Top Projects

Rhoda at Southern Hospitality is hosting a "Top Projects of 2009" Party today. As I look back over my projects from last year, here are a few of my favorites.

One of the first "before-and-after" blog posts I ever wrote involved an old wooden tray

that I transformed into this serving tray/vacation memento:

This summer I found a bedraggled ottoman at the thrift store

and turned it into a storage bench for my closet:

And in one of my thriftiest projects ever, I turned an Omaha Steaks styrofoam cooler

into an ottoman for my front porch:

One of my favorite large projects of the year was a makeover of my laundry room. It went from this:


To this:

I must say, though, that the project of 2009 that stands out most in my mind is the one that involved getting my husband from here to here. In case you're not schooled in reading ECG's, the first shows an example of an electrocardiogram strip from a person in atrial fibrillation. The second shows an ECG of someone with a normal heart rhythm--which is what my husband has now. Actually, we were most grateful for the a-fib. For my husband, the irregular heartbeat prompted a special visit to the cardiologist, and extensive testing revealed that he needed open-heart surgery. So now he has a brand-new stainless steel heart valve--and at his last check-up, the cardiologist said that his ECG looked like that of an 18-year-old. That was quite a project!

Now it's time for me to get busy on some new projects for 2010. Thanks, Rhoda, for the chance to look back fondly on what we accomplished in 2009!

Not enough

Happy New Year!

Here we are at January 1, the first day of a new year, a new decade. What joy there is in having a fresh start!

As I contemplated my goals and resolutions for this new year, I realized something important: once a year is not enough for me. One brand-new, clean-slate day per year is just not enough.

I'm not organized enough to proclaim today the ways I'll be more organized this year.

I'm not goal-oriented enough to make a long list of goals for this year.

I'm not resolute enough to number the resolutions I need to make for this year.

I contemplate the new year, and I can easily feel overwhelmed and under-qualified. The fact is, I need a brand-new, clean-slate day every day.

And then I am reminded:

This I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;

His mercies never come to an end;

They are new every morning.

Great is Your faithfulness.

"The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in Him."

Lamentations 3:22-24

So many times I have put my hopes in my well-laid plans, in my desire to succeed, in my heartfelt determination to improve myself. And so many times I have had my hopes dashed as I failed to live up to my own expectations.

But oh! God is the One of whom the prophet could say "Great is Your faithfulness." His steadfast love never ceases; His mercies never end.

And His mercies are new every morning. Not just on New Year's Day, but on every day.

Which is just how often I need them.

2009 in the rear-view mirror

I don't know what it's been like for you, but at our house, 2009 has been quite a year.

• In January, my husband's heart was in atrial fibrillation.
• In February, my husband had major open-heart surgery.
• In March, we helped to start a new church.
• In April, my youngest son had an emergency appendectomy.
• In May, I started blogging again. Thank God!
• In June, my oldest son graduated from high school.
• In July, my husband started a new business.
• In August, my oldest son went off to college.
• In September, my middle son got his driver's license.
• In October, my middle son went on his first college search trip and ordered his class ring.
• In November, my husband had the swine flu and we hosted friends for Thanksgiving--though thankfully not in the same week.
• In December, my youngest son went to his very first school dance.

Here's my favorite photo from the events listed above. This is how my youngest son looks after he's been given morphine:

At that point, he was feeling no pain.

These are just some of the highlights, of course. Kind of like what I'm going to have to add to my hair if it keeps turning gray at the rate it did in 2009.

How's your year been?

Honestly, of all the things listed above, my starting blogging has been one of the very best parts of this year for me. I'm so glad to have met you, my blogging friends. I love visiting your blogs and I especially love getting comments from you. Hearing from you really IS a highlight for me!

Blessings to all of you for a wonderful new year!

A likely story

I was seven years old in 1970, the year that Rankin/Bass produced the holiday special Santa Claus Is Coming to Town. I watched it that year and every year thereafter. I knew nothing about claymation or stop-motion production; I just knew that I loved the wonderful story that answers all the questions about Santa Claus. I could sing "Put One Foot in Front of the Other" right along with Mickey Rooney.

That Christmas special, like its predecessor Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, essentially takes the lyrics to a classic Christmas song and brings them to life, creating an entire story around the words to a song. Details are added as needed to complete the legend, and viewers can learn everything from why Kris Kringle wears a red suit and how reindeer fly to why Santa comes down the chimney and why he lives at the North Pole. It's a magical story, if a bit far-fetched.

And then there's other Christmas story--the one about the birth of Christ. Sometimes I wonder if we might do the same thing to the Jesus story that we do to the Santa story. The truth is, we don't really know too many details about the birth of Christ. We know that Mary and Joseph were from Nazareth, and that they had to travel to Bethlehem register for the census, and that Mary was just about ready to give birth when the couple arrived in Bethlehem. We know that and that there were no accommodations available for them and that they took shelter in a stable. We know that the baby Jesus was born in the stable and that Mary laid him in the animals' feeding trough. And we know that shepherds who were guarding their sheep in the fields nearby heard about the baby's birth from an angel who appeared to them. The angel told the shepherds about the birth of the baby and told them that he was the Savior. The angel also told the shepherds that they could go to Bethlehem and see the baby Jesus for themselves, and that Jesus would be wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.

The Christmas story is such an important one that we long for more details. Scholars who have studied Jewish history during the time of the Romans have given us bits of information that we've woven into the story in various ways. We've been able to make logical inferences about some parts of the story. And then we've given the whole thing a date on the calendar and added some sweet little bits like the legend of a little drummer boy who plays for the baby.

As I watched those Rankin/Bass classics with my kids this Christmas season, it occurred to me how heartwarming it is to know the "whole story" of Santa Claus. Of course we know it's just a story, albeit a sweet one. And I wondered if perhaps we forget that the story of Jesus is more than just a sweet legend. Perhaps the Christmas story is so familiar to us that we're in danger of forgetting just how amazing it is. God had many reasons for sending Jesus to live on earth. As I reflect upon the Christmas story, I find myself thinking that those who don't believe in the truth of the story might find it just as far-fetched as the Santa legends.

You know, it really is an unusual story. We tend to fancy it up a bit, but it's actually pretty earthy. I mean, if the Lord of all Creation decided to send His Son to live on earth, wouldn't he do it differently? Wouldn't a Messiah enter the world in a much grander way? The answer would seem to be yes--so much so that many people just can't believe the humility of the true story.

I wonder: have our efforts to make this story grand been a good thing? Or would we do better to admit that the story IS unusual?

This Christmas, I couldn't help but think about the fact that the whole story of Jesus is one that would be easy to disbelieve. It would be easy to dismiss it as just a sweet story: fun to sing about at Christmastime, but nothing more. And now Christmas is over for another year. Stockings have been filled and emptied; presents have been unwrapped; Christmas dinners have been eaten. Time to pack away the decorations and the holiday movies for another year.

But that baby really was the Son of God. And unlike the Santa legends, this story is true.

Believe it or not.

Catching up

Hallelujah! It's the last day of school!

My kids have been taking final exams this week. Those are finally over, thank goodness. Today is a half-day for them, and then they'll have the fun of being out of school for Christmas break.

Last night we hosted a Christmas party--a White Christmas party, to be specific. We had friends from church over to watch the 1954 classic White Christmas. I have to say, any movie starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, and Rosemary Clooney is going to be fine with me, but White Christmas. . . well, it's special. Irving Berlin wrote the song "White Christmas" for the World War II era movie Holiday Inn, which is another favorite of mine. Holiday Inn stars Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. After the song "White Christmas" became such a Christmas favorite, a movie was written around it. If you've never seen it, I highly recommend that you rent it. Now. You'll be grinning from ear to ear as you watch it. Lots of schmaltz and lots of heart.

Here's how our house looked as guests arrived last night:

So what have you been doing this week?

Christmas Tour of Homes

It's time for the Christmas Tour of Homes with the Nester, and I'm excited to join to the party. This is my first bloggy Christmas, and am I ever enjoying myself! It's such fun to get to take a look at everyone's homes all decked out for the holidays.

Welcome to my house!

I showed you some of my house here. Now for a little further look:

First, the dining room. I've had a red dining room for years, with the shade of red changing over the years. Right now I'm enjoying a red that's very brown, and I love the way it looks at Christmastime. I know red dining rooms are a little passe', but I'm just not ready to give mine up yet.

On the antique primitive sideboard is one of our Nativity scenes, this one made of olive wood:

Our other Nativity set is in the living room. I like it displayed here with my collection of crosses. Many of us celebrate Christ's birth at Christmastime. I like to remember that He came to live among us and to teach us, but ultimately to give His life for us. So what began at the manger was completed at the cross.

I decorate my Christmastime kitchen with snowmen. My husband and I moved to Michigan when our oldest son was 10 weeks old, and we lived there for seven years. The kids loved the Michigan winters, and we had plenty of real snowmen. After we moved away, some dear friends who are native Michiganders gave us this set of snowman plates:

And a collection was born. Most of them reside on my antique dough cabinet:

Just outside the kitchen is my screened porch, which was easy to gussy up for Christmas: a little red ribbon and some greenery, and it's ready to roll.

It's fun to add a few little Christmas touches here and there throughout the house. For instance, I've dressed this little hall table with a red vase that I got at Nester's Swap Meet:

I added sticks from my yard, some greenery (part fake, part fresh), and two antique Santa mugs that belonged to my grandmother. The mugs look really pretty at night because I put those little battery-operated votive candles in them. I've seen the battery-operated votives for awhile, but never bought any until this Christmas. Oh, my goodness! I didn't know what I was missing. The glow and flicker of candlelight without the danger of fire.

And though I don't really do too much Christmas decorating in my bedroom, I did place some greenery around one of my favorite lamps:

I wish you could meet you all in person, but getting to look around one another's homes is the next best thing. Thanks, Nester, for hosting all of us!