scotland. Friends and I were on our way back to Oxford after a quick, "let's-go-see-the-Loch-Ness" weekend in the Highlands, and I spent the trip home trying to catch up on the studying that I had missed out on by not spending the weekend in the library. Our lecture the next day would ask the question, "Where is God in the face of injustice?" It was one I had struggled with for about a year without being satisfied with the typical Sunday school-type answers I'd received.

The reading we were assigned the week before told the true story of a young girl in Cambodia who had been kidnapped, dragged across the border to Thailand, and sold into sex slavery. It was members of IJM, an organization that works with local authorities as legal advocates for victims of sex trafficking, slavery, and other forms of violent injustice, who risked their lives to rescue this girl and bring her abductors to justice. The message was clear, and I have not forgotten it: God uses us to fight injustice in the world, and when we don't step up to the plate, injustice goes unanswered. Never before had I realized how critical I am to God's plan.

Three cheers for the CCCU, because Jason also learned about IJM when he did an off-campus study program in DC while he was in college. We strongly encourage you to check out IJM's website and see what they are doing--and what you can do--to help fight injustice in our world.

The Tree

The Tree
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

It's been a solid week of alternately decorating the house and dragging boxes up and down the stairs, but I think we've finally reached a point where we can share a few pictures of our Christmassy house. I have a list of things to do to finish it up--most of them involve scotch tape (we ran out Saturday morning), and most of them, thankfully, involve the basement. No pictures of that yet.

As we expertly dragged our tree inside and set up the stand, I thought, "Hey, this is great, we're old pros at this putting up a tree business!" Then the tree fell down...and fell down again...and fell down again...and by the time we finally had it up for good two hours had gone by and neither of us cared if we ever saw a Christmas tree again! Thankfully, we got over it. More importantly, the tree has not fallen down again.

First Snow

I briefly thought that the first snow was actually on Sunday, when we went to get our Christmas tree and I swore a few flakes fell just as I found the perfect one, but as we were leaving the tree lot I realized that it was not snow but ash from the fire burning away the extra branches. So close...

But I am pretty convinced that it is real snow today and not ash. Especially since we just had a fire drill (does it qualify as a "drill" if an alarm really did go off but there was no actual fire?) and ended up on Independence Avenue with snow falling on our heads. It is the perfect day to be cozied up between the fire and the Christmas tree, cup of tea and good book in hand. I'm making due with curling up between my computer screen and the heater with some hot chocolate and reading material entitled"Liquid Fuels from Coal, Natural Gas, and Biomass: Background and Policy." It's riveting.

Note: I obviously took the picture when I got home. I thought you might be able to see our Christmas tree light in the window, but alas. Plus, it's still snowing.

Tickling the Ivories

Cole and Aunt Missy, Playing the Piano
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

Ah, you are wondering why it took me so long to blog about Thanksgiving. Picture: Sunday morning. Jason's parents and grandma leave. Jason and Missy collapse on couch to watch (from beneath our eyelids) the Redskins lose. Again. Missy frantically tries to write a paper, and eventually posts it on the class website with the subject line, "Yikes! This is a disaster! Help!" Missy packs her bags for Idaho. Monday. Jason and Missy wake up late and scramble around, trying to get to work on time. Missy gives in to the temptation to skip the gym at lunch and instead eats queso at Tortilla Coast with a friend. Missy goes to class and comes home, exhuberantly telling Jason, who is in bed, that her professor said her last paper was a "joy to read" (vast improvement over "plainly written"). After the euphoria wears off, she goes to sleep, because 4:45 am will come painfully early. Tuesday. It does come early. Jason drags himself out of bed to take Missy to the airport for her 6:40 flight, which leaves 40 minutes late and dramatically curtails her 55 minute layover in MSP. Missy sprints (as fast as she can with luggage--laptop=bad) from the G terminal to the C terminal and plops into seat 6A just in time...to attend her meeting with the new airport director in Boise minutes after arriving in Idaho.

Whew.

Obviously, the trip to Idaho was worth the headache, as you can see by the picture. Cole and I enjoyed our little piano duet. Actually, Cole isn't quite sure what to think of his Aunt Missy these days, but I can't decide whether that is because I'm absent or because he has developed a bit of attitude (albeit adorable attitude) since I last left in September. If only I could post the video of him taking Jenny's hand off the piano and putting it in her lap so that it was not next to his... I was certainly not "Mamamama" (translation: Cole's favorite person in the room, likely his Mama or his Granny, and, in a pinch, and only if Aunt Missy was the only other option, Aunt Jenny), but if I lured him with dried mangos and a good book ("Put Me in the Zoo," for example, or "Bears on Wheels"), he would decide that sitting on my lap wasn't such a bad thing after all.

At least I made Jenny feel good--apparently until I arrived he wouldn't give her the time of day!

Some crazy black ice on the road between Boise and Eastern Idaho transformed a really busy work week into a very calm work week. That made it fun to hang out with my mom and dad, sisters and brothers-in-law, and brum-brumming nephew. A foretaste of Christmas.

The Feast

Ready for the Feast
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

I generally don't have a problem with meat, eating, cooking, or touching it, which is a good thing, since a few days before Thanksgiving I found myself wrist-deep in turkey innards, wrestling profusely with the still-frozen turkey neck to get the turkey ready to brine. By the time I won the battle, I was sweating and using harsh language directed at my bird.

Luckily, it didn't take offense and turned into a really scrumptious centerpiece for our Thanksgiving table. One, you'll note, we did not photograph. Sad. Still, all the cleaning and baking and list-making paid off, and Thanksgiving was delish. The Foodie Friends Turkey will be a repeat guest at my table, mmm... (So will the sausage stuffing that I parsed together from a couple of recipes--and a box of Stovetop--that was so good even Jason ate it.)

The above is an awkward picture, thanks to our small dining room and large (yay!) table, but you get the idea. Jason's parents and grandma came to eat, visit, and see our house. We did a little post-Thanksgiving shopping (new purses for Lynda and me!) and then spent Saturday at Montpelier, President Madison's home. The house is currently being restored to its original condition, and it was interesting to see the renovations. We'll have to go back one of these days and see the final product.

Plus, we got to use the china. Love the china. And my grandma's handwriting is still on the china protectors, labeling them, and that made me happy.