Category: Misc.

Holy Moly, can you believe that from today it is sixty-six days until Christmas?
Yes, i thought the same thing- and I am pretty sure that it WAS just July 4th and we’ve entered some sort of alternate reality time warp…

As anyone who really knows me could tell you, I believe in completely OCD thorough Holiday preparedness. I begin shopping early, and planning so that everything stays as stress free as possible. I have the privilege of seeing (from a distance) my best friend practice her holidays in the exact opposite manner, every year, and it makes me less annoyed at myself. :)

I could tell you though, what day we are cutting down our tree. I could tell you exactly how it will be decorated. I could tell you who I’m making gifts for, who i am buying them for and what foods I will cook vs. buy on all three celebrated winter holidays. I am typically so on top of it that every year I offer to help the a fore mentioned best friend. She never lets me. I think I scare her. Whatever. :)

This year I have partnered with Shutterfly to help three of my readers get ahead on their Holiday cards… (If you aren’t familiar with Shutterfly, then I recommend you acquaint yourself. I did my sister’s birth announcements last year and they were absolutely lovely!) They have beautiful quality and their selections are truly incomparable. {Also, on a sidenote, their new Custom Path photo books kind of rock my world and I want to make about a trillion of them…}

Anyway, back to Christmas stuff… Chw and I sat down with steaming cups of orange tea and poured over their VAST array of choices so that we could share our favorites with you.
These were our five agreed upon favorites… 

I hate to be that person. Honestly, I do. 

I know that quite a percentage of my readers do not subscribe to the beliefs of Christianity. Please allow me to take a moment to tell you how grateful I am that you read my words anyway, knowing that I do. In an era when even the word Christian is synonymous with bigotry and so many other negative words and actions- i am incredibly grateful that you stick around. 

So, back to my original sentence… i really do hate to be that person… You know, the critical one. 

Let me back up. 

I saw a really amazing movie recently. It raw, and honest and moving. It deals with real sticky subject matter and I honestly believe that anyone whose life has been touched by cancer would draw something from it. It really left me changed, in a way, and thinking about how that’s what movies should be like. I mean, granted, there always going to movies simply for entertainments sake and that’s ok. Some of them are awful and some of them are fun to watch. But most of the time, the movies that will stand through time and hold the loyalty of faithful audiences are going to be the ones that truly meant something… The one’s we take from. 50/50 is that film. 

Also recently, (more recently than 50/50) Chw and I went on a double date to catch a showing of Courageous. I can’t begin to tell you how many friends i had who enthusiastically encouraged everyone they knew to see this film. I long ago made the decision to NOT overly criticize “Christian” films because they lack the big budgets and screen start power that mainstream films have. Typically they are rough, poorly acted, blah blah blah. But again, i firmly believe that movies should mean something, so the other stuff doesn’t matter.

Courageous… I felt like this film sorely missed the mark (and the point) with why this company began making films to begin with. Somewhere along the way I think the ticket purchases took away some common sense. The storyline in this film was truly beautiful. It convicted my husband, on multiple levels, about what it truly means to be a good husband and father. It challenged his perception of good enough vs. great. We laughed, and a scene even choked us up a little… And then, though it had teetered on crossing an invisible line before- it blatantly jumped off the pier head first towards the end. 

A few facts: 

– people go to the movies, first and foremost, to be entertained. 

– on occasion, SOME people may hope to take some depth with them, as well. 

– people who don’t already love Jesus DO NOT feel respected paying $10 for a ticket to a sermon. They feel ripped off. IT DOES NOT REACH THEM- it insults them. 

– churches buying out theaters so their members can see the film does not make it a “box office success, changing lives and reaching millions.” It makes it a staged success… 

– save everyone some frustration and money and buy a pre-release DVD to show at your church. You know, where preaching is supposed to happen. 

From a Christian perspective, the bottom line should always be to reach others. 

At least in America, throwing it in their face doesn’t reach people. Instead it convinces them that they were right about us to begin with… 

Movies like Soul Surfer, for example, gently tell the story they came to say, and then respectfully roll the credits. They plant seeds and leave the audience to mull over it- or walk away. I appreciate that. 

I love Jesus. i do… And yet, this movie was a bit much for me. 

And, as i have undoubtedly ticked off a lot of people, I have one more thing to say… A PG rating does not make it a family film. Please treat your kids better than that. Telling your kids you are going on a “family” trip to the movies, and then seeing a movie like Courageous sends the wrong message to your kids. Your kids do not understand what is on the screen before them. How can they, this adult stuff and they are KIDS. They will be bored. You will get upset. It isn’t pretty for anyone. 

Pretty much that’s all i have to say. Like it or hate it, it’s ok. I know people who, at the very moment are accusing me of dumbing my beliefs down or denying them. It isn’t about that. It is a matter of respecting people. 

Does your life ever feel like it subscribes to a certain theme? Like suddenly you read a book that has something particular in it, and suddenly that same thing is playing on your television, and suddenly friends are calling or emailing you with the same topic in mind… 

I don’t know what i’m saying really, i just sometimes subscribe to the notion that my life umbrellas in under a certain theme, from time to time. 

Like now… 

Take Gen, for example. She’s happily implanted into the trenches of middle school. She loves school, she loves her days and she is (for the most part) doing really well… BUT, (because, you know, there’s always a “but”) there’s this girl. And this girl’s friends… And their little lame clique doesn’t exactly make life easy for Gen. It’s a frustration. A frustration that she’s handling really well considering she’s only twelve. {and considering her main confidant about the situation is me and I am stupid and have no idea what I am talking about so she knows not to listen to me, because you know- at 12 she knows everything…} 

So, on a particularly bad day of this, I had three different people text me and mention they were watching Mean Girls. On DVD no less, not cable. Weird, right? 

And then I found out that a friend of mine has been talking about me behind my back. I have a VERY surface friendship with this person even though I suspect she believes we are closer. I am very guarded with her for many, MANY reasons, but I was still surprised and hurt when I found out. 

And then there is the fact that I am completely obsessed with Bath and Body Work’s new tween hand sanitizers… 

AND I am all caught up with who is going to the Jr. High Halloween Dance with who… (because this actually changes daily, which is SO SURPRISING for middle school relationships. *Cough*)