Around the Web:

#sundaysaremyfavorite

Christine is tackling a challenge to post daily at Homemade In China this year. I’m grateful. She has a way of bringing together images and words into gossamer threads that shine in the light. One of her posts this week made me catch my breath.

• I need Sunday like it’s my job. I need a soul dunking. I need a spirit cleanse. I need a day at the spa of I-Will-Make-All-Things-New. I need reminding, refreshing, rebuilding, restoring. 

It’s a simple little idea, but a powerful one. New Year, a new page, every week. Read more.

Rethinking What Makes a Home

Rachel Martin writes at Finding Joy about the realization that a home is not about the stuff. It’s a realization many of us have had before, but a good reminder nonetheless.

• I learned from my beautiful Haitian friends that at the end of the day it is community and realness that matters most.I learned to not apologize for not having things perfect, but to simply try.

  I learned to smile and be grateful.

  I learned that love, friendship, and camaraderie matter more in a kitchen then every single gadget.

  I learned gratitude.

  That’s really what makes the home.

  Not stuff.

Read more.

Holy Relics: A Christmas Eve Candle

Just this week Orthodox Christians around the globe celebrated Christmas, so I feel like I’m allowed to look back at the season still—particularly when something this good gets posted. Martyn Wendell Jones writes at Christ and Pop Culture about one of the familiar sights of the Christmas season.

•  the congregation spreads out to the rim of the sanctuary, candles in hand, and the lights go out. In the local glow of reading lamps affixed to music stands, hundreds of eyes look on as the pastor struggles with the trigger for a lighter with a coiled neck.Having lit his own candle, he turns to those of his wife and kids, and the flame migrates out from there. Eventually the sanctuary is ringed in flickering light. The visual effect is downright monastic. “O come, O come, Emmanuel”—we’ve illuminated the landing strip for You, Lord, if You want to put it down right here.

Read more.

New Year Mercies

Our friend Sarah Clarkson writes at Thoroughly Alive of the fresh possibilities that come with a New Year.

• Don’t you love that God made the rhythms of our world in such a way that we are daily aware of renewal? The sun sinks down, but it rises again. The darkness grows, but so do the stars. Summer dies in the bonfire of autumn only to grow again in the verdant luxuriance of spring. The light fades through all the winter months only to burgeon with the waning of winter, stronger and stronger, like a child coming into the full golden stature of ripe and vibrant age in which all dreams may be dared, all loves kept alive.

Read more.

Around the Warren:

The Bones of Good Things

S. D. Smith begins the New Year with resolution.

• Everyone is talking about productivity, about what good things we’re going to start to do, or do more of, and what bad things we’re going to stop doing, or do less. That’s fine. Good. But I’ve found that the path to getting worthwhile things done is littered with the bones of Good Things.

Read more.

“Art is frozen music.”

A Nigerian Proverb, set to art by Paul Boekell.

The Bard and the Lambs

Liz Cottrill writes of introducing our children to the things we loved as children. Particularly, she found a way to introduce her son to Shakespeare through the work of Charles and Mary Lamb, Tales From Shakespeare.

•  I approached my re- [lamb shake] investigation through the pages of Tales From Shakespeareby Charles and Mary Lamb. These beautifully written retellings of 20 of William Shakespeare’s comedies and tragedies were just the ticket. This brother-sister team masterfully presented the essence of each as a polished gem, flavored with the savory original phrasing of the plays. Vital characters in each tale jumped to life. The intrigue and twists of the plot caught us up and carried us along till their satisfying and dramatic conclusions. Naturally, it was Hamlet I chose for our first full-length selection after we had made it through Lambs’. I was a little nervous that my 10-year-old son would balk, but he was undaunted. 

Read more.

Trixie and the Goose

Something to Do with Your Kids:

It might be time to break out the fruit and vegetables and start printing. (Not words you hear every day, huh?) But this project looks like tons of fun!

And Something to Watch

I learned two things from this video: 1) Great cats like to try to eat small children. 2) Kids and animals both like to play, and that generally results in hilarity.

Thank you for reading. We’re on your side.