The Little Things, Number Four.

19. Time spent with family.

20. Christmas Break.

21. Weddings, and the celebration surrounding them.

22. The Holiday.

23. Sitting on the floor exchanging months of stories with a friend and a cup of (black) coffee.

24. Outlet shopping.

25. Sharing meals with people that I care so much about.

26. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

27. Opening my new planner.

28. Good coffee.**

**Can we talk about how I received whole bean coffee for Christmas (which I love,) but no coffee grinder? On a normal day, this is acceptable because I have friends three rooms down with a coffee grinder. But not on Christmas break. I resorted to smashing with a spoon. When that proved to not work very well, my sweet grandfather pulled out his mini food processor and we tried to grind them that way. It worked well enough to get one cup with half the flavor. But hey. It worked.

Happy Christmas!

Today was a very happy Christmas indeed.

Presents, breakfast, more sleep. Lunch with everyone, more presents, dishes. An impromptu cousins photo shoot was thrown in there, as well as a lot of laughs and the annual viewing of "A Christmas Story" on TBS. I am so blessed, and I'm so thankful for each of these things.

(Cousins photos will be posted with Dad get back home with the camera...)

And, one more time for the season:

Watch Christmas Lights. It will put a smile on your face.

Christmas Eve.

It’s Christmas Eve!

I shopped with Amy and Natalie. I ran with my workout mix. I got ready in a flash, and we all headed to church for the Christmas Eve service. I wish I had taken pictures. But no. The church looked beautiful, as always. The usual Christmas hymns were sung, and the sermon on Mary’s rest in God and surrender of her life to fulfill his purpose was brilliant. Singing Joy to the World, the congregation headed outside to stand on the lawn with candles singing carols. Our family huddled together to keep warm, and I looked up to see the stunning church steeple masterfully lit to accentuate its detail. Above it was a dark black sky, with one star visible. Perfect.

We all came back to the house to eat sandwiches and various cheeses with crackers (pimento cheese, Christmas-y cheese ball, cream cheese and pepper jelly, queso dip) and enjoyed each other’s company around the table. We watched the Andy Williams Christmas Special, and got ready for bed.

Once we get there, only a matter of hours until we can see what Santa had up his sleeve for this year.

Me and Amy, clearly very anxious.

Anderson’s on the pull out couch, already out.

Looking forward to tomorrow!

Oh no.

Say, "Oh no." like Phoebe would say it in Friends. Say it out loud. Right now.

Now you know how I feel.

My loan was denied. Now I need to find $7,000 in order to come back to Covenant. Awesome. I keep hearing, "God is sovereign." and, "God is in control."

Ok God. Time to be sovereign and in control and do something about this.

Oh hey snow...

Oh hey snow...

It's nice to see you again. I enjoyed driving up my mountain through the flurries to find that you had beat me to the top, and lightly dusted the bare trees and leftover leaves along your way. The mini snow drifts that skirted the road were a small sign of things to come, as it has only been two hours and the view from my window is this:

Although I'm ecstatic to see your wet cold self, are you aware that it is only the 12th of December? In my twenty years of life, I don't remember you paying a visit this early. Not that I'm necessarily complaining. Just saying. I would much prefer to be finished with my exams and at home by the Christmas tree with a cup of coffee. If you wanted to stop falling from the sky, and then come back on Thursday when I can do just that, I would love you even more than I do now.

Fondly,

Emily

I feel defeated.

I feel defeated. Like this.

Spanish. I'm probably going to fail. There are only three more days of class left. After December 16th, my Junior year of college will be complete. Oh gosh.

On the other hand, I was determined to talk my way in to a gated community to see Christmas lights. My sister said I couldn't do it. I made her (and her friend) come with me, and proved her very wrong. We spent a half hour driving around listening to Coldplay's new song "Christmas Lights." Watch this.

I pulled out all of my scarves and hats and gloves today. That's fun. I also went wedding dress shopping with my friend Rachel. She found "the one," and it's perfect on her. And I listened to "Little Drummer Boy," finally recognizing how beautiful the lyrics really are.

I play my drum for him. He smiled at me.

Not so defeated after all.