Winter Wonderland?

In the southern half of the united states, how often does it snow on Christmas? In my experience, very rarely. And since I now live in Texas, the chances really seemed to slim down. Well, we got a white Christmas here in Dallas! It was so great. Two days later and everything is still white. I was able to make snow angels with the brother and even threw some snowballs!

Christmas here was great. We had cinnamon rolls, opened presents youngest to oldest, and watched Katelyn's newest movie 27 Dresses. We had ham for dinner with all the normal stuff you have with a holiday meal. I successfully made Grandma's cranberry relish, yay! And Katelyn made some interesting chocolate pies :) Now your life is complete, as you know all the details of my Christmas day.

Today is an exciting day for me though, I'm leaving this evening for my 2 week trip around the world. I'm headed over with 3 other college friends and we'll be working at a school in a small village. I'm all a jitter! 11.5 hour time difference, 20 hours of travel one-way, teaching english, eating lots of different foods. It's gonna be crazy! I'll have lots of stories to tell when I get back, I'm sure. So, the blog will be down until I get back, but then check back for posts and pictures!

Christmas Traditions

I'm halfway through Christmas break, I'm sitting here listening to my favorite acoustic bands, and am staring at our Christmas tree. A Christmas tree that is almost naked. One of my absolute favorite traditions is decorating the tree. This year we (my parents) are hanging on pretty tight to the traditions that pull us together as a family and the current state of our tree is a testament to that fact. See, we are still waiting for Katelyn to get home for break. Law school doesn't get out until today, so we've been anxiously awaiting the time when all of us are going to finally be home. And since I am leaving the country next week, the total time we will all be here is only 5 days. But back to the Christmas tree, my favorite part. I'm not sure how this tradition started, but every year each of us children get an ornament, and yep we have one from age zero to now. Christmas decorating starts by getting everyone together, starting the Christmas music playing, and putting the hot chocolate on the stove. For many years, the one thing we could count on was our youngest sister crying at some point during the decorating. Unfortunately, she is growing out of that, so Katelyn and I will probably no longer take bets on how long before she loses it.
It all starts with 1988, the year Katelyn was born. She places her first 2 ornaments until the glorious year of 1990 when I arrived on the scene and the world changed for the better. We continue through the years, mom handing us the ornaments one by one til we get to Josh and finally Cassaundra. Oldest to youngest, year by year. We fight for the best positions on the tree, and by the time we get to the current year, there is absolutely no room for another ornament. I guess it's a good thing that Katelyn and I are getting ready to officially move out - our tree can't handle many more additions to the ornament collection. And probably Cassaundra's ornaments deserve a little bit of time at the front of the tree :) But for now, we're just enjoying the naked fake tree.

Happiness and Cheer

It's Christmas time again, but this year it's different. Basically the only thing that has remained unchanged is Christmas itself - lots of decorations, lots of traffic, and the joyful reminder of Christ humbling himself to come and live on earth. I'm also feeling the effects of overdosing on Christmas music in years past. The cheesy songs don't seem to have the same appeal this year, or maybe it's just that the weather is especially warm this year so the Christmas spirit is a little more mild than usual. This year has been a year of major changes, and next year brings even bigger ones. I guess I'm not used to the feeling that Christmas is this season that happens despite the whirlwind of life going on around it. And fortunately, I'm still a college student so life halts for about a month. I really get to sit back, take inventory of life and take time to stop and smell the Christmas trees.

So what's new this Christmas? The biggest change is location. My parents moved this summer so now instead of "going home", I "go to my parents' place" (except don't tell them I said that). Yes, there will always be a sense of home where my parents are, but I'm from South Carolina, not Texas. So as a family we have been asking what is it that makes Christmas for us? For me, it's Christmas decorations (most importantly the tree), and just being here. Plus, since I graduate in May and Katelyn also finishes law school, my parents are facing the fact that we probably won't ever have a Christmas where we are all home for an extended period of time. Talk about pressure to make this a good Christmas! Don't get me wrong, we love Christmas and it's always a great time of year, but I can sense this underlying seriousness when my parents talk about plans. Oh how I love my parents, they're great.

I also threw a wrench in their plans when I decided to leave two days after Christmas for a trip to Southeast Asia (if you want more details than that, it'll have to be in person). I'll be gone for 2 weeks, half of my Christmas break. I could have jumped on the plane a month ago! But my parents definitely needed some time to warm up to the idea. I've been doing a lot of prepping for this trip and they have enjoyed (well I think they have) being a part of it. They might even be excited for me now! Packing will commence soon and then it's finishing all the little details for international traveling. I sure do hope that this is a regular thing I get to do. I should have been an international business major. Except not really. Business suits are too stuffy for this free spirit.

So Christmas is coming just the same as it did last year. I know I'm a different person, but that makes these timeless traditions feel all the more special. And dang, I'm really feeling like an adult now.

Back? Maybe

The first sentence of a blog post is the hardest for me :) But now I'm past it, so yay. I took a long break from blogging (obviously). I was sick of forcing myself to write and I didn't think I would miss it. But guess what, I did! Will I be consistent at writing? I haven't any idea. I would like to be, but I'm sick of promising a new post but never delivering. So instead of setting expectations for myself and trying to live up to them, I'm just not setting any expectations so that we can be happy with whatever I deliver. That is such a great philosophy to live by!! NOT!!!

I am in the last days of my second-to-last semester of college. I am FREAKING out. A lot. This has been I think the best semester I've had yet. And I thought freshman year was gonna be pretty hard to beat. I love that in college it is so easy to neatly place life in seasons and sections. Last year I figured out a lot about myself. This year has been figuring out what that looks like exactly and living it out. SO. MUCH.FUN! I've learned so much in these past three months. I've tried a lot of new things, God has really been teaching and stretching me, and I feel like my perspective on life is changing for the better. But I'm having trouble letting go. And this isn't even the end yet. But moving on! I'm trying so hard not to be sappy and mushy all the time. And I'm trying not to ramble - maybe that should be something I work on. But maybe not. I don't know. Should I set goals to improve my blog writing? hmm. oh. rambling.

Joy. Trust. Faith. Grace. These things have been key in this semester. I have had an incredible amount of Joy recently and it can only come from God. One of the coolest things in life for me is seeing tangible ways that God fulfills his promises. And He has definitely given me an indescribably joy - about life, about the future, about people, everything. But idk what I would have done without that, because this whole semester has been God saying "hey Jo, do you trust me? Oh you think you do? Well, what if this happens?" So yeah. Don't get me wrong - nothing major major happened. Just a bunch a bunch of medium-sized things. And since I have a tendency towards the dramatic, life is that much more interesting. Anyways, I have learned that trusting God isn't just patiently waiting for something you know is going to happen. It's having absolutely no idea and actually believing that whatever happens will be good. It's SOOOOO easy to know it or think it. But actually living it is hard - actually letting go of worry and anxiety is something different. But yeah, God wants to tangibly take away my freaking out. I just gotta let Him! I'm losing control, that's all.

So welcome back into my life! Go give someone a high-five :)