an extraordinary merry christmas.

i want to show you what i got for christmas; not because i got any huge, mind-blowing surprises. instead, i want to show you what i got for christmas because at the end of the day, i laid in my bed and thought “people know me.” my friends, my family.. they KNOW me. not just because we identify each other by first name, but because they have spent time with me and learned who i am. and so i want to show you, in a few different pictures, how much people know me.

 

first, from my mom. the glee concert movie, trader joe’s hot cocoa, vs pink & target gift card, a perfume/lotion set from vs & a pair of my recent favorite fit of jeans {rockstar, from old navy}

second, from my dad and stepmom. a pink tool set, vs pink pullover, vs pink lotion/spray, a photo calendar and a JUSTIN BIEBER SINGING TOOTHBRUSH. my dad also got me new floormats for my car.

third, from my friends. katie got me a justin bieber calendar {despite the fact that she hates the biebs}, cassie got me glitterpens and paper and jami brought me pink socks from chile.

fourth, from the kids i babysit. micah and jeremiah got me glee buttons. i asked jeremiah how he knew that i liked glee and he stared blankly at me and said “because we listen to it all of the time.”

but let me tell you about the stuffed animals. do you remember awhile ago when i spilled reed diffuser oil on my phone and the shadow it left in my phone looked like a unicorn, which i named patronus? well. i have mentioned a few times that i kind of miss having a unicorn named patronus in my phone. i first opened abi’s gift, the cute pink stuffed dragon. i said “you know, it’s not a unicorn but maybe i’ll name him patronus,” and then was told to hold off on naming him until i opened sarah’s gift.. which was a pink stuffed unicorn. who is patronus. jeremiah helped me name the dragon pinkilis. and i love them. the gifts, and the givers.

and finally! megan always participates in blog swaps and i was like “i want to do one!” which lead me to a blog swap on faison’s blog. and my partner was faison herself! which was so cool because i’ve done my fair share of trolling on her blog. no shame. this is what faison got me! a pink monkey that sings “only girl in the world,” a starbucks tumbler, peanut butter cup hot chocolate {it is declicious} and pink sparkly nail polish.

sometimes in life it is glamorous to be misunderstood and angry and scarred and alone. there is a certain kind of victory in living life like that, but i think there is also a quiet victory in actively choosing instead to be surrounded by love and stability and security. last night i crawled in to bed and wrapped my arms around patronus and pinkilis and drifted quickly to sleep with the knowledge that people know me well enough to get me hot chocolate or glitter pens or a justin bieber toothbrush that sings.

one of the most influential christmas songs in my life is sung by sandi patty. my dad got out of jail at the beginning of december many years ago and clung to christian radio to keep his spirit encouraged. we listened to this song over and over and over. i remember listening to it as i stacked piles of boxes on each other and built robots. it says this:

{and the gift goes on}
the Father gave the Son
the Son gave the Spirit
the Spirit gives us life
so we can give the gift of love.

 

that is what i have received this Christmas.
the Father, the Son, the Spirit, life, and love.

i saw a rainbow on Christmas. most people would’ve preferred snow, but i was quite pleased with sneaking glances at a rainbow in my rear view mirror as mercy me sang on the radio, “to save us all from Satan’s power when we were gone astray.”

what a Christmas. what a gift. what a love.