Merry Christmas Eve Eve!

I’m home for the holidays! Actually I’ve been home for a week. And by home I mean my parents’ home in Dallas. I still think of it as home, even though I’ve lived in Illinois for a few years now. I always love coming to Dallas. It feels so much more spacious and alive than the Chicago suburbs. Plus I grew up here. I’m here for two weeks because I never take any other vacation (and I’m still in school mode after having been at Wheaton for so long), and I still manage to have vacation left over at the end of the year.

For most of this first week my parents were off at work during the day, and my brother didn’t arrive until Tuesday night, so it was a little boring at first. But once Michael got home it picked up a little. We got a tree Wednesday night. It took surprisingly little time, given that last year we drove around for probably half an hour bargain hunting. This year we went to our usual place and got there late enough that the trees were all half off. And we chose quite well, if I do say so myself.

Last night we went to see the Nativity. I thought it was a good movie for giving an idea of what life was like back then and the kinds of dynamics that would have existed in that situation. I don’t think those involved would have been as aware of the meaning of Jesus’ birth as the characters in the movie were, such as the wise man declaring that the child was God made flesh, but I guess you have to have those kinds of statements in a movie about the nativity. The cinematography was nice too. The scene at the manger looked like a painting I’m sure I’ve seen somewhere.

It seemed to me that the movie was largely focused on Joseph, which was kind of nice, since he’s usually in the background of the story, except when it’s being told by the kind of people who like to give screen time to background characters or by preachers who are desperate for a new take on the story. But my family thought it was pretty balanced and pointed out that it seemed to be told from Mary’s point of view, which makes sense, since she would certainly be observing her new husband and not herself. Also it was her wrestlings with God that we saw and not Joseph’s. So yeah, though it wasn’t the most exciting movie–my brother noticed that the whole thing was understated, delicate, as he put it–it was good.

After that we went to a new buffet called Palomina’s, which has really good steak, and then we went home, and my brother, mom, and I played Rummikub, which is like Rummy but with tiles rather than cards. I didn’t win. *cries*

This morning we went to an nursing home for Alzheimer’s patients with some people from my parents’ Sunday school class and basically sat in on a Christmas party with singing, Santa, and performing dogs. And I learned that performing dogs are entertaining whether they get their tricks right or wrong. 😉

My mom just made some egg nog. I’ve been complaining that store-bought egg nog tastes like bubble gum, but hers tastes just like it’s supposed to, the way I remember it from my childhood. It’s non-alcoholic, so other people may not agree, but I love it. I haven’t had normal egg nog since way back then.

We’re having a missionary friend of my mom’s over for dinner tonight. Should be interesting.

Merry Christmas Eve Eve, everybody! Maybe I’ll blog again sometime.