winter wonderland question

ok ya’ll know the song “winter wonderland”?  i have a question…

the one point where it says
“in the meadow we can build a snowman
and pretend that he is parson brown
he’ll say ‘are you married?” we’ll say “no man.”
“but you can do the job when you’re in town.”

what does it mean when it says “you can do the job”?  is it that the parson can marry them (perform the wedding ceremony) next time he’s in town?  or that the parson can actually GET married to one of them next time he’s in town?

i’ve always sort of interpreted it in the first way… but as i was listening to it this afternoon it occurred to me that maybe that’s not what it meant…? 

maybe i’m just overthinking it…  how do ya’ll interpret that line?

finally…

it’s FINALLY starting to really feel like christmas to me now…  since i started working full time, i’m not out and about during the day so i feel like i miss out on a lot of the decorations, cheesy instore christmas music, and the general holiday cheer (or not) of the general public.  the days can seem to still feel just like every other day of the year if i’m not intentional.  so getting it to “feel” like christmas sometimes doesn’t happen until a few certain things take place…

thursday night my mom and i went and saw the Nutcracker at symphony hall downtown. 


::happy sigh::  that story is so magical to me.  i’d forgotten how lovely it is.  if God blesses me with a daughter, i am absolutely getting her all dressed up in a pretty dress and taking her to see it.  it’s like every little girl’s dream story!  the happiness of christmas, the thrill of receiving a special present, the excitment of an adventure, being threatened by an evil mouse king and then rescued by a prince (and getting to help him no less!), and then being whisked away to a beautiful fantasy world full of color and dancing and glittering snow and happy faces and lovely dancing.  aaaahhh! 

ok so maybe this isn’t EVERY little girl’s dream, but it certainly was mine!  i loved stuff like that.  i always wanted to think of myself as a tomboy, but deep down i really was a girly-girl through and through.  and while some of that has been tempered and modified with age and maturity (i hope!), i’m still completely drawn to beauty and colors and all things lovely and romantic. what can i say? 

so yeah.  being downtown amidst all the lights and decorations and going to a holiday show made it really start to feel like christmas. 

so i did some shopping today (all finished now!).  i enjoy running errands and checking things off my list in general, but at christmas time, my favorite part is getting to actually WRAP the gifts i’ve purchased.  i think i shall begin that tonight. 

baking is another element that makes it finally feel like christmas!  tonight i quadrupled a recipe and made 9 (+2 mini) loaves of pumpkin-cranberry bread.  i LOVE our recipe for this bread and we typically only make it during the holiday season.  so when the unique smell of this bread baking permeates the house, it always makes it really feel like christmas.  note to my fellow bakers: quadupling a recipe that regularly makes two loaves… um, let’s just say it’s better to double the recipe and then double it again instead of attempting to do a quadruple all at once.  just trust me on this one. 

we got our christmas tree on wednesday!  yay!  my 2nd favorite smell in the whole world is now wafting through the house, greeting me afresh every time i walk thru the front door.  so glorious! 

oh there’s my timer – bread’s done! 

christmas to me

 everyone has special things (or even just random things) that make up “christmas” to them.  sounds, smells, sights.  traditions.  here are some things that just “are” christmas to me. 

music
as embarrasing and cheesy as it may be, there are certain christmas albums that i’ve grown up listening to and just LOVE!
 
 
 

smells
my family has always gotten a REAL christmas tree.  a douglas fir.

we put colored mini lights on it and lots of homey ornaments that
have been given to us and collected over the years.  some of them date
back as far as my parents first christmas together in 1979!  i think my favorite christmas smell – hands down – is the smell of the pine tree that permeates our house for weeks once we get the tree up.  (i also beg my parents to put the tree up in the front bay window of the house every year.  last year was the first year i lost  )

sights
every year i try to see Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker ballet.  i just LOVE it.
  
I never tire of the music or the story.  I also try and read this version of the story every year. 

and of course, there’s always the favorite christmas movies!

don’t forget the classic:

traditions
and what would christmas be without cookies?!  for as long as i can remember, my mom has always only made one kind of cookie every year: spritz cookies.  they are a simple butter cookie recipe (that my mom got from her mom) that you make with a cookie press.  very simple but absolutely scrumptious!  for the last several years, mom and i have spent the better part of a day making hundreds of these cookies.  after 4-5 hours the kitchen table is just covered with them!  mmmmm!
  

one of the blessings of having grandparents and most of our extended family living in town, is that christmas has always been spent with family.    traditional meals at grandparents’ homes christmas eve, the 4 of us on christmas morning, my aunt and uncle and cousins driving up from tucson christmas afternoon…  ah, so wonderful! 

one of my favorite things to do every christmas is participate in an outreach ministry.  whether it be Angel Tree, or Samaritan’s Purse, or this year, our church is sponsoring children from an orphanage associated with our sister church in Juarez, Mexico, it is such a joy and privilege to bless others – especially children – during this special time of year. 

obviously, these things aren’t what MAKE christmas truly Christmas.  they’re just fun things that make up some of the fun during the month of december.   

what things make your december particularly fun? 

action hero manhood

this article is copied from CBMW’s website here.

thought this was interesting… what do y’all think?

Considering Three Pictures of Manhood: James Bond, Jason Bourne and Jack Bauer

Steven Cavallaro
February 11, 2008

[Steve is a rabid Boston Red Sox fan, graduate of Reformed Theological
Seminary, Orlando, and long-time blogger; I hope you will be intrigued
by his consideration of three perspectives on manhood and especially
challenged by the last of his three questions. – David Kotter]

Their initials are all “JB”.  All three come from very different time periods but still captivate audiences today.  In an interview
regarding the last of the Bourne trilogy, Matt Damon didn’t have
anything nice to say about the first JB — Bond.  He called him
misogynist and imperialistic.  So I got to thinking.

I grew up watching James Bond movies.  I think the first one I saw in the theatre was Live and Let Die
over 30 years ago.  He was, as noted, a product of the Cold War and has
lots of Cold War cynicism.  He loves his country, loves sex and loves
dispatching bad guys.  He doesn’t quite fit Damon’s sensibilities.  I
don’t blame him — I don’t want to defend Bond’s womanizing ways. 
Austin Powers started as a playful nod to all that was Bond before
degenerating into ever-increasing crudity.

The Bond franchise got a much needed shot in the arm with Casino Royale. 
It sought to explain the man–his cynicism and womanizing.  I see it as
the inevitable and necessary hardening of his heart to cope with what
he has to do.  It doesn’t justify it–just explains it.  Bond is not a
virtuous man, but one who is defending his country.

I
read the Bourne books in the 80’s, and really enjoyed them.  Jason was
more a product of the 70’s with its suspicion of the government.  He’s
a typical anti-hero: an individualist who really only cares for
himself.  He’s not cynical, but paranoid.  He is faithful to a fault,
pining for the woman he loved.  Unlike Bond, he does not descend into
womanizing.  He does not protect our freedom, but pursues his own. 
He’s not looking for solutions, but answers.  He is the existential
man.

Then
there is Jack Bauer — a product of 9/11.  Unlike Bond, he does not
enjoy what he does.  Unlike Bourne, he does not fight for himself but
for his country.  He is a man of honor, who sacrifices himself for
others.  He is not suave, but often brutal.  That is because he knows
many thousands or even millions may die if he fails.  He is driven in a
way that Bourne cannot understand.

Three ‘heroes’ that have captivated audiences.  Three very different
men reflecting very different eras.  Three men driven by different
motives.  Three men who should cause us to ask questions about
ourselves.

1. What effect does what I do have on me?

2. What effect does what I do have on others?

3. Is it all about me, or am I willing to sacrifice for something greater?

Here is my perspective:  I enjoy the action found in (some) Bond
movies, and the Bourne movies.  But I’m stirred by Jack Bauer’s
self-sacrifice.  While Bond would retreat to booze and women, and
Bourne would seek safety, Bauer would try to save me even at the cost
of his life.  This is why Bauer beats them both, hands down.

thanksgiving!

my parents and i spent thanksgiving this year in pasadena, california with the boomsma family! 🙂

thursday morning we drove to millard’s canyon and did a light hike – a boomsma family tradition. 
here is the whole B family:

(L-R:  Ron, Ashley, Zach, Tami, Paige, Taylor, Courtney)

zach and i at the little waterfall in the canyon:

dinner was wonderful! 

friday morning the guys went and played golf and the ladies (mom and I & tami and courtney) had tea in sierra madre.  🙂

one of the highlights of the weekend was getting to help courtney with her final project for her photography class.  yeah, twist my arm and FORCE me to have pictures taken of my and my man.  ha!  we went down to old towne pasadena friday afternoon for the photo shoot.  zach was a great sport (he strongly dislikes taking pictures) and courtney got some great shots! 

here are some of my favorites:
(please note – all pictures are courtesy of and belong to Courtney Boomsma – she gave me permission to share them with y’all because she’s nice like that.  )

our height proportions are rather comical sometimes…  “you know it’s a good thing you’re not a big FAT guy, or this would be reeeeaally difficult!”

then we started “play fighting”:

and of course he started tickling me – one of his favorite pastimes.

zach likes to make my hair all messy. 

courtney told zach to lean forward…  “hey luc, is this guy bothering you?  it looks like he’s…leaning.”  haha

these last few are my favorites!  the distance and focus on them turned out really cool! 

isn’t he SO handsome?! 

those of you who know me well know that i’m totally a “little miss sunshine” kind of person.  i smile a lot and i’m not very afraid of the camera!  so i REALLY felt like a photography model in some of these pictures – all non-smiley and everything.  haha!

a bunch more of the pictures that Courtney took are up on her photobucket here.

the weekend was also full of other fun things like playing nertz/dutch blitz (zach and i totally dominated yet again –  bwahahah!), running random errands or taking care of last minute things at the church building, hanging out with the families, watching movies (or the pilot episode of macgyver), laughing a lot, triple dating with both sets of parents, and enjoying gorgeous weather!

as always, the weekend was over far too quickly.    but we had a great time and a safe drive home.  oh yeah, and then there’s this thing called ‘real life’ that i have to get back to…