Mele Kalekamaka

It's the thing to say on a bright Hawaiian Christmas day.

The Hawaiians really do love Christmas, and have more cheesy Christmas displays (inflatable Frostys, etc.) than any people I've ever seen, plus their own body of Christmas music (and pop "island" music, but that's another story).

I thought of you all (well, not that much). The weather is a steady 80/85 (not too hot, never cold) every day. We had dolphins swimming in a lagoon outside of our window. We also hiked through a lava field and saw lava pouring down a volcano, and met a guy named Paddy who lived there. He was from Buffalo, looked like John Denver, wore only tight jeans, and had spent $80,000 on an acre of desolate lava in which to pitch his tent (literally).

In the picture where I'm wearing a lei I am about to be singled out by a Hawaiian lounge singer we called Don Ho. He picked me out as probably the only young, single woman in a room full of aging veterans and gave me the tip to wear a flower over my right ear as a signal of my availability (to make the most of my time). My sister was very disturbed by the fact that he had twelve-year-old girls doing suggestive hula dances in his show. I just thought he was a bit weird, but with an admirable, calculated smoothness necessary to his profession.

We also managed to snorkel off of a sailboat and follow sea turtles around, eat and shop a lot, drink more than usual, watch professional surfers, buy matching sarongs for my dad and Cody (Erin's fiance') which they wore around downtown Honolulu, eat lots of fresh pineapple, and tour Pearl Harbor with throngs of Japanese tourists. In a lot of the literature they actually neglect saying "Japan attacked" and instead say "Pearl Harbor was attacked," interestingly.

If you have the means, I highly recommend it. I don't know if I've ever been on such a hedonistic vacation. My dad and Bijal are very generous. I had a great time afterwards in Detroit, as well. My mom's husband's mom (who I've met twice) sent me a check for $11,000 to be used on education. So that is pretty sweet.

Happy New Year!
Jeff, Lara, and Sienna are coming today!
Aloha!

Christmas time with Tennants

Wow. What a transformation Hendersons! I am sure baby will just love it. Is that a new floor or just a finished floor?

As far as Christmas, things have been busy here in 60 - 80 degree Texas. My parents were here for a week. We rented a house on the Sabinal River in the hill country east of San Antonio and went hiking and rocking throwing for three days. My dad decided to sample every type of beef jerky available, which was also fun.

We went to see the Trans-Siberian orchestra with them and the Hawthornes. Very Cool. It's like Dream Theatre meets Beethoven meets Manheim Steamroller. Matt Swier would love it. Here is a link to some samples:
http://www.trans-siberian.com/multimedia/index.shtml


Now Simone's mom and Nana are here, so the boys are getting lots and lots of presents.

There have been lots of church activities, as well. We did an outreach on Christmas Eve at John and Juli Boeve's new coffee shop that was really successful, celebrated Christmas with 26 pounds of smoked Turkey at the Hawthornes on Christmas Day and are looking forward to a big church New Year's Eve party complete with home-brewed chocolate beer.

Today I am leaving for a couple of days on a hunting trip to East Texas with Michael Hawthorne. I dreamed about bagging my first buck last night.

Interesting tidbit: I invited a guy to church at a pawn shop yesterday. Afterward I thought, now that is the kind of guy we are looking for. Young, looking for answers, willing to entertain lots of ideas, living with his girlfriend, and working in a pawn shop. Good thing there are lots of pawn shops in Austin.

Viola!

Well, for a few days now we've been totally done with the baby's room. Here's a photo. It's hard to get a feel for what it really looks like from a picture. We're very happy with how it turned out and Rachel did an awesome job picking the color and doing most of the painting. Now if we only had our baby, all would be complete. Merry Christmas everybody! We hope you are all having a great Christmas Eve. Rachel and I did the service at the Vineyard, then went out to dinner and are all alone at 92 East for Christmas Eve. Where are yall at?

After-Action Report

Ahh, yes, the annual Cookie party has come and gone. For those of you that missed it, here are some highlights. The Grand Prize this year was awareded to a cooperative venture between Heather Swier and Jen Hendrie, for the classic-Christmas stocking scene pictured below:


Another joint venture, entitled "Tulip Time '06" created by Jason Kool and yours truly also merited a ribbon and a pack of skittles. See picture below:


Unrecognized by the ever inscrutable Bob LaBarge, but a clear crowd favorite was Matt and Jay's submission of a Liger. The following photo speaks for itself:


Missy did an outstanding job hosting, and a great time was had by all. A special welcome to Missy's cousins Holly and Kristin, and their husbands.

My car

Isn't that the way that it always is. I think that my car has been feeling neglected lately because of all the work I've been doing on my house. About a week and a half ago, my muffler broke off of the rest of my car. I removed the rest of it so that it wasn't just hanging there and went out and bought a new one.


Before I could install the new muffler, I got in a little fender bender resulting in a bent fender. The driver's side door doesn't open very far anymore. The woman who hit me was very nice and wants to pay for the repair without involving the insurance company.
I have since then installed the muffler, which as always, took a little longer than I thought. It was also very difficult working under the car in the snow and cold. Hey, experiences are still experiences, and I can now say that I have successfully installed a muffler in the driveway during a cold and snowy Michigan winter.

Christmas Quandary

"Canceling worship on Christmas Day appears to be predominantly a megachurch phenomenon, sociologists of religion say." [see http://www.getreligion.org/?p=1242 ]

I pastor a church that doesn't even meet on Sundays. In fact, we encourage our people to observe seasons and symbols at all times. Even if we did meet on Sunday, we would certainly consider taking it off (not to mention the building we rent won't be open - neither will thousands of rented buildings that churches use - there goes the theory that only mega-churches are not holding a Sunday service this Christmas). In fact, I wouldn't be suprised if Jesus would have taken it off. As the quintessential incarnate, I bet he would have been watching NFL football with a bunch of guys and laughing it up, facing the flabbergasted inquiries of those who thought they had the system figured out.

I find this argument about celebrating on Sunday, quite... well, confusing. I am often suprised at the voracity of people's opinions about it. I would consider a gathering of twelve spending time together reflecting on the Christmas story and saying prayers of thanks to the Father for giving his Son much more of an ancient practice then listening to handbells, watching some powerpoint and listening to a short homily. It takes much more work and usually culminates in better worship (albeit different)to commemorate Jesus' birth at home, in a contextualized family language.

I am in process here, but how's this for an example. My family is planning on hiking on Christmas morning and stopping at designated areas. There we will bring out pre-selected objects or songs that help to illustrate the message and repercussions of Jesus birth. A sort of "Stations of Christmas" walk.

If I went to Saddleback or even my 40 member church, or even an Orthodox church that meets in an ancient building, I would rather I and other members of my community do that then schlepp to the church, daydream about what's in the oven and then go home as fast as they can. And I am not here saying that I don't believe in the value of large groups of community coming together in a blessed ritual to bless God. But is God really up in Heaven (and in people's hearts, by the way), saying, "I feel dishonered because they are not meeting in their big building and singing those catchy Christmas songs."

I am, of course, being a bit sarcastic. But I do feel the punches that are being pulled by the Christian Christmas Nazis, and it isn't helping me find the ancient path.

All this energy spent discussing whether or not to have a Sunday service is hilarious. How about, "This is a non-essential!" Worship is everyday, all the time - yes communal, and YES private. It has been that way for thousands of years. This discussion about correct Christmas religiosity is naseating, and pricely the kind of talk that really stuck in Jesus craw' - especially when it is causing division. I love the Orthodox Church. I love the Catholic Church. AND, I love the Protestant church. All are important, all are needed, but why try to convince each other that our tradition, or lack thereof is paramount?

dear friends

dear freinds i think yuo are the best poeple in the world and that i like as much .
As the and we are the world os lets make it a better place to live in this earth and we like the way you guys and ladys make it a better place os that we can save the world i will miss it dearly and will be thinking about it and the people will be sad that the earth is not there so keep it clean for all of use to see it as yuong and old alike tell the children a place where we can be safe to live in like the bible and in Jesuses time that we can tell our storys about the people that lived here before we came to live here but be nice to them and they love uor god that we may whorship himat the church and we may like to here his storys about the lord uor god and we must learn to love uor god os that we may be with him in heaven or on earth so that we may learn from him thank yuo for letting me yuo that guys and lady are the best friends in the world today and in the night time we mustm pray to uor god all the time.

Thanksgiving camping

So here are some classic Tennant family pics. These are from our camping trip over Thanksgiving break. Now that we live in a place where one can camp all year round just about, we are taking advantage of our desire to be outside. We think that camping and hiking and all other types of outdoor advernturing are the things we enjoy most as a family. Aren't the boys just really growing up? We have plans to come to Michigan this summer by driving and camping on the way up. It will be in July in the middle to end, I think.

Music Tip

Jared and I recently got a tip to a great new CD. I thought you might want to check it out. Go to www.charliedodrill.com. You can listen to a low quality version of his CD on his website. If you like it, there is a link to CD Baby where you can buy it. It is also available on itunes. We think he sounds like a mix between Dave Matthews and Eminem. Enjoy.

Here comes Santa Claus...

Isn't that the cutest Santa you've ever seen?!!!

Some more Inspiration

Who used all of the cookie dough?

Please do not be distracted by Missy's hot pink velvet pants. Rachel finally received a Bob LaBarge award by teaming up with Heather (a guaranteed winner every year). Together they stole nearly all of the dough, thus preventing others from creating beautiful snowflakes and the like, and created a 3D cookie wonder. Be inspired.

A Cold Spot.

Hello everyone over there. This is Isaiah. (You know my last name if you know my first name.) Thames Mortimore is my secret screen identity. Click the name-link to find my personal blogspot. (I'm so darn proud of it.) I've included a dashing pic of myself for your viewing pleasure or displeasure, take your pick. That is all for tonight. Except: go to my website to see pix of Elise, Jude and Esme'. Check the archives listed to the right for more pix not seen on the homepage.

Adios.

Addresses

Hey everyone. Maybe I'm the only one who is behind in updating my address book, but I was wondering if we could dedicate the comments in this blog to writing down our current addresses, phone numbers, and emails so that I can get back up to date. What do you think? (Missy, you inspired me to use colored text in your cookie post).

The World's Largest Gingerbread Man

Yes, that's right the world's largest gingerbread man! Give it up! I saw this feat of culinary expertice this afternoon in Vancouver. He is fourteen feet tall and six feet wide, just for an added fact it took 100 killograms of flour (they frown in pounds around here). You may think that there are several cities vying for this massive expression of holiday spirit, but we got it! Way to go Vancouver, namely the Hyatt Hotel. I thought this might provide some added inspiration for the cookie making.

For Inspiration

Note the third picture with some close ups of my famous cookies and then Karen trying to copy them in the next picture! I'm not trying to brag but there are a few things that I'm good at: clapping really loud, making Christmas cookies, and giving birth to good looking kids (so far). This is the most recent cookie party we were able to attend in 2002 :(. Don't worry Missy, I've forgotten all about how I wasn't invited the first year and felt totally left out. I would also like to request a cookie in honor of the kelleys, mostly because I want to eat it when we're in Holland! I am bestowing the blessing of magnificent ornate cookie decoration in Holland's general direction so expect to see some pictures of some cookies worthy of Mr LaBarge's awards!

1st Christmas

It's Abby's first Christmas, so of course we had to commemorate this joyous occasion with some professional photos. Maybe we're going a little overboard getting Abby pictures taken so often, but we just can't help ourselves. (Note: It took us a hour and a half and five poses to get this one good shot. It just figures that she is the smiliest baby every other time in her life except when it's time to get her pictures taken.)

Bing Crosby

Becuase of lasting Henderson influence I am now torturing my students with Bing Crosby Christmas tunes before every period. I trust 92 East is getting its fair share, right?

9th Annual Cookie Party Announced

The 9th annual cookie decorating party has been officially announced- Saturday, December 17th at 6pm. The party, always a hit (at least this author would like to think so) has been the source of much craftiness and celebratory Christmas cookie crafting. As a personal note to the site-address of this blog, the cookie "Phelp" is fondly remembered. Any lists of excellent cookies/memories of cookie party past would be encouraged in the comment section of this post.

grass cutter or path taker?

I was walking across campus with my co-worker the other day to get to another building for a seminar. While walking I started cutting through the grass instead of taking the sidewalk, as it was the shortest route to the other building. To this my co-worker said, "so, you're a cut-across-the-grass kind of person, huh?" A little puzzled at such a seemingly strange comment, I said, "oh, I'm totally a cut across the grass kind of person! Why waste all that time walking around on the path when you can take the shortest route straight through the lawn?" He scoffed a little at this and said that the side walk was there for a purpose, so we should take it. He's one of those follow-all-the-rules-by-the-book types of personalities. With a laugh and big eye roll, I said, " Lighten up a little, Brian. It's fun walking on the grass! Liberating, even, doing something different than always taking the designated path, right?!" He smiled and hesitantly said, "well, I don't know..." as we continued cutting across the lawn. Anyway, it got me thinking, what are all of you? Are you a grass cutter or a sidewalk taker?

It's beginning to look at lot like... uh...

Christmas is coming here, as well. Although one couldn't tell from Saturday. We were perusing rows of Virginia Pine at a Christmas tree farm amidst a throng of shorts-clad Texans who were completely unaware of what proper Christmas trees should look like (much less what they look like with snow on them) when I noticed people were cradling ice cold Cokes in place of hot chocolate. Something is wrong with that.

In a weird way, I miss how my hand used to freeze when I actually took my glove off to grasp the saw I would use to cut the tree.

Vancouver Snow

So, Sienna saw her first snow on tuesday. Don't you just love the magic of waking up to snow for the first time of the season? You Michiganders might be tired of it and let me tell you, after only a week it's wearing on me but for that moment when my heart lifted and I found myself smiling it was the most magical thing. Sienna and I went for a walk (pushing a stroller through snow and slush is excellent cardio) and she seemed confused by all the bright white stuff. She's laughing now and making farting noises constantly (with her mouth, not the other end) and I'm finding that I am indeed becoming one of those gushing parents that finds it hard to think of something other than her kid to talk about. But, let's face it diapers and learning about schedules (then hopefully implimenting them) is my life so I can't' help it. We're hoping to make it to Holland some time after Christmas for those of you that are around and want to party like it's 1999!