It's Christmas Time In The City!

I spent my Thanksgiving weekend in Washington D.C. with my family! Honestly, I'm not always the biggest fan of the East Coast due to weather and having to adjust to a completely different culture, but I do love spending at least some part of the holidays there! Thanksgiving was wonderful as always. It's my favorite holiday, but I've already blogged about that, so I'll just stick to saying that I love Thanksgiving so much! One of the best parts of this Thanksgiving break was welcoming the Christmas season. Honestly, I am a Grinch until midnight on Thanksgiving. I want to give Thanksgiving its due and therefore refuse to listen to any Christmas music, watch any Christmas movies, or decorate in the Christmas style until after Thanksgiving. To me, this makes the holiday season extra special and I was so excited to start the holidays off, East Coast style!

My Kind Of Town, Chicago Is

I've been to most of the major cities in America-Washington D.C., New York City, Los Angeles, Atlanta, etc. The one city I had yet to visit, though, was Chicago, until last week! I went to visit my little sister, Amanda, who goes to college in Wheaton-a suburb of Chicago. I got my first real taste of fall, something I haven't experienced in several years while living in San Diego. The city of Chicago is lovely, and I'm so glad I finally got to visit!

You can't really see it, but we're standing in front of the Bean!

Rainforest Cafe!

Wheaton College-Amanda's Alma Mater.

Autumn Leaves!

Ordering Chicago deep dish pizza.

Live In The Sunshine

To Infinity... And Beyond!

"We Were Bleeding As We Bowed To Kneel"

I've been on a huge Brooke Fraser kick recently. All of her songs are wonderful, but this is the song I keep coming back to. I'm not really sure why, as the song itself speaks of a dry, desolate season, a season I'm not really walking through yet. But the imagery that she uses is lovely in a desperate sort of way. This song speaks for itself, so I'll include the lyrics, then let the song do the rest.

It was the year

The crows and the locusts came
The fields drained dry the rain
The fields are bleeding
"Daddy don't cry, it'll be alright"
She puts some water on the wound
And hums a little tune
While her courage puddles on the ground
Pooling, pooling
See the murder and the swarm descend
And the night is getting thick
The moon telling her tricks
She'd betray her every time
It was the year
The crows and the locusts came
The fields drained dry the rain
The fields are bleeding
It was the age
The foxes came for the fields
We were bleeding as we bowed to kneel
And prayed for mercy, prayed for mercy
The rumble is low and the heat is high
Got a feeling that there's rain out in the oil black sky
Gonna chase away the devil when that sun does rise
Gonna plead the blood
Gonna plead the blood
It was the year
The crows and the locusts came
The fields drained dry the rain
The fields are bleeding
It was the age
The foxes came for the fields
We were bleeding as we bowed to kneel
And prayed for mercy, prayed for mercy
She limps on up to the top of a mount
Looks at the faltered harvest
Feels her sweat in the ground and the burn in her nose
And the knowing in her guts
Something's still gonna grow
She ain't leaving 'till it does.
What can wash away my sin
Nothing but the blood...
What can make me whole again
Nothing but the blood...