25 days of christmas | day two

the bonfire from the christmas tree shindig...burning into the evening.

jonathan and i met up with my cousin ben for a little hawaiian food before the life teen mass at st. vincent's. it had been years since i'd been up there for a life teen mass - it made me a little nostalgic. michael g and art in the band, stella as eucharistic minister...hard to believe it's been 7 years since we were all there together.

a great homily - about fresh starts, new beginnings, and advent being a great time to 'return to your roots'. just what i needed to hear.

more than ever, in the last month before the wedding, life feels both fabulous and overwhelming, with a good deal of extra emotion thrown in. jonathan is so patient with my 'extra emotion' - and he's even helping me to simplify this year as we prepare during advent.

he's helping me get rid of extra stuff.

the futon
the first big piece of furniture i bought with my own hard earned money in college. we learned tonight that if i am napping on my favorite futon, it will not survive jonathan swan diving onto it at the same time. we had a moment of silence for the death of the futon.

the blackberry
we also learned tonight that my blackberry will not survive both hitting the wall and being dropped into a rainy puddle. surprisingly, i am probably not going to replace it before the wedding, maybe not even at all. cutting the leash to the crackberry just might be what i need to simplify for 08.

the bmw
back into the shop tomorrow. it has been many things for me - but never the ultimate driving machine. amazing that i've had so many problems, and i haven't even hit 75,000 miles yet. maybe's its only because i can't drive that far! it is consistently a:

• big money waster
• broken monstrous wonder
• bumbling mechanical wretch
• beastly monster on wheels

all in all - a good weekend to kick off the season, and the start of an annual tradition for our almost-family on the farm. you'll have to come check it out next year!