First opportunity for Christmas treats and I pick caramel popcorn. Yum.

Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible is what you grab for reading material when you’re leaving your parents’ house and your child wants to go swing at Pioneers Park. The swing, you know, is a magical place for singing and exploring miles of imaginary worlds. It takes some time to swing. As it turns out, it also takes some time to read Matthew Henry’s Commentary on THE WHOLE BIBLE.

This one. She gives me a nudge in the costume department and I can’t help but join her in some sort of crazy scheme. All the elf love for Redeemer tonight. Yummy treats, great company, and as always, a hilarious white elephant tradition was upheld. We now have a literal white elephant in the house. Maybe he’ll show up on the DPP. You never know.

My server was down last night, but really and truly I shot this and posted it to the Facebook DPP page before midnight. But just barely! I forgot my camera all day long and did one of those “what can I shoot” searches around the house just before 11pm. The go-to at that time of night, without natural light, is lights of course. I had a few other funky shots and knew this one would be interesting as well. The lines within the image and the strange blue bokeh intrigued me. It was the clear winner for Day 9 of the December Photo Project.

Christmas trees contain a little bit of magic, I think.

It’s all about the people.

Thank you, friends, for loving me and supporting me and making me a better person as we journey through this life together. Thirty-nine years down!

Can anyone else feel how important it is to stop and see beauty right now? It’s been a long political season and I don’t feel like engaging anymore. The news seems overwhelming this week with Oakland’s warehouse fire and other hard stories. Friends are struggling with surgeries and hard relationships, their children’s hardships and financial needs. That’s not all mine to handle, though my heart tries to tell me it is—oh the negatives of being empathetic, right? However… at some point in my day my fellow DPPers are forcing me to move slowly, to see beauty, to capture it, label it, hashtag it and share it with world. There is beauty to be found. And we’re doing it! We’re finding the gracious moments God’s given us, the blessings beyond all counting, all right here in the midst of the ugliness and hardness of life.

The bright white clouds in their furrows against a rich blue December sky. God’s sweet gift to my afternoon middle school pickup. White orchids on my dining room table. Elegant and extraordinary, they send birthday love from my family.

Lord, open my eyes that I may see this amazing world. Open my heart and remind me that You control it all. Amen.