Thursday, December 29, 2011

2011 Review

Watching the Today show while on Christmas break has inspired me a bit to think about the memorable moments over the last year. So here it goes!
  • Brought in 2011 with some good friends from the Luther Seminary community
  • Celebrated being a couple of one year in late January
  • Had a great Valentine's Day with Groupon coupons and gift certificates
  • I lived through a semester of CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education) - continued discernment on potentially pursuing chaplaincy
  • Traveled from MN to IN for wedding showers in March - relived a childhood annual party theme of tea party!
  • Finished Year 2 of graduate school
  • Became a MRS. in July
  • A magical Disney Honeymoon
  • Became an Aunt and Uncle for the first time
  • Continued celebrating marriage at the Hoosier Celebration
  • Moved to the Northwoods of MN
  • Started full-time ministry job/Diaconal field work
  • Celebrated with others in their engagements and weddings
  • Celebrated the long life of Grandpa Nelson
  • Celebrated our first Christmas as a married couple
Now for 2012 we'll continue to grow, learn, and love on life. Some things we're looking forward to:
  • A quiet NYE
  • Good friends' wedding
  • Belated Christmas celebrations with our families
  • YM Network Extravaganza in New Orleans
  • Finishing year 3 of seminary - I'm officially a senior now!
  • Welcoming another niece or nephew!
  • Celebrating 1 year of marriage
  • Summer youth trips
  • Pow-Wow
  • Moving back to St. Paul for our senior year of grad school
  • Fall holidays with our families
  • Celebrating 21 years cancer free!
We're sure there's lots more coming our way, but it'd be pretty boring if we knew everything. Happy last few days of 2011 and may 2012 be filled with excitement, adventure, love, and peace!

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Christmas in the Northwoods

As a little girl my family always made a big deal about Christmas. I believe my mom grew up with many of the same traditions. My family has always had an open door policy, must have enough food to feed an army, a few variations of Christmas trees - both real and fake - with hundreds of ornaments, and lots of treats and laughter.

Well, this year is a little different as we work in a church and live a little too far to travel to be with family. So while we have a busy weekend of celebrating through worship leading, we also have celebrations of our own and with friends.

After a weekend of being together with the whole Nelson family for Grandpa Nelson's funeral, we came home to the flu bug. It took a few days of laying low to recover and then we jumped into the menu planning for the holiday weekends. We've made whiskey balls, eggnog cookies, and beer cheese soup. It's amazing how good things taste, that remind you of home, when you're not able to be with family/home like usual. We've enjoyed treats of homemade lefse and chex mix too!

There's only one tree this year in our small Northwoods apartment. Yet the celebrations will take place with friends from church so I'm sure there'll be enough food for an army and much laughter. Still on the menu for the coming days is cinnamon swirl bread (in the bread maker as I type), Swedish meatballs, and maybe a few more kinds of holiday treats.

Wherever you find yourself this Christmas season may you be content and celebrate the birth of our savior with the love in your heart and others!