Joyeux Noël

Merry Christmas! It's been a great couple of days spent with plentiful amounts of food, games, movies, and most importantly: laughter. With everyone at home, everything becomes quite the ruckus.

Perhaps my favorite part of the Christmas is the music. There are some pretty fantastic carols out there, but I thought I'd share the lyrics of two of my favorites:

Carol #1: In the Bleak Midwinter

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

Carol #2: Jesus Christ the Apple Tree

Jesus Christ the Apple Tree
The tree of life my soul hath seen
Laden with fruit and always green
The tree of life my soul hath seen
Laden with fruit and always green
The trees of nature fruitless be
Compared with Christ the applle tree

His beauty doth all things excel
By faith I know but ne'er can tell
His beauty doth all things excel
By faith I know but ne'er can tell
The glory which I now can see
In Jesus Christ the apple tree.

For happiness I long have sought
And pleasure dearly I have bought
For happiness I long have sought
And pleasure dearly I have bought
I missed of all but now I see
'Tis found in Christ the apple tree.

I'm weary with my former toil
Here I will sit and rest a while
I'm weary with my former toil
Here I will sit and rest a while
Under the shadow I will be
Of Jesus Christ the apple tree.

This fruit does make my soul to thrive
It keeps my dying faith alive
This fruit does make my soul to thrive
It keeps my dying faith alive
Which makes my soul in haste to be
With Jesus Christ the apple tree.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

If you'd like an excellent performance of numerous carols, look here. I would argue it's one of the best.

proof...

that i won an intramural t-shirt. and that i actually put on our uniform of pink tye dye.

blech... pink.

champions!

victory dance.

i hope...

they call me to somewhere other than boise, idaho. actually, that's not exactly true. i promised myself i wouldn't go on a mission until i didn't care where i got called. obviously, i think some places are preferable to others (coughmadagascarfrenchspeakingcough) but if boise, idaho it is, boise, idaho i will go. oh yeah, i've started my mission papers. i'll turn them in sometime in february and i've put my availability as the middle of may sometime. to say i'm excited it a gross understatement.

honestly... i kind of just want to go somewhere where i can wear these:

redemption.

i am happy to report that the flag football team i was on won the coveted byu intramurals t-shirt on saturday. our team, the princesses (i assure you, i had NOTHING to do with that name. or our pink tye dye uniforms) won our division and finally got hold of that dang shirt, the shirt we should have won last year if we wouldn't have gotten screwed over by the referees. don't worry. not bitter. but redemption is a beautiful thing.