I went to church and....

did not spontaneously combust!!! Until last night, I had not been in a church for, well, I really don't remember the last time. The last time I went on a regular basis I was in high school, which was in the late 80s. Lately, I have thought a lot about my own spirituality and how that impacts my little girl. My husband is decidedly not religious, and considers himself agnostic (I think being the son of a minister may have something to do with that). When I was younger I was very involved in church and considered myself very religious. After I went away to college, I had a crisis of faith, and started to question a lot of what I had previously believed. My second major in college was Religious Studies so I did a lot of studying about a lot of different religions which just added to my confusion. I visited a lot of churches and became very disillusioned with organized religions as a whole, and decided my own individual spirituality was more important than whether or not I went to any particular church. But now, I really miss the community and fellowship that being a part of a church family can provide, and I really don't want Lanie to miss out on that opportunity either.

SO, that brings me to last night. My parents and sister had decided to go to a Christmas Eve service at a local Lutheran church (which is the religion my mother was raised with in Norway). I decided to go with them and take Lanie. Luckily it was a family service designed for people with children because Lanie was not real sure of just how to behave in a church service! So, other than having to chase her around and try to keep her quiet, I really enjoyed the service. There weren't a lot of people there, so it was an intimate service, and I got a chance to speak with many of those there. I have always liked smaller churches better and this definitely fit that bill. Now, I don't think I will start going to church every week, but it is making me think more about it.

It is nice to know that I can still enter a church and not be struck by lightning!

Why??

That is the word I hear the most from my very inquisitive two year old these days. She will ask you something and when you answer her she asks, "Why?" And then when you give her another answer, yes, she again asks, "Why?" It is never ending, and most of the time ends with me saying, "because I said so!" I now know why that phrase is a part of every parent's repertoire, because otherwise you would never end the onslaught of WHYS!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We went and got our Christmas tree today! Actually, we got two trees; one 8 foot tree for downstairs in the living room, and one little 4 foot tree for upstairs in the game room. The little one was initially supposed to be put on the window seat in the game room so it would be visible from outside, but the seat ended up being too narrow so my husband put it on the pub table up there instead. Now I just have to pull out all of the decorations and get them up! This is the earliest I have EVER had my Christmas tree. We are usually the ones out looking for a tree on the last weekend before Christmas when all the nice trees are gone, so you end up with the pitiful Charlie Brown Christmas tree. I mean, you get a good deal usually that way, but rarely if ever do you get a really nice looking tree.

Lanie is very excited about Christmas this year, and it is so fun to watch her looking at the decorations and lights everywhere. We've asked her what she wants for Christmas , but she thankfully hasn't been bit yet by the whole retail bug. I could stand for that to stay away for many more years. So, unfortunately for her, she has a mother who is a teacher, and most of the things that I have gotten for her are educational toys. I think she will like them, and have fun with them, but sometimes I think she might have more fun with something that isn't a learning toy. Oh well, I guess she will just have to deal with it!

I have most of my Christmas shopping done, and now mostly have to get gifts for people far away. I am dreading having to send packages so I think I may just do some online shopping to take care of those. Gotta love the internet! Of course that won't take care of the Christmas cards I need to send but I will just have to try and get those done in the next week or so. I'd actually like to make sure they get mailed out this year, unlike last year! Well, I probably ought to get to my decorating and card writing instead of just rambling on here! I hope everyone is having a good holiday season so far!