Sunday, December 23, 2007

A Christmas Story

Jon and I were talking about something the other day, and he mentioned looking for answers on the internet. Funny thing- I used to Google every other thought I had, and after several days of dealing with this situation, it hadn't even occurred to me! I used to spend a significant portion of each day online... now I barely check my email!

We had a great Christmas with Sophie! As much as we missed not being able to see family, we really really enjoyed it being just us. Jon led the music at the installation Christmas Eve service Monday night- it was a beautiful service. During the lighting of the candles, Jon and I played special music- he on guitar and vocals, me on the flute. It was going great until they shut off ALL the lights once all the candles were lit- we couldn't see anything! Seeing how we had just chosen the song late that afternoon (and neither of us had ever played it), it was a bit stressful... but we made it just fine.

We came home and enjoyed Christmas Eve packed with all the things I grew up with on Christmas Eve- summer sausage and cheese, A Christmas Carol (HAS to be George C. Scott), and simply spending time together. I even bought a popcorn tin, which the Fishers always had on Christmas Eve. It was lovely!

Christmas morning we made cinnamon rolls (another Nave tradition), read the Christmas story out of Luke 2 (Fisher tradition), opened gifts, and had a relaxing morning! Jon then spent the rest of the day cleaning the house and cooking (I spent the rest of the day doing what I do EVERY day- spend every other hour getting Sophie to eat...), then we had some friends over for dinner. It was the first time we have hosted a holiday, and it went great! I am indebted to Jon for working so much to make Christmas be how I wanted it to be, even having company less than 2 weeks after delivery...

This was my and Jon's 4th Christmas Eve together... 3 years ago at the Christmas Eve service, we met for the 2nd time. Jon says he wooed me with his slick charm... which is... pretty much true. What can I say, I'm a sucker for the romance of the holidays. Little did I know then that in three short years, we would be sitting in our living room holding our child. It was so neat to be able to play together Monday night- we have never really done that before, just the two of us. If you are a musician at all, then you know that working through a piece of music (wait, did I say a piece of music? What I meant to say was a printout of the lyrics with chords... which weren't even the right chords, because Jon capoed... not that chords help a flautist much anyway...) takes a significant amount of communication and patience- the fact that we did this 3 hours before the service (and I didn't even get teary once!) is a testament to how much our relationship has grown over the past few years. In fact, at that very first Christmas Eve service, Jon sang O Holy Night with the Kent City Baptist band (of which I was a part) backing him up. At the rehearsal, I remember thinking that he was kind of a jerk- I think I was too used to working with Josh (Jon's brother and KCBC worship pastor), who is (or has learned to be) quite laid back in working with other musicians. Jon seemed arrogant. Again, little did I know...

In other news, we passed another milestone this week- we paid off our last credit card! Well over half of our debt is gone (excepting the house, of course...), and in the next year and a half or so it should be gone. I have to say, I have been opposed to the envelope/cash system for... well, forever. I don't need that, I thought- I don't spend money flippantly. But I have to tell you, I don't think we could have gotten to this point without it. Suddenly, we know where our money is going, we control it- and at the end of the month when there's some left in the envelope, all the better! It all started back in the beginning of September when Jon decided to sell the truck- and it snowballed from there. You can read more about it at Jon's blog.

I suppose this has gone on long enough... I will try to post more frequently so they don't get this long! :-)

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