The Joy of Christmas.

This season has been so nuts and crazy. I had not worked in retail during the Christmas season for a long time. I forgot how crazy it can truly get. The past several weeks of working at the bookstore, I found myself behind the register without a moment of breathe between customers. Just when it seems that the line has finally reached an end, I would glance up to see that a new line had formed and stretched beyond the scope of my eyesight. I also forgot how the sales world commercializes the Christmas season so much and how attitudes and temperaments can exceed the rudeness scale like no other time in the year. I am so glad that this time has finally passed.

But the past five days is what Christmas is all about; well, at least for me. Love was always at the center of Christmas. A love that started at the beginning of time with God and then expanded to family. I heard love in an excited, small voice in a little boy that captured my heart from the moment I held him in my arms. For the past few days, I heard words such as this"

"I love you Auntie Kara."
"I am so glad that I came."
"Where's Auntie Kara?"
"She's Auntie Kara!"
"Auntie Kara, play with me."
"I told them that you are beautiful!"

I spent this Christmas with those I love the most, my parents, my grandmother, my brother, my sister-in-law and my nephew. Having them here was all that matter. It was hectic, it was crazy. I had to sleep on the couch with the cats walking over me at midnight or later, but I would not trade any moment for any amount of money or for the all the gifts in the world.

One moment that I will cherish since it is quite a new memory is hearing my brother request prayer so that our family would not lose sight that Christmas is about Jesus Christ than the presents we received. He lead our family in prayer right after we opened our presents. Another amazing gift that cannot be bought. This was a good Christmas.

Alvin and the Chipmunks

For all those of us who grew up watching the cartoon will like this movie. It captures all that we remember from those cartoons with the remake of the original songs that they all sang. A good family movie with no profanity, no sexuality, no violence. I laughed at a few moments, had my memory jogged at a childhood memory. My nephew had so much fun and the whole theater rang with the sound of his laughter. It is a good movie to watch if you want a fun, good-feeling movie.

The second step.

I did it. The main reason why I came out here. I finished my application to Fuller tonight and hit the send button. Now it is wrapping up the final pieces. Getting the transcripts from Evangel, the four references which they have an email version and the graduate exam. I need to take either the Graduate Record Exam or the Miller Analogy Test. I had planned to take the GRE so I could consider a doctorate degree but after much research, the closest place was San Francisco or San Jose, nearly two hours away and it is not an area I know very well. Plus the timing was cutting it short before the deadline. So since the MAT test is offered at California State University, Stanislaus, a mere twenty minutes away, I switch my game plan.

But the MAT test. One hundred analogies filled with words that I do not know the meaning. But I can do it. I just have to study. Hopefully I will get it done.

So the second step has been taken. The application is on its way. A few more bases to cover and it will be done. Now, the rest is up to God.

I am really excited and nervous about this all at once!