Flamingo, flamingo, flamingo.

I’ve mentioned our Christmas yard decor a couple of times now, so as long as I’ve got my toes in the water might as well go all in and explain the flamingos. If you’ve driven past my house you’ve probably noticed them, fifteen or so pink plastic flamingos wearing shiny tinsel scarves. They line the walkway, peek out of bushes, look over the manger scene and keep Morris company. I put them out this year for two reasons. (1) It delights my children who correlate Christmas spirit with the number of figures you have in your yard, and (2) they irritate my husband. I’m hoping that reason #1 will balance out my karma for reason #2. At any rate, the editors of Southern Living Magazine should be here any day to take a photo, which I am sure they will feature in some "best of the holidays" edition to come. The flamingos are right up there with a set of kitchen towels I bought one year that are covered in kitty pawprints and say, "Meowy Christmas" because when you see towels like that how can you NOT purchase them? Needless to say, things are starting to go a little downhill here in the Long house in terms of tasteful decor. For someone that pours over decorating magazines and Pinterest as much as I do you think this would derail me a bit more. And yet all I can feel is joy, joy, joy, unspeakable joy! It is Christmas, friends! Emmanuel has come, God with us! I want to cover the world in pink, plastic flamingos for the happiness that fills my heart. We come to the manger just as we are, pretty or ugly, beaten or victorious, and we simply accept God’s love. It is there for each one of us, manifest in His Son, and we are fools to think we may not need it. No, knowing Christ’s love this year will be the most important gift we will receive and the most important one we pass on. More precious than silver, more costly than gold. So joy to the world and peace on earth and goodwill to mankind and MERRY CHRISTMAS, loved ones! The Lord is come. XOXO...Kelly

If the Reid family of the Copperfield area is reading this....thank you.

One of my favorite parts of the movie "Dumb and Dumber" is near the beginning of the movie. Harry and Lloyd have both lost their jobs and have come home to find that their pet parakeet has been beheaded, only they don’t know he’s been beheaded because they are dumb. And dumber. In despair Lloyd cries out, "We’ve got no money! We’ve got no jobs! Our pets’ heads are falling off!" The last couple of weeks in the Long family have been pets-heads-falling-off kind of weeks. We’ve had broken toilets, showers & windows, hives, illness, a family pet put down, a car in the shop, more illness and my Dr. Pepper exploded on me in the van one afternoon. And though these are small things compared to what others may be going through this week, still the poo just seems to keep on rolling sometimes, doesn’t it? On Friday evening I popped into the study to check something in my email and caught a glimpse of the Connecticut news story. For about the fifth time that day I began to cry at the horror of the whole situation when suddenly my doorbell rang. I opened the door to find a note on the door mat which read, "Thank you for being such a blessing by displaying your nativity scene!" The note is referring to one of our Christmas yard decorations (no, not Morris...I assume my thank you note for putting him out will come later this weekend). It might as well have been Jesus on my doorstep that evening the way that note reached me. It’s not the first time we’ve received one. We have a family in the area that does this each year and if I could figure out where they lived I’d hug them. But it’s just the small, but oh so important reminder that comes to us in the midst of all the other madness in life that OUR FAITH DOES MATTER. That it means something to put it out there and to share it. That what we do in Christ’s love does not go unnoticed. We are surrounded by things that break, bodies that fail us and hearts that despair. We MUST be God’s hands and feet in this world. We’ve got to put God in the middle of it. It is too important not to. XOXO...Kelly

Booger.

I started volunteering at my sons’ preschool this fall by leading the school’s monthly chapel gatherings. "Chapel" is a fifteen minute assembly-style session that happens once a month to reinforce some of the concepts the children have been learning in their classroom Bible lessons. After years of working in youth ministry with junior and senior high youth, preschoolers, believe it or not, were a bit intimidating to me. Yes, it’s true my house is full of them. But four kids under six is nothing compared to a whole room full of bows and curls and the latest Lightning McQueen tennis shoes all staring up at you waiting for you to say something interesting. If you say the word "booger" to a group of teenagers you are relatable and cool. If you say the word "booger" to a group of preschoolers every single one of them has to laugh and repeat it and soon you’ve lost control of the entire room and all of the teachers are mad at you. Preschoolers don’t understand sarcasm either. Or Will Ferrell jokes. Do you see my problem? And so I prayed and prayed that God would help calm my fears and reach these kids. Please make me funny and sweet and understanding and capable, I prayed. Please let them like me! And do you know what God whispered to me in return? "Kelly, my dear, once again you have missed the point." God says that to me a lot and, of course, He was right. It wasn’t my voice I should have been praying about. It was His. God wasn’t giving me this opportunity so that the kids would love me. He wants those precious little ones to love HIM through me. How many times do we dismiss God's call because we think we're not good enough, as if it was all up to us anyway? I fall short in many, many ways and that will likely never change. God does not use me because I am ideal. He uses me because He is infallible through me. What is that saying I love so much? "God does not call the equipped, He equips the called." I praise you, God, because I am just a vessel, full of flaws and misgivings, but in Your purpose I am fearfully and wonderfully made. And to Your purpose I am more than capable. XOXO....Kelly

Morris the Christmas Tinsel Moose

A couple of years ago, much to my husband's chagrin, I purchased a large animated moose for our front yard.  He's made of grapevine and comes out of the box in about 10 different pieces you have to carefully assemble.  As you might imagine, several years of this set up and take down has somewhat compromised the structural integrity of the moose.  This year my beloved friend is not only shaky, but half of his lights don't work, his whimsical berries are falling off and his motor is burnt out.  To spruce him up a little I did what any Christmas-loving individual would do.  I wrapped him in tinsel.  Now he glistens in the sunlight AND twinkles in the glow of his still-working lights.  He may not be as spiffy as the leaping reindeer buck a few doors down, but he's hanging in there, every bit as full of the holiday spirit as he has ever been.  Sometimes I am the tinsel moose.  I think of Paul's words in 1 Thessalonians, "Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances" (5:16-18).  Sometimes the best I can do is to throw a little tinsel on top of my tired, worn and ragged self and hope it shines, but I am going to celebrate what the Lord has given me anyhow.  Everyday, good or bad, we are called to remember the joy of our salvation in Christ, the relationship He wants to have with us, His presence in all situations.  Praise God for the gift of His son, that it comes to me regardless of my own condition.  Oh Morris, you trusty hooved beacon of the holiday season, you are all right by me, my friend.  All right by me.  XOXO...Kelly