Preparing for the Journey

It's almost time to go! 4 days and counting! I feel like our house is so discombobulated right now. We finally got the Christmas decorations set out so that we can have a "Christmasy" home to come home to. I think that this has been one of the busiest weeks of my life getting ready for this trip- coming home from Thanksgiving, only to set out another suitcase (which our dog is not liking at all!), I have been working on getting everything in order for the next few weeks of church stuff, going to meetings, and getting ready to sing in the Farrington Grove Christmas choral concert this Friday night, the World AIDS Day event at Maple Ave, and I'm also singing for a read through of a new Robin Hood play tonight, which has been an adventure, having only gotten the music on Monday. We also spent a lot of time yesterday running last minute errands to get ready to leave the country. I don't think I could squeeze anymore into my schedule (or into my suitcase!)

And I'm sure that my fellow travelers are feeling the business of the holiday season while getting ready for this trip. Corey and I wondered if this would be a good time to travel there or not, but we chose the December trip for several reasons. One was that this trip was the cheapest price, which let's be honest, we all appreciate. Second was that the weather is supposed to be perfect right now- sunny, 60s, not too hot and not too cold. Perfect! Let's all cross our fingers and say a little prayer that this will hold true. Third, we thought it would be really neat to experience the Holy Land during the Advent season. Yes, we will probably be thinking about all of the preparations for when we come back to the USA, but I hope that we will take the time to realize that when we see the Shepherds' Field or we visit the Church of the Nativity, that this is THE time to be in the Holy Land when we are most aware of the miracle of the Christmas story. I hope it will make us all realize that we really do need to take it all in and slow down. Maybe this year our Christmas won't be remembered for all of the hard work we did prepping the house for guests or for getting that special recipe ready- it will be about the time we spend in the Holy Land, in the heart of where it all actually happened.

So, stay tuned, my friends!

-Jill