Post-Christmas

Hello, friends! I am hoping you all had a beautiful Christmas. We spent ours with long-time friends and family. Doug has taken off from work and we are having lots of fun together.

 I thought I would show you how a Southern California Christmas week looks for us.
First off, we went to Big Bear for an afternoon with some friends to try inner-tubing. It was cold for us-a whopping 39 degrees! I must say, I had a blast throwing myself down a large hill on an inner tube, (I do love speed!) but my back was complaining just a bit by bed time that evening. Sigh.

 The place we went to was great. When I asked if I could accompany Brenna to help her out, they comped me a ticket and I went in for free. (Inner-tubing is not cheap in So. Cal. What is?) So, Lauren, Brenna and our friends two sons, John and James went in. Yes. I was the only adult flying down the hill.

My job was to launch Brenna down the bunny slope, run down to the bottom and help her up, then hike back up with her.

Oh, my, she had fun!!

Meanwhile, Lauren and the boys were having a great time up on the big hill.

Then, Brenna got REALLY brave and decided to try the big hill. Lots of times. Till we ran out of time, actually! Here are the three of us going down.

Boy, that was a challenge! The slope had an "escalator" going up, which was nice. Except Brenna had a hard time finding her balance, so I would hang on to her and walk up while she rode up, as there wasn't room for two people side-by-side with two inner tubes!! Yes. It was worth it!!!

The boys. (Older boys)

Packing up for the day.

The drive around Big Bear Lake.

What a great day!

More after the New Year- we are going on another So-Cal adventure!

Have a joyful time ringing in the New Year. My wish for you this New Year is for a year full of joy and peace and knowing grace in each of your days.

Much love, Lynn

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, to each and every one of you. I wish you great joy and peace this holiday and in the upcoming year. Thankyou for being a part of this grand blog adventure!

I'll leave you with a song by Francesca Battistelli. It is sung from Mary's perspective and it has been one of my favorites this year.
Love to all,
~Lynn


Hold on now, I gotta take a deep breath

I don’t know what to say when I look in your eyes

You made the world before I was born

Here I am holding You in my arms tonight



Noel, Noel

Jesus our Emmanuel



You’re here

I’m holding You so near

I’m staring into the face of my Savior

King and Creator

You could’ve left us on our own

But You’re here



Don’t know how long I’m gonna have You for

But I’ll be watching when You change the world

Look at Your hands, they’re still so small

Someday You’re gonna stretch them out and save us all



Noel, Noel, God with us Emmanuel



You’re here, I’m holding You so near oooh oh

I’m staring into the face of my Savior

King and Creator

You could’ve left us on our own

Bbut you’re here, you’re here



Someday I’m gonna look back on this

The night that God became a baby boy

Someday You’re gonna go home again,

But You leave your spirit and flood the world with joy



You’ll be here, I’m holding You so near

I’m staring into the face of my Savior, King and Creator

You could’ve left me on my own, but you’re here… You’re here

Hallelujah, You’re here

Hallelujah, You’re here

I Love L.A.

  So, we thought it would be fun to go to a movie with some friends. Twenty five friends, all totaled. In Hollywood. At the El Capitan Theater To see "The Christmas Carol" with Jim Carey. ( Watch out-this is a scary movie. Maybe just go to Hollywood with 25 friends instead.)

"It would be fun to all go together," said my fun-loving husband. Which is how seventeen of us ended up on a train Sunday morning at 9 a.m.

Some of our friends said, "The train? Is it safe to leave the car in the parking lot?" I have to admit, the station isn't in the best of neighborhoods around here. But it's pretty cool to take the train, and we have a police officer traveling with us. Which is kind of a good friend to have. Especially when you tell the 17 people you are traveling with that we have to take a subway in L.A. after we get off of the train, and they say, "THE SUBWAY IN L.A.????? Is it safe? Isn't it in the ghetto? Isn't it dirty?"

Sigh.

It's fun, and we all go together, which is the whole point.

                                                         

                              

                                

Plus, on the train, you get to see where you are going from the door. How cool is that?!!

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The subway?? It was fun, too! You know, making sure the kids didn't get too close to the edge of the platform was exciting. Watching them goof around on the escalator was fun. Especially when I watched Brenna almost fall. But she didn't. Really. She didn't.

                              

Did you know you get change in Sakagawea dollars?

                                       

The guy with the Christmas tree was pretty fun, too!

                                                          

                                                    

Here is what we walked out to:

HOLLYWOOD, BABY!!!

It hasn't changed a bit....

                                                  

                                         

                                           

Just in case you don't know where you are, there are street signs.

                                                 

but then again, when I used to go to Hollywood, I don't recall all these crazies trying to earn money by dressing up and "letting" you take your picture with them for a dollar.

Like Jack Sparrow.

                                 

Or, you know...Elmo...

                              

Then there were the usual crazies that REALLY got into their characters...

                               

and these nuts....

                             

running through the fountain...

                                                 

Man, what a fun day.

                                

I think if you click on the picture you can see the Hollywood sign on the hill on the right side.

Always fun to be together!!

                                                        

Merry Christmas week!!

~Lynn

Christmas Magic

Each year in our household, we find what we call "Christmas Magic." One year it was homemade goodies left on our doorstep each night for the 12 days of Christmas. Some years it came in the form of snowflakes hanging from the girl's ceilings when they woke up on Christmas morning. Last year it was stopping at Starbucks, getting favorite drinks and sharing them with friends in front of a roaring fire while laughing and talking until the wee hours of the morning.

This year it came a bit early, in the unlikely form of dancing in the rec. hall of a Korean church. It was Christmas Magic at it's finest.  There were old and new friends involved. Lots of laughter, good spirits, not a bit of judgement ANYwhere. Just plain old fun. We have reconnected with a support group for families with children who have Down Syndrome. Each year they put on three dances for the older kids-and boy, do they know how to have a good time. Let me show you:

First, some friends came by to see Miss Brenna in all her finery. You know you are blessed beyond reason when you have friends like this.

Then, some at-home pictures.

Time to party!

First, the D.J.'s wife gave some dance lessons and etiquette guidance on how to ask a young lady for a dance, and how to politely accept.  The kids from the church where we held the dance joined in to help mix things up a bit. Brenna quickly got over the politeness and later ran up to her first partner and said, "Hey, wanna dance with me?" To which he responded with a cool and calm thumbs up.

It sure didn't matter this night if you were president of ASB or a cheerleader or a science nerd. In fact, this was an even playing field in it's most beautiful form.

These kids just wanted to dance the night away!

This next picture? It made me laugh and cry at the same time. The D.J. played High School Musical's, "Soaring." Brenna knows every word by heart. ...."There's not a star in heaven that we can't reach...oh, we're breaking free..."

I think she embraces that sentence in this picture:

Her "microphone" clutched in her hand, she is in her own world, belting out the song.

So was this friend:

I wish so much I could have that freedom.

Happy Christmas Season to all...

Love, Lynn