More Christmas-ing @ the Gardners

Well, its been a good long while since we've played with ALL the Gardners! After Lauren caught the Amtrak to VA to see her dad and grandparents, we (including BamBam) headed to South Carolina for more Christmas-ing! It was productive and efficient time of post-holiday shopping for Zoe and I as we scored at Old Navy, Pier 1, Kohl's and World Market. She is a crazy mad woman when it comes to shopping.

Also got a chance to meet up with Jenn for dinner and was so good to have girl time! Most of the weekend was a time of football including watching the Skins bite the dust to Dallas. Next year, next year. Dear God, let us have some victory next year.....

I brought my Christmas dinner leftovers and those Gardners know how to clean plate! Zoe and I got a good walk in with the dogs while the hubbies even made it to the gym. There was plenty of mayhem with the Gardner kids especially you know who (BEAR!). Danny and I got to see Josh at swim practice and you can't tell in these pics but that boy is like 8 ft tall now!!!

BamBam and Espy had their usual fun including decimating not one but TWO bo-bos. There was a constant need to clean up bo-bo guts. Those two are in love as they have always been but Bambam is starting to realize that Espy is a much smarter dog than he.....

Thanks Gardners for always treating the Dulins like family!

Christmas Activities and Such

Well we had a most excellent Christmas! Really, it was wonderful and I enjoyed my day with Danny and Lauren who both spoiled me well! (Michael was in WV with his mom). I got a new PINK phone with a "qwerty" keyboard which means I shall text with speediness! Some fine black "house" slippers (Lauren gave me so much grief because I wanted them!), an iPod arm excercise band thing, lots of goodies, etc! Danny got a GPS from me and UNC pjs in preparation for Lauren headed that way!! Oh, and by the way, Lauren actually finished ALL her college applications Christmas afternoon.....

I cooked another turkey and cornbread cranberry dressing again and we had our neighbors Lourie (she is in my Monday night Bible study) and her husband Preston over to join us! It was mighty fine!

Merry Christmas

Family (of Satan) Christian Bookstore

I am in a ranting mood, I'll confess. I love the holidays and don't mean to pee in anyone's cereal but there are some cereals worth peeing on.

The other day Lauren and I went to the Family Christian Store. There displayed prominently in the front display was a book by my favorite creepy buddy Joel Olsteen. Well, praise God there's a copy of his book so easily accessible for the masses of Christ followers during the holidays and those who don't know Christ, because this book will surely tell you the truth about picking up your cross daily and all about the good times of dying to self!

I should have left immediately, but Lauren had a gift certificate she got and was going to use it. As I wandered the store, I saw books by authors I knew were short of being labeled snake handlers. Okay, I exaggerate. But seriously, I was sick to my stomach by the amount of material there I knew was not Biblically sound. I wasn't just sick that this "Christian" store sold the stuff, I was sick because I knew there were many who would read this stuff and not know that God's Word says differently.

Wow, I'm just so super spiritual and a walking vat of truth and Biblical knowledge now aren't I? That's not what I mean when I rant. I am not smart really. And not special as a student in God's Word. I am special in other ways though, but I digress. My point is this, it breaks my heart that there is a watered down heretical amount of content being sold in what we take for granted as "Christian" bookstore. Must we always check under every rock? Must we always be testing all things against Scripture? Must we not assume when you say Christian you mean one thing versus another?

The answer is yes. And its exhausting. Heading over to the Lifeway Christian Bookstore now..... at least they don't carry any Joel Olsteen.

Barbie and Bratz Dolls: Sluts R Us

Call me a middle-aged crotchety old woman, but is it me or all the "popular" dolls out there 1 step away from looking like porn stars?

Lauren is pass the age of requesting dolls (thank God) and I was shopping for 2 younger girls who had either wanted Barbie or Bratz dolls on their list. How hard could this be? Let's see......when I went to the Walmart, all that was available was white Barbie. Where was black Barbie? WHERE was my colored sista BLACK Barbie? I guess she was sold out. There was no Fresh Off the Boat Asian Barbie either. White Barbie only. Tiger would be in heaven. Ughhh. Well, my little black girl was getting herself a white Barbie and I hated that.

Okay, one present down, on to Bratz doll. Hmmm. Why no request for My Little Ponies or Care Bears? Bratz.... Bratz.....OH, there! What the ...?!

Bratz doll choice 1: Blonde barbie-esque mother drove her to beauty pagents from embryo look
OR
Bratz doll choice 2: Sista from the hood "Dance Crew" model who was showing her mid-drif and if you saw her in real life you would not be thinking Santa when you said "Ho, ho, ho!"

I am sorry, but do parents REALLY buy these gifts for their daughters? I am by no means original in my thinking about the plight of our culture, the connection of mass marketing raising pre-teens into the horrific generation of hoochies that wear skirts the length of belts which would be considered their church outfits, by the way. "Hey, be a Dad and tell your daughter to put some clothes on! . . . . Oh, and stop buying your brat Bratz!"

But I am a hypocrite. I bought the Bratz doll I admit. I was horrified but in the frenzy of getting shopping done, my moral compass was not working as it should. The gift is wrapped and given and should I see the young girl in church bearing her mid-driff, I will know I contributed to the deliquent. Sigh.

Open House

We have had a flurry of holiday activities; and I love it! I love all the things that bring Christmas tradition as I know it during this time of year. We decided to have a Christmas Open House this past Sunday as an opportunity to get connected with folks in all walks of our lives. We had about 40 people show up.

Life is busy enough trying to get connected with people you know well, much less with folks in your community you say "Hi" to in passing. We invited Danny's coworkers, the kids' teachers, my painting class, Raleigh Rescue Mission staff, neighbors, the cashier at Walmart, my tailor, church folks...... As I prepped and cleaned and tasked and barked out orders and stood on my feet for 6 hours in the kitchen so on and so on the days before, occasionally I would fall in a chair exhausted and say to Danny, "Why am I doing all this again?" And he would respond, "Community."

"Oh, yeah community," I'd repeat.

On the surface this Open House may seem like just another holiday get together and excuse to sip too much egg nog and eat one too many sugar cookies. For us, it was an opportunity to love people through our home who God has placed in our lives or path. It was great to see my good friend Sue and her family, but its the single gay male neighbor across the street we wanted to engage in getting to know. It was great to have Sunday school people show up, but it was the 22 year-old boy next door who is at a place in his life where he is lacking direction that we wanted to offer "you have 'family' next door." He's the one we want to communicate that he is worth intentionally blessing.

Don't the Dulins sound like wonderful people? Aren't they so attractive and generous and loving and kind and gifted in hospitality? Why yes we are! But not on our own..... We serve an attractive and generous and loving and kind and hospitable God. It is not my home or my cookies or even me, I want people to see --- it is the Lord I serve in my heart I want them to see. It is unfortunate how much of my life I've spent distracting people from seeing Him.

It is easier to invite just the people you already love and know. They are the ones I love to decorate the cookies for and bake the brownies for. They are the ones with which easy conversation and history and memories are shared.

Entertaining is hard work. Getting to know people is hard work. Caring to even getting to know people is hard work. Serving people after you start to get to know them is hard work. Its called "community." Jesus came to serve. He served with His life and He didn't mince words about what that looked like for us as believers in how we should follow Him.

Oh, I'm the social party girl -- you all know I love to fix the hair, put on a sweet pair of shoes and go have a good time. But now its not so much about me anymore. This is probably the first time I (we) opened our house praying for God to help us be intentional about reaching out to people. How will people know who God is in our lives if we don't love them first?

We were blessed in countless ways through this Open House. I shared time with Lauren where she was my right hand in the kitchen all day Saturday and served me with a cheerful heart. I listened to Danny pray for days before the date for God to bless folks. We finally "met" people who's names we didn't know, but knew them only by their dog's names from walking in the neighborhood. Conversations seasoned with salt were had in ways we could not have orchestrated.

Community. Oh, yeah, my life isn't all about me. Its about community.
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FOR CATRINA - Here was my menu:

• drinks: coffee, hot spiced cider, egg nog, lemonade
• sweet: sugar cookies, brownie peanut butter sandwiches, brownie raspberry jelly sandwiches, See's Chocolates
• savory: mini-grilled fontina cheese and fig preserve sandwiches, apricots wrapped in bacon with fresh sage (huge hit!), wheat English muffin pizzas (mozerella + pepperoni; feta cheese + sundried tomatos), brie, plate of soft cheese and crackers, mini-corn muffins with cranberries + bacon bits, olive and capers tapanade, crab dip fondue (fresh lemon zest and a bit of Chardonney)

The Ketchup Bottle is NOT a Toy

On Wednesday I treated my 7th grade small group girls to dessert at Chilli's to kick off the holiday season. Good idea. And bad idea, sorta.

3/4 of our time was fun and giggles and girls who normally are shy were laughing and sharing. They were all excited about their desserts. But as desserts got eaten and wait time for parents brought boredom, 3 of my girls decided it would be fun to put salt and pepper in their water. Then they started putting ketchup in it.

Are you kidding me? I KINDLY asked them to stop 3 times. Finally, when I wasn't looking they tried to do it behind my back and instead of showing the patience of Jesus, I lit into them as if they were my own kids.

Phrases like "If you are going to act like 10 year old boys, I will treat you like it."
"The ketchup bottle is not a toy!"

Ugh, I'm so NOT cut out for being their small group leader. I was totally bummed by these three girls and struggled not to let them define my entire evening. I should just stick to serving in church as a ribbon dancer......

Dulin Tree Trimming and Xmas Solar System

We went to the xmas tree farm this past weekend -- it was like 70 degrees! Here are pix plus my "creative" ways of using ornaments. One is of my "chandelier" and the other is of my "solar system." The solar system is actually ornaments my mother bought from Pier One last year AFTER Christmas and they have never been used.

Also, our Christmas tree is shorter than I'd like and the white angel needs to be more goldish. Oh well, next year. This is the first year I have used ribbon on my tree.