Crazy Calhoun Traditions (and other randomness...)

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of activities: Christmas parties, shopping, friends, traditions, sickness, and so much more. It has, for the most part, been super fun. 

I've been able to hang out with some friends over this break. I went to Brighton for an afternoon to meet up with Lauren Williams. It was super fantastic to just catch up with her and it felt like we picked up where we left off. 

I also went to Battle Creek for a few days to hang out with my "Olanbuddies" (named after our mostly-mutual appreciation of Olan Rogers videos). We got to see the Hobbit in IMAX (not really a great IMAX movie but it was fun to see it with friends) and just get a chance to hang out before break is over.

My mom counted and we ended up having six Christmas parties. Between grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts and uncles, youth group, and CLCC it was quite a Christmasy time! 

Needless to say it has been pretty busy around here. I listened to a bunch of Christmas music over the past month and one of my favorites is Amy Grant's 'I Need a Silent Night'. It talks about the craziness of the season and how sometimes you just "need a silent night.... a midnight clear, a little peace right here to end this crazy day with a silent night". There were several times during these past few weeks where I sang those lyrics to myself and wondered if silent nights still exist. For some reason, the "normal" Christmas feelings I typically get never came. It all felt kinda surreal and different. I kept remembering how things were in years past and wondering why its different now. It was still great but it just felt so strange. 

We did get to continue some of our crazy Calhoun traditions though... with new twists of course! When there is snow on Christmas we try to go sledding in the morning before we do anything else. This year there was enough!!! Well, close enough anyways. We made it work. Last year, when we didn't have snow, we went caroling to a few friends in our area and caught them opening gifts. It was so fun that we decided to do it again this year and add some people to our route. It was such a blast! Years form now I probably won't remember what I got for Christmas but I will remember sledding and caroling for sure!

This past week FLEW by and I was kind of caught off guard by the fact that 2012 was coming to an end already. Once again I had tons of memories come to me as I remembered being little and going to varies peoples homes for New Years Eve. Such good times! This year we celebrated a "Southern Georgian Island new year" for the second time. The Southern Georgian Islands are the only mass of land that are 3 hours ahead of us so since we have little kids we celebrate with inhabitants of the islands. Of course, since there are no inhabitants of the islands (except for seals and penguins) all the traditions we come up with cannot be disputed. So we celebrate by eating frozen grapes and barking like a seal at midnight (which was actually 9). Aunt Jadi, Colette, and a majority of the Olanbuddies: Hannah, Brad, and Cody came to celebrate with us while the Pattersons joined us via Skype.
Then Colette, Cody, Ben, and I ran around the house as the clock struck midnight (Michigan time) instead of watching the ball drop.

It was fun to just chill, watch some football, and relax today. Despite how much I have enjoyed all the crazy running around I've been doing the past few weeks it has been nice to just chill at home for a few days here. Take time to catch my breath and enjoy the little things again. I need to stop and do that more often! As much as things have changed over the years, as much as people, traditions, and memories will continue to change, my God will never change!!! I take so much peace and rest in knowing that He remains the same yesterday, today, and forever!

Happy New Year everyone!