wonder of wonders

two posts in one day? it's amazing, i know.

i can't believe i forgot the most important and exciting update on the slatens' life!! (no, i'm not pregnant...do you really think you would be finding out over my blog? well, you might if i never see you....i digress....) we got a REAL CHRISTMAS TREE!!!! oh man. i am SO in the Christmas season this year. and it's mr. slaten's fault. the day after thanksgiving, he was putting their tree up, and we helped them decorate it. ever since then, i've been dancing around singing Christmas songs and aching for the smell of pine. we have all of our Christmas cds out, playing constantly at home, and at work i have my pandora radio set to various Christmas stations!!! (try "carpenters (holiday)", and "burl ives (holiday)" stations - they're grand!) and thanks to nathan and chris, we have a real tree in our living room!! and it has COLORED lights on it! chris really wanted colored lights, and i thought i really preferred white lights. well, i decided he was right - that white lights are too formal, and colored lights are more fun! he was right! our little tree (we named him "yukon cornelius") is just beautiful!! we'll hopefully get some ornaments up tonight. and i even have a couple of presents i could wrap and put under there!! our stockings (they're actually mine and forrest's old ones) are hanging up, all of my nativities are out, a fluffy snowman is hanging on the door....oh joy! :)

but don't ever forget the reason for Christmas - JESUS! hooray for Jesus. he just rocks. i can't believe people want to take the Christ out of Christmas. what in the world is Christmas without Christ? "mas". whoa - that's spanish for more, isn't it? more, more and more. give me more stuff!!! WHOA! i just came up with that. that's deep.

i'm suddenly reminded and have the impulse to share a short story about STUFF! i can't remember where i heard this, but some missionaries went to another country to visit and do some work at an orphanage. they took a bunch of toys with them for the orphans to have. when they got there, the director of the orphanage said "oh, thank you for your generosity, but i'm sorry - we don't allow the orphans to play with toys." horrid! wretched people! those were my first thoughts, but when asked why, the director said "well, because toys make them unhappy. they fight over them, the toys wear out and break, and then they're left unhappy..." WOW. keep that in mind as you make your Christmas list of "needs". (i'm off to edit mine...)

SO --- DON'T take Christ out of Christmas. it makes you selfish and unhappy.

PS - (pictures of the tree preparation to come later. they're stuck on our camera...phoo.)