Mistletoe

It's the most beautiful time of year
Lights fill the street spreading so much cheer

What's up with mistletoe and chestnuts? I think I've only had chestnuts in Asia.

I'm definitely going through a rollercoaster of a season but I can't deny it's the most wonderful time of year. One of my love languages is gifts so I spend a lot of time thinking of the perfect thing to give people. If I don't figure out something I think they would use and hopefully appreciate I'd rather not give anything and just keep thinking about it. I'd rather save resources for something special or give a stranger something they need rather than a friend something they didn't really want. Am I the only one?

Earlier this week I went through my dresser and closet (not eve storage under my bed) to find things to donate or sell. I cling to things too much. Thank goodness I looked! I've been eyeing some yellow gloves at target but I found 4.5 sets of gloves in my drawer. It's so good to look at what I have before my eye starts wandering to shiny, new things.

If we have two coats and we see someone in need we should share one of ours. What if I don't know anyone in need? Do I donate blindly and pat myself on the back for a good deed or do I try to seek out and meet people in need?

July 4 Discoveries

[Oh so late. I've been preoccupied with my new bundle of joy.]

Hope everyone had a wonderful July 4th weekend and found some place to watch fireworks.
I saw some after a soccer game, driving past the local theme park, and some (most-likely illegal ones) people in my neighborhood were putting off (all night).

SOCCER
I didn't know soccer was such a big deal over here. Maybe I'm used to peewee soccer games so I went to a San Jose Earthquakes game with low expectations. A grassy field where people brought lawn chairs and maybe there would be some rickety bleachers and hopefully a food stand selling churros. When we approached the stadium the stomping and roar of the crowd reminded me of scenes in Gladiator as fighters entered the arena. There were over 31,000 in attendance at the game. So much for lawn chairs.

The game was just like FIFA video game, guys really do make a line in front of the goal and cover themselves with their hands, except better because there were people walking around selling cotton candy and kettle corn and the players kept getting into fights.

Afterward, they turned off the stadium lights and there was a fireworks presentation complemented with music. Fireworks remind me of the part in Little Mermaid where Sebastian sees some in the sky and exclaims "Jumping Jellyfish!". Beautiful.

GRAN VINA SANGRIA

I'm not a huge fan of the stuff. But someone brought this kind brand from Whole Foods and it was so good!

KITCHEN MAT
Jbear got a new kitchen mat. Very squishy. Almost as squishy at my housemates' yoga mats. I pulled it to the place I chopped and skewered vegetables for a few hours since my knees were already feeling wobbly and sore after baking a cheesecake. Fantastic! I thought my footprints would be stuck in there because they were so deep. But the magical mat swelled up back to its regular surface.

Sweet life

Scenes from yesterday:
Are you going out somewhere nice tonight?
No, I have a test.

Are those flowers from your boyfriend?
No, I bought them for you (awesome roommates).

Did you get flowers?
No, I got a cool picture of a zebra.

Do you like zebras?
Not particularly, but they have cool eyelashes.

I think the only places you'd notice a difference on vday is at the store. There are lots of heart balloons and swarms of males vulture circling the floral department swooping whatever the florist puts out.

I got caught up at work, lost track of time, ended up shopping with my roommate, giving jbear his gift, got a stomach ache and burping alot (just being thorough). I decided to accept the fact I am not one of those people that can have a full-time job, 17 hours of class a week, sound mind and happy relationships. Something had to give. I traded in 9 hours of class for a piece of my sanity back and a non-grumpy demeanor. Too bad it is past the drop date. But what a lovely, stress-free night with people I love.

Oh! Franz brought back a box of goodies from Whole Foods. I LOVE whole foods desserts. I claimd a chocolate cheesecake. We talked a lot about starting food blogs. I never got around to starting mine and who knows when I'll have time to play in the kitchen again. I can't wait for him to start his foodie blog.

And on Sunday I got to see my friend from Japan. I met her in gospel choir. Jbear was sweet enough to put aside some study time to drive me to the city to pick her and her husband up. We took them to the nike outlet, zachary's pizza (her favorite!), ici (I wish I could have a cone with all their flavors), and convinced them to come back next year. Heroes for a night. =)

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Rabbit

[I thought I published this yesterday but it totally disappeared. Very peculiar...]

Happy chinese new year!

This doesn't mean as much to me now that I'm older. It used to be my favorite holiday because my mom would drag my brother and I to many lavish dinners with friends that would give the kids red bags with lucky money. I looked forward to it because I would get to keep $20 and the rest of the money went into the bank. It was very exciting getting to choose what to do with that andrew jackson. In middle school I looked forward to my monthly copy of campus journal from rbc ministries. I know mail is mail when you get older. Since it's mostly bills and credit card offers or advertisements, but mostly bills, it's not very exciting. But when you are a kid mail is magical. I loved my campus journals. I used to save every issue for years. So my jackson usually went in a shaky, self-addressed letter to rbc ministries. Now that I'm older I think maybe I shouldn't have sent cash, but I dont think they give checkbooks and checking accounts to 10 year olds... do they?

Anyways, that's what chinese new year used to mean to me. It was the one time of year I got to tithe MY OWN money. Now that I'm older, tithing doesn't seem as exciting nor does this holiday. No more fancy dinners at big restaurants. No more lucky money. Wow that sounds a bit depressing. But I think I'm nearing the age when I should be giving out the little red envelopes and sharing the magic with a new generation of little kids. My coworker said it is your turn when you get married. There should be a rule book or something.

On a happier note, chinese new year means sticky rice cake. I know it doesn't always look like it, but it still counts as cake. And who doesn't like cake? (Besides the odd couple with a giant cheese wheel at their wedding.) Yay for cake!

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Holiday heavy

Cookies are pretty much my favorite dessert. I may play favorites, but if you put any type of dessert in from of me I wont be terribly choosy. Jello, creme brulee, cheesecake... yes yes yes. I always hear people talk about putting on the holiday pounds and resolving to hit up the gym more often in the new year, but those sorts of things felt like myth to me. No matter what I ate I stayed the same. Being from the south, I am faaaaaaaar from being a healthy eater. Bring on the bbq drenched in sauce and cookies (of course). Sometimes I think I may be a 500 lb cookie monster trapped in the body of a petite asian girl. BUT this year....

Something has changed. I'm feeling much squishier. My metabolism isn't the same as before. I'm starting to wear baggier clothes to hide it. Is this what getting older means? I can't eat a half gallon of butter pecan ice cream and get away with it? If so, this month is dangerous. My house's kitchen is factory for pudge-inducing morsels of sugary goodness. Time to practice some restraint.

In a land of plenty its often difficult to grasp this idea of restraint. The word itself holds an aire of negativity to it. In a society that teaches not to hold back and pursue whatever whimsy hour heart desires why would anyone want to practice restraint? It may not be easy and it may not be popular but it means there are more resouces to go around and sometimes its just whats good or us. People seem to be struggling with restraint in many facets of life. Food. Money. Materialism. If we hold back stuffing ourselves past full and close to explosion, we wouldnt have the post-meal guilt, you won't feel nauseous, there is food to share with those who are struggling to simply feel less starved, no tiring extra weight (what inconvenient baggage) and my inner cookie monster will not be my outer appearance. I know its Christmas and maybe for you it is all about trying to be around family and what gadgets am I getting mysef and I need to top last years present to this person and eating till you can't breathe... but consider there are others who can't make it to be with families. There are families who are together but have no home and no presents (or necessities we don't consider a gift). Perhaps restrain yourself from splurging on another something extra for yourself or a loved one and instead buy a couple something wonderfuls for someone who could not afford it otherwise and who probably can't pay you back. Share a piece of your typical christmas to give someone a wonderful one.

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Xmas is coming

 A day of Christmas songs on the radio/pandora. A night of Christmas movies and Christmas decoration-making and some late night frying creations. Christmas caroling with some elderly folks next week. Christmas is on its way.

Some of the roommates are out of town.
To surprise them when they come back we made stockings for each roommate.

iLikeProjects - Stockings
level: easier than pie, cost: $, time: <10min, kid-friendly
Materials: non-furry stockings, sticker felt pieces, sticker rhinestones
Paste away. Hot glue whatever doesn't stick so well.

Giving it up for Lent... I mean God

In my fanatic state of trying to think up of the best Easter basket stuffers- what toys I wished I had, what goodies I think the receiver would want, should I do a toy story theme?, etc. Before I tumbled headfirst down the path of 'if I' going to do something it has to be the best ever!' a little voice in the back of my head whispered what I had been neglecting all along- "Does anything here reflect the meaning of Easter?" EEP! I was totally missing the big idea. I had turned one of the most glorious days into another materialism fest. An unfortunate practice that our commercial society banks on.

 

Jbear and I got to discussing how to try to explain the meaning of Easter to a little one. It is rather confusing. Even for adults. The disciples had no idea what Jesus meant when he said the temple would be rebuilt in 3 days. What is torture? How can someone become undead? Obviously showing Passion of the Christ is a little much for a 4 year-old. I'm thinking of getting a children's bible and hopefully that will make things a bit more age appropriate. I think its easy to get caught up in every day things and neglect the little opportunities to teach morals, values, and beliefs. Deuteronomy actually emphasizes how you should take every opportunity to be teaching children.

⁴ Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. ⁵ Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. 

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

What do kids or even grownups think of when you say the words Good Friday, Easter, or Christmas? These are some of my first thoughts:

Good Friday- markets are closed so holiday for finance people, lucky ducks! i wish i had the day off. why is it called good if it was the day Jesus died? shouldn't it be sad Friday?

 

Easter- easter egg hunts, peeps, pastel m&m's, cadburry eggs, easter baskets, flowery dresses, springtime!, rain, flowers, oh yeah a special church service!, inspirational greetings with pictures of crosses on them, Jesus, that one song Because He Lives

 

Christmas- black friday sale, shopping, red & green, santa, elfs, christmas movies!, greeting cards, company shutdown, vacation, nativity scenes, happy birthday Jesus

Even for pagan holidays, I doubt most people spent much time to think about the origins. We're too busy seeing family and stuffing our faces with chocolate or food. This was probably the first time I participated in Lent. (I gave up DDR for 40 days before. That was a big deal to me in high school.) What do people think of at the mention of Lent? Denying oneself? I utterly failed with the whole no online shopping thing (I bought a salad spinner the other day too.) Do our little sacrifices amount to the real meaning of Lent? It's easy to say I'm giving up blahblah for Lent because it's tradition or habit or expected of you. But did you really give up your whole self? We're supposed to deny ourselves daily. Daily like the whole year not just a couple weeks.

I really liked the Ash Wednesday devotional from Christianbooks.com. 

Excerpts from this book.

Small Surrenders: A Lenten Journey
by: Emilie Griffin

We are not converted only once in our lives but many times, and this endless series of large and small conversions, inner revolutions, leads to our transformation in Christ.
--Thomas Merton


I'll just paraphrase:

1. its custom to give up something for Lent

• Good for casual conversion
• But only surface deep - not what Christ lived an died for

2. there should be a spiritual transformation

• Transformation is through a series for large and small inner revolutions
• It is not the act of giving up something that changes us but rather the willingness to change
• We admit need for improvement, recognizing our hopelessness and put ourselves in God's hands
• This process is endless

3. Jesus is an example of this

• Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished.
• Hunger opened himself up to assaults from the Devil
• This was a spiritual exercise of surrender, putting himself in the Father's hands

4. This is training

• This was preparation for a larger calling and greater work later on
• Practice for improvement
• The Devil attacked and wanted to weaken Jesus' allegiance
• Jesus responded with scripture. Be solid in God's Word.

5. Lessons learned

• Jesus showed emptiness is the beginning of holiness. 
• We are blessed when we hunger and thirst for righteousness. We will be filled.
• Walk with Jesus and be nourished with the Word. It is easier to walk through the desert and our own hunger and thirst will suddenly be tolerable.
• We are converted not only once in our lives but many times through small surrenders.
• Lent custom causes us to intentionally do this.
• Through small surrenders we become free.

This kind of reminds me of reminds me of the idea in Buddhism how it is important to give up things. Attachment to things or desire are actually sources of suffering. Sacrificing actually leads to happiness. I guess the ultimate goals are a bit different (happiness vs. glorifying God) but the theme of giving up something and denying yourself seems pretty universal. Too bad its still so hard in practice.