Bright lights

I snapped these photos in Eastborough on my way home from Operation Holiday. It's one of my favorite homes to see this time of year.

Tonight Brian and I ordered up a Starbucks Peppermint Mocha, put Dakota and Lilly in the truck and went in search of beautiful Christmas lights.

A few others worth checking out on the west side of town: Candy Cane Lane on Azure Circle and the homes in Mere Ridge, Sterling Farms and Reflection Ridge. We want to check out more in other parts of town, with the help of The Eagle's interactive map.

Brian has a hilarious rating system that he gives homes, on a scale of one to 10. Homes earn points for precision, continuity of theme, effort and classic decor. And they get negative points for yard art, inflatables (barf!) and sloppy stringing jobs. He rates most homes in the four to six range. Our favorites get eight and nine. Tens are rare. (We didn't award a single perfect score tonight.) It makes me laugh listening to his commentary as we drive and gawk. Good times, good times.

Operation Holiday

I try to volunteer every year around Christmas, and today I spent a few hours at Inter-Faith Ministries' Operation Holiday, which distributes food, clothing and other items to the needy for the holidays. Last year, the distribution site was in the Twin Lakes shopping center at 21st and Amidon. This year, it's at the shopping center at Kellogg and Rock. Just looking at the food set up at the site gives you an idea about how many hungry people there are in the Wichita area (the program serves an average of 12,000 people a year). A man who spends a week of vacation every year volunteering there says that they always run out of food by the end of the distribution. On Thursday, they were already running out of cereal, one item every person through the center is supposed to receive.

I helped people go through the line to get what they needed. One woman I helped had two adorable little kids, Fred and Lyndon. I watched them when she went to collect the T-O-Y-S (we spelled the word so the boys' Christmas surprise wouldn't be spoiled). After I helped her pack her items into her minivan, she told me that it was embarrassing for her to have to come for help but that I had made it easier for her. I told her that she shouldn't be ashamed: We'll never know what life is going to throw our way. I told her I could tell she was a good mom, and her eyes teared up. I think she needed to hear that as much as she needed to pick up the free items. Talk about putting things in perspective. Like the song in "White Christmas" says, tonight I'll fall asleep counting my blessings instead of sheep.

Sing, sing, sing

Our choir (and Mr. Soloist Brian) practiced tonight and meets again Saturday morning to get ready for our big Christmas Cantata on Sunday. Don't forget that you're all invited! Hope to see you there!

Vacation reading

One of my favorite things to do while I'm on vacation is to curl up and leisurely read a good book. After really getting into the book yesterday morning at Copper Oven (where they have the best Chai Lattes in town), I stayed up late last night reading "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho.

It'll be an interesting conversation at book club next week. I know several people in my book club thought it a bit too preachy or Pollyannaish. I, on the other hand, really enjoyed it. The "code" the book uses, with talk of Personal Legends and Soul of the World, is a bit strange, I'll admit. But I'll save that discussion for next week ...

No matter what you think of it, the book is extremely quotable. A few of my favorite lines:

"In order to arrive you must follow the signs. God inscribed on the world the path that each man must follow. It is just a matter of reading the inscription he wrote for you."

"The simple things are also the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them."

"When every day seems the same, it is because we have stopped noticing the good things that appear in our lives."

Guild fulfilled

Tonight's quilt guild meeting was canceled because of the weather, which turned out not to be so bad after all. But my mom and mother-in-law came over for dinner (spicy slow cooker Southwest chicken soup, rosemary cornbread and pumpkin cobbler a la mode) and movies. We worked on our own sewing projects.



Mom worked on her Nativity scene embroidery.









Janice worked on a snowman votive coaster.









And I got to work cutting and piecing fabric for a pattern I've never tried before: Turning Twenty by quilt designer Tricia Cribbs. So far, so good.







Earlier today, I joined my co-workers for a posh party at Bonnie's house. It was quite the event. Bonnie has definitely earned her reputation for being the hostess with the mostest! (I'll let you see and read all about it on my boss' blog. She was smart and brought a digital camera to the shindig.)

Have yourself a merry old-fashioned Christmas

Yep, it's tough being on vacation and being stuck inside a warm, cozy house in front of the Christmas tree and the crackling fireplace. Sigh. (Wondering why we have four stockings? Well, Brian and I obviously each have one. The remaining two originally were for Dakota and Meow Meow, but since Lilly joined our family, the two pups share one now.)



My brother-in-law Eric was in town this weekend and stopped by to say hello before driving back up to K.C. this evening. (Dakota is sporting his very own Santa hat. He's been carrying it around and sleeping with it lately.)






Meow Meow has been napping in front of the fire and in this giant basket, which is really a dog bed. But she's the only one who sleeps in it.







And, meanwhile, Brian and I have been enjoying popcorn and a classic movie marathon. We've watched these three flicks so far. Any suggestions of others we should check out?

A long time ago in Bethlehem ...

This weekend, Brian and I were guides for our church's annual Search for the Christ Child, a living nativity production. We told his mom that our stage names were Lucifer and Frankenstein, but she didn't believe us ...

For the event, the guides walk groups of two to a dozen people through various stations. We visit the shepherds, the Wise Men, King Herod and mean and kind innkeepers before finding the Nativity.

A little girl in one of our groups had been quiet as we "traveled" to Bethlehem. Until we got to the angel room, that is. About halfway through one little actor's monologue, Morgan blurted out, "Butterflies!" Her relative who was carrying her through laughed and said, "No. Angels." Of course, this gave the angelic chorus a mean case of the giggles that only seemed to escalate throughout Sunday evening.

Morgan also yelled out "Mom! Dad!" when we reached the end and found her parents and one-week-old brother, who were playing the Holy Family.