The Second and Third Days of Christmas

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

three hours of Tolkien,

 
two bowls of chili,

and a gymnastics jamboree!

It was date night around here last night; KJ always gets sentimental about these movies coming out since he loves Tolkien, and The Fellowship of the Ring was the first movie we ever saw together in a theater.  Maybe that's the reason he fell in love with me... ;)  

I won't give any spoilers, but I left the theater inspired to create, with a fresh sense of awe at how Christ's sacrificial death defeated evil, and a general sense of delight in the creativity and skill of people.

James' preschool class sang some Christmas songs during the service last night.  It was very adorable.  He is very adorable.  They all wore Christmas pajamas to church.  KJ said he could also pass as a pirate with his striped pants.  I love that kid.

This is my first Christmas season to have a child so truly anxiously awaiting Christmas day.  Ella has always been excited, but James is truly impatient.  "It's taking FOREVER."  This is his general thought on anything he doesn't want to do, though.  We're counting the days.

"A Long-Expected Party"

Friday night some of our students threw a Hobbit party in honor of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins' birthday.  Most of the time the kids and I don't make it out to gatherings like this, but they started early (Hobbits are always ready to eat.), and the kids were really excited to go.

When KJ was in seminary we heard Dr. Mohler say once that congregations take on the personalities and quirks of their pastors to a certain extent.  That may have happened a little bit here.

We threw together "hobbit" costumes on short notice.  We have no shortage of Tolkien accessories around here.  The kids each sported a ring of power, and we brought the banner from James' room for the festivities.

 Katie looked so pretty.

 

Brandon did a great job pulling his costume together.

Even Daisy got in on the festivities, though she was a reluctant participant.

Dance like a hobbit.

 

The girls made hairy hobbit-feet cookies.

 

We told the kids they could watch the "happy" part of the movie, i.e. the beginning, and Katie tried to hold the blanket up over their eyes during the "scary" parts.  Ella was happy to hide behind the blanket, but James just stood up and stood on his tip-toes to see.  We left pretty early on in the movie for little hobbits to go to bed, so we avoided all of the battle scenes.

 

They were pretty taken with the Shire and over the weekend watched all of the non-scary parts of The Fellowship of the Ring with KJ per their request.

 

We're really thankful for all these guys and gals.

 

Franco-Fridays: Movies set in Paris

I've already confessed that my thoughts and feelings about a place are heavily influenced by books and movies.  When I started thinking about the movies I've watched most often that take place in Paris, I realized that most of them involve Audrey Hepburn.  Maybe it was because she spoke French?  Maybe it was the way she always looked so beautiful and classy in a dress that made her the perfect inhabitant of such a fashionable city.  

In no particular order, the movies that came to mind were...

Charade

I take it back.  This one came to mind first because it is one of my favorites.  I first saw it with KJ on the second week of our honeymoon when we were staying with his grandparents at the lake.  It was the beginning of a year or more of infatuation with every movie Cary Grant was in.  He's so classy and also hilarious.  This movie is scary, suspenseful, and delightful.  It also makes me want to eat ice cream while walking by the Seine and take a dinner cruise down the same.  In addition, Charade does a shower scene right.



How to Steal a Million ranks not far behind Charade.  It's full of witty dialogue, thievery, and Peter O'Toole.  Win-win...win!

 "Then you came along in your nighty and shot me!"

[saying that in Peter O'Toole's voice is fun]

Funnyface.  Oh, Funnyface...you bring back memories of Ella Bella at what...14 months old?  She was so little, and this was one of her favorite movies.  I remember her sitting in her highchair eating lunch, and when Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn start dancing in the dark room, Ella started bouncing up and down impatiently, "Dance!  Dance!"  She loved to dance along with them. She and James still love to watch this movie and sing, "Bonjour, Paris!"  

    

 You might find me greeting Paris in exactly this manner.

Indirectly related to Paris and causing this transformation in Sabrina:

And then of course, a movie without Audrey Hepburn but supplying us with one of the most-famed movie lines ever, Casablanca.  

  "We'll always have Paris."

KJ and I have said versions of this for years.  Lately it's been, "We'll always have England."  But now, for future years, when anything sad happens, we can look at each other and say, "We'll always have Paris."  And there will be something quite satisfying about that. 

The Weekend

I don't normally have anything out of the ordinary going on during the weekend, but this past weekend was full of time with other women in our church, and how refreshing that was!  

But before that there were a few errands to run (library and Wal-Mart) and a stop to let the kids run and soak up some much-needed vitamin D.

Then it was off to T's for a girls' movie night.  Oddly enough, we watched a movie about Paris.

   "Every time I look through a camera I'm surprised.

It's like finding yourself in the middle of a story...

I think I've been taking pictures all my life,

long before I ever had a camera."

- Sabrina - 

I came home late humming, La Vie en Rose, and went back to T's early the next morning for a ladies Prayer Retreat.  It was a sweet time of fellowship and being reminded of the importance of prayer.  More prayer has a made a difference in my life this week.

Book-Inspired

I was just thinking about these lines this morning.  And no one reads them better than Alan Rickman, of course.

For whatsoeuer from one place doth fall,

Is with the tide vnto an other brought:

For there is nothing lost, that may be found, if sought.

- Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene -

Friday's Flashback: Baker Street

Everyone knows who lived here, right?

A Famous Profile

No, not KJ's...yet...

Sherlock Holmes', of course.

I won't lie.  I liked walking down Baker Street.

I had read that 221B had a museum with wax figures of characters and scenes,

and I'd also heard from a friend it wasn't that impressive.

We were short on time and feeling so tired by this point, we mainly just enjoyed being on

Baker Street and stepping into the gift shop.

All the personnel dressed in period clothing, which was fun.

The doorman, I presume.

The gift shop was filled with Sherlock Holmes hats, coats, canes, figurines, book marks, chess sets, framed prints, you name it.  

Our favorite book

I'm looking forward to seeing how Professor Moriarty is portrayed in the new movie coming out this month.  I wonder if any Bartitsu will be employed?

The Bible, Books, Music, and Movies

I just finished this book.  It was really good.  I enjoyed it so much that I think I may skim/read through it again, posting quotes on my blog, because that's how passionate I am about this subject.  How did I even find this book published in 1989, you ask?  It was required reading for the Christianity and the Arts Ph.D. program at Southern Seminary.  KJ was thinking about applying at one time and bought it.  So, here are a few lines from the Preface.  (You don't normally read the preface in books?  You should.)

The arts belong to the Christian life.  We sometimes think of them as an extraneous luxury, but they have a strange way of asserting themselves in the most threatening of circumstances.  When our humanity is in danger, the artistic spirit suddenly lives.  The arts give us something indispensable to life.

When missionary Bruce Hunt was imprisoned, he found relief by composing hymn verses.  During Corrie ten boom's prison experiences, her spirit was revived by such seemingly trivial artistic manifestations as the red wrapping of cookies from home, the beauty of the sky and woods...When kidnapped by Ehtiopian terrorists, missionary Debbie Dortzbach wrote poems in her journal, embroidered Bible verses, and drew plants in her notebook.

My cherished goal is that ministers, Sunday School teachers, Bible study leaders, and Christians in general will come to value the arts as conveyors of truth and examples of beauty.  The arts can enhance both our personal lives and our understanding of our culture. 

The time is ripe for Christians to show an informed interest in the arts.

* * *

Last night we watched Thor, and I found it to be a conveyor of truth.  KJ just finished teaching through the book of Zephaniah in Sunday School yesterday.  You all know this verse, right?

The LORD your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior.

He will exult over you with joy, 

He will be quiet in His love,

He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.

- Zephaniah 3:17 -

Not coincidentally, on the way to church yesterday I was listening to this song by Caedmon's Call.

The LORD is a warrior.

The LORD is mighty in battle.

The LORD is a warrior,

LORD of hosts is He.

God says, "I am going to deal at that time with all your oppressors, I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will turn their shame into praise and renown in all the earth (Zephaniah 3:19). We talked about how Christ defeated our enemies on the cross and how we will see the fulfillment of all these promises on the Great Day of the Lord, and KJ asked the question, "Why do you think we have to wait until the Great Day before God takes away all sin and defeats every enemy?"  People gave various answers, mostly about all that we learn through suffering and hardship.  I agreed with what they said, but to me, it didn't seem logical, because if we were perfect then we wouldn't need to learn all of those lessons; we would know them already.  God would have already made us perfect.  

But then, in the very middle of Thor, it hit me.  I watched Thor, the son of the king, be humbled by exile and through his humility learn wisdom and offer himself in order to save others, and then I remembered:  Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered (Hebrews 5:8).  Jesus was perfect; yet he learned obedience through suffering.  

When you know God's word, you start seeing truth everywhere, even in movies about Marvel comic characters.  

The Conspirator (2011) - HD Trailer

I watched this movie last night.  It was interesting; I learned about events surrounding President Lincoln's assassination that I didn't know.  It made me think about ongoing issues in our country:  trials in a time of war, capital punishment with insufficient evidence, and of course, the trial ended with an amendment making it wrong to try civilians in a military court.  I'm sure the movie was meant to make you think through these things. 

It was beautifully made.  I've been so immersed in British history in preparation for our trip that it felt somewhat strange to delve into American history, but I enjoyed it.  I can't remember a time that I didn't know "Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president, and he was assassinated."  The facts were so familiar that until last night, I never really felt the horror of a good man being shot from behind with his wife at his side.  It was such a tragic and horrible end.  I also didn't realize that the conspirators' plan also included killing Vice President Johnson and the Secretary of State.  

I always enjoy James McAvoy in period pieces, and I'm always impressed by the ability of a Scottish actor to lose the accent and talk like an American.  The costumes and sets were superb, and the lighting was lovely.  After a while I thought, "Wow, every single scene features this lovely sunlight coming in through the windows," and it almost got repetitive, but then I thought maybe that was part of the authenticity.  Besides candles and kerosene lamps, sunlight was all they had.  

The other aspect of the movie I thought was interesting was when they briefly showed the rounding up of John Wilkes Booth and the other conspirators.  I'm definitely used to watching movies portray 21st century manhunts; it was a big contrast seeing it 19th century style, riding through the woods on horseback instead of following the suspect via satellite.  

I think the movie did a good job of portraying that there was uncertainty as to whether Mary Surratt was innocent or guilty, but the bigger issues were her being given a fair trial by a jury of her peers, not a military court that had already found her guilty.  I found the entire transcript of her attorney, Frederick Aiken's, defense of her online.

 God has not only given us life, but He has filled the world with everything to make life desirable; and when we sit down to determine the taking away of that which we did not give, and which, when once taken, we can not restore, we consider a subject the most solemn and momentous within the range of human thought and human action.

"Nobody talks like that anymore."

A Pleasant Man

His picture may have been removed from my blog, but his words remain. Here's hoping to be a little bit more like Elwood each and every day.

Night Life

Hey!  Let's watch a movie.

How about this one?

Can I sit in your lap?

And dance?

Let's get nervous...

even though we've already seen this movie four times.

Then we'll all get really sleepy...

and be so thankful for this night.