the greatest gift

  This is something I was thinking about today:

  Spending time with family, decorating the house, listening to Christmas music, getting a break from school, making & eating delicious treats, and giving and receiving gifts are things that make Christmas wonderful and something to look forward to each year. But sometimes I have to stop and remind myself that even though these things are so lovely, it's certainly not what Christmas is really all about. Christmas is a celebration of the incredible fact that Jesus came down to earth to save lost sinners. Christmas is about that one gift - the most amazing and inexpressible gift ever given.

    "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)

   "The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost." (I Timothy 1:15)

   "And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."
(Luke 2:10-11)

 Salvation. Undeserved grace and mercy. Forgiveness of sins. Jesus coming into the world to die on the cross, taking the punishment that we fully deserved.

 That's the Greatest Gift. That's what I want to keep in mind this Christmas - and all the time.


 - Han

P.S. MERRY CHRISTMAS!! :)
   

christmas reads

a christmas carol by charles dickens // little women by louisa may alcott // the miraculous journey of edward tulane by kate dicamillo // christmas with anne and other holiday stories by l.m. montgomery // hans christian andersen's fairy tales // little house in the big woods by laura ingals wilder // the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe by c. s. lewis // the bird's christmas carol by kate douglas wiggin // the house of arden by e. nesbit // north child by edith pattou

 These are a couple of my favorite books to read at Christmas-time. Some of them are specifically Christmas books, like A Christmas Carol and Christmas with Anne, but others are simply lovely, heartwarming, cozy books that just suit the time of year. 

 What are some of your favorite books to read at Christmas?

 - Han 

 P.S - News Flash - A new blog design in construction! More on that - and the name change - to come.

a daily christmas photo

 Day One // Your View Today: Today was the day we set up our tree. This was also the day when Dad saw this photo-a-day challenge and showed it to me - so, this picture doesn't quite go with the topic because it was taken before I knew about the challenge :)

Day Two // Favorite Holiday Movie

 Day Three // Red

Day Four // Joyous:  "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people." - Luke 2:10

 Day Five // Today's Temperature

Day Six // Shopping: Browsing through the Argos catalog at all the pretties :)

Day Seven // Bright

 Day Eight // Ornament 

Day Nine // Something You're Reading

Day Ten // Wrapping Paper

Day Eleven // Green

Day Twelve // A Beautiful Sight: Cadbury Roses are a beautiful sight, people.

Day Thirteen // Family: Our tickets for The Hobbit. That movie. Amazing, amazing, amazing. Amazing.

 Day Fourteen // Christmas Tree

Day Fifteen // Favorite Christmas Song: "What Child is This?"

 Day Sixteen // Outside Christmas Lights

the tenth of december

i. beautiful frosty morning

ii & iii. making gingerbread with two sweet girls from my church

iv. prezzies from Heather, delicious lemon cake, and Alfred.

 December 10th was my sixteenth birthday.

 When I was really young, my opinion was that sixteen was the absolute coolest age to be. This more than likely had to do with the fact that both The Little Mermaid and Sleeping Beautiful were sixteen, and that when my sister turned sixteen I considered her to be so old that she was practically a grown-up. I think, for whatever reason, sixteen was the age I've always wanted to be.

 I feel like I should say something like, "But now that I really am sixteen, I realize how young and insignificant it is!", but that wouldn't be very honest at all. Because I'm pretty ecstatic about it.

 I had a very sweet birthday. It was one of those simple, quiet kind of birthdays that I think are really the nicest of all.


currently:
excited for: My sister to come home, The Hobbit (tomorrow. oh. my. gosh), Christmas, and the Oliver! Musical (my birthday gift!) 
listening to: I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day by The Civil Wars
trying: To learn all the countries in Africa and their locations for my Social Studies test. What the what.

collection of Christmas favorites

:: allrecipes cookie countdown
 
:: martha stewart pinterest board

:: "i heard the bells on christmas day" poem

:: pioneer woman's 'pear crisp' recipe

:: d-i-y christmas bauble makeover

:: my winter spotify playlist

:: goodreads' top christmas books

:: thirty days of pinspiration

:: create a snowflake

:: a couple of lovely blog posts - this, this, and this one.

november // wordless

diy // christmas advent calendar

 Woah, it's been a while since I last blogged. November has turned out to be a rather busy month, especially with school. 
  But I also have spent some time making some more Christmas crafts, including thing one above. It's an advent calendar, of sorts. There is a cut-out for each day in December leading up to Christmas day with an activity and a Christmas-related Scripture reference at the back.
  Other than that it took some time to cut everything out, it's a really easy craft to make - and it was super fun thinking up things to do this Christmas-time :)

 Here are a few of the activity-ideas I used:

Make a Christmas Playlist
Make Apple Cider
Watch 'It's a Wonderful Life'
Read 'A Christmas Carol'
Have a Snow-ball Fight
Make Sugar Cookies
Go See 'The Hobbit' movie (very important)
Make an Ornament for the Tree

And here are a few Bible verses/passages I used:

 I John 4:9
Isaiah 9:6
Luke 2: 12-14
Matthew 2: 1-12
John 3:16-17
Acts 4:12

 Not only will it be fun to use this December, but it will also help make my room look more festive. :)


currently:
listening to (on repeat): Stay, Stay, Stay by Taylor Swift
reading: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
blog-loving: All Things Lovely
NaNoWriMo progress: Um, long story...

christmas cards || one

 So, at the beginning of December, my mom usually sends out a lot of Christmas cards to friends&family here and in America. She usually buys them at the the shop, and they are pretty inexpensive, but they're never quite as nice or as special as homemade cards. So, all this to say, this year I asked if I could make her the cards to send this year. I love making cards but don't always have an excuse to make them, so I'm pretty excited about it :)

 I've been having fun searching in card magazine and on pinterest for card ideas. So far I've made these three Christmas Carol cards:

 They are quite simple - the only supplies needed are coloured paper, stamps (or you could use stickers or rub-ons), and music sheets. You can either print out a music sheet from online (I used these), or if you have a Christmas carols music book you could photocopy that. I'm hoping to make more like this!


currently:
going insane about: NaNoWriMo
reading: Inkspell (Inkworld #2) by Cornelia Funke (audiobook) <3
listening to: Setting Sail by Port Blue/Adam Young

what's new

 It's hard to believe it's the last day of October. I'm a little sad to see it end, because it's overall been a really lovely month. This is what's been happening lately:

I. I leaf-printed and decorated my room with leaves.

II. My younger brother and I wrote letters to Adam Young :) I don't know if he'll read them, but it was fun writing them.

III. It rained a lot. So we jumped in puddles.

IV. Something sad - I lost almost all of the pictures that I took last year, all the ones from California and the summer of traveling all over America. It's hard, they were such special photos and I wanted to keep them forever. But my dad helped me get some of back, which I'm really thankful for.

V. I (finally) learned to crochet.

VI. We went for a walk in the forest. 

VII. I decided to do the NaNoWriMo project. I actually only finally decided on it today. I'm excited to start writing, and at the same time a little nervous that it'll be a total failure...but I'm going to try my best to reach my goal of 30,000 words [update: actually, thinking more about it, I decided to do 21,000].

What's new with you?