christmas warmth among the busyness

the boy and i have been so busy with work this week. this blog has been neglected, and so has our gingerbread house. sure there's snow and a decorated roof, but there's quite a lot more work to do to get the place spruced up right! :)

i've become quite obsessed with the boy's growing up tradition of making gingerbread houses completely from scratch, including stained glass windows and perfectly-draping-and-icicle-making "snow." our house looks pretty messy, but i'm sure we'll get better at the boy's mom's tried-and-true methods as the years go on. this week i've learned about candy thermometers and the incredible bonding power of melted sugar and have annoyed the boy a bit by how excited i am about everything christmas. {pictures coming of our excursion make a wreath for our front door and to cut down our christmas tree - which now takes up roughly 1/4 of our studio!} we've created our house in phases because we only have an hour or so of free time in the evenings these days (the boy is deep in applications and interviews, and i have been preparing for a big presentation). but common, edible stained glass windows?! that's cool.




but you know those moments in december when you just feel totally wrapped up in the glowing warmth of christmas? i felt that in our church meetings on sunday, when a friend shared this most beautiful poem:

Perennial
by Sister Madeleva

The final wild song of Your birth-night 
can never be written;
The last shining word of Your coming
 can not be said.
Rough, slow-minded shepherds will run, a
ngel-driven, forever
By night to a cave and a cattle shed.

And You, beyond bondage of time, without
end or beginning,
Will wake in the arms of a maid,
on an unending night.
You, the unuttered Word became Flesh
and forever now spoken,
Will be here, be our Life, our
accessible Light.

Tonight is Your night, Your incredible,
song-spangled story.
We shepherds and flocks wait on fields
beyond Bethlehem plain;
O angels, O shepherds, O Joseph, O Mary,
O Jesus,
O God, tell Your children the story again.

my eyes welled full of tears and she so tenderly recited these words, and again when i read the poem to the boy in the car on the way home. i really love the baby jesus. i am grateful for this time of year that we can reflect on the greatest gift ever given.