On Our Way To Crazy

Merry Christmas! Did you guys survive? It was close for us, I’m not gonna lie. We spent two weeks away from Nashville and we are worn plum out.

We drove down to Dallas after a Christmas party on the 17th, getting into town around 9:00am. I have to say, we are getting pretty awesome at the overnight drive. Aaron does most of the driving at night, and I usually take over when the sun’s coming up. I pack us a killer snack bag and cooler (so you can have apples and cheese at 3am if you want), load us up with trivia and pop culture podcasts and we are good to go.

We had an awesome week in Dallas, the best in a long time. We spent lots of time with my parents, eating and playing games and wrapping gifts and eating some more. It was restful and fun and just what we needed. We got to spend time with home friends, shop at the good mall and eat at all the places we don’t have in Nashville. (By the way, Nashville, let’s look into some Taco Cabana action up here.)

On Christmas Eve I drove out with my mom to visit my grandma, who served me excessively sweet tea in a Schlitz Malt Liquor glass and was convinced I’ve lived in Nashville for 30 years. Christmas morning we had cinnamon rolls and opened gifts from my way-to-generous family, including a handmade wahoo board from my dad with the biggest marbles I’ve ever seen, matching East Dillon Lions t-shirts and a stocking lottery ticket we scratched off to reveal a $500 prize. SO MUCH AWESOME. We spent the afternoon with my dad’s family, where we watched my relatives fight over bedazzled baseball caps and frozen burgers before hitting the dirty Santa jackpot: Tim McGraw cologne AND body wash. Try to contain your jealousy.

The day after Christmas we drove down to Waco to see Aaron’s family. It was completely uneventful, so we are labeling it a success. After Waco we hit Austin for a couple of days to celebrate Aaron’s brother’s engagement and birthday. It was nice to get to just hang out with his siblings doing normal stuff. And we got good time in with our niece, who would like to be called Oliver and thinks we live in a marshmallow.

We (finally) packed up and headed home yesterday. We love Texas and love our families, but 13 days is way too long. Especially when we get about four hours away from Nashville and the battery in the jeep starts to die. We drove two miles with no headlights before coasting to a stop in a Love’s truckstop parking lot. We got our hopes up when we found a mechanic right across the highway, but they fell right back down when he told us the part wouldn’t be available until noon today. So we marched across the street to the beautiful Rest Inn in Palestine, AR, and spent the night watching movies trying not to think about how much it was all costing.

In the end, though, it didn’t cost too much and we were on the road by 1:00. We made it home this afternoon, canceled our New Year’s plans and rang in the new year eating pizza and catching up on the DVR. Because we are old and classy and so, so tired.

Overall, though, it was a really great trip. We are so lucky to have parents who are so generous and fun and easy to be around. We ate well, got a ton of rest and had a blast. 2010 was a pretty hard year for us but it ended on a high note for sure. Bring it on, 2011.

It’s time for best of lists! Oh, how I love best of lists. We worked long and hard on this sucker, so listen up.

1. Tighten Up – The Black Keys (from Brothers)
This song is not only one of my favorites of the year, but it has my favorite groove of the year at about 2:30. I first heard the song on a commercial, because I am uncool, and bought the whole record because it is greatness.

2. Rococo – Arcade Fire (from The Suburbs)
I’m pretty sure this song was stuck in my head for half of 2010. (The rest of the year it was that Train song. GAH.) I love this whole album so much. It was tough to decide whether to put this song or We Used To Wait on the best of list, but this one won out in the end because it’s a great send up of the ‘modern kids’ that we all make fun of but secretly want to be.

3. Change of Time – Josh Ritter (from So Runs the World Away)
I first heard Josh Ritter when Kari put a song on a mix for me, then sent me his Historical Conquests album. His stuff is so interesting. We heard this song on an episode of Parenthood and looked it up immediately. I should have known it was Josh Ritter. This song is so pretty. I like pretty.

4. Father’s Son – Fistful of Mercy (from As I Call You Down)
Fistful of Mercy is Dhani Harrison, Ben Harper and Joseph Arthur. I love Ben Harper, I love Joseph Arthur, and George was my favorite Beatle even though Aaron seems to find that impossible to believe. It’s a win win win! This song has that down home pickin’ party vibe that I love and it makes me really happy.

5. Beg Steal or Borrow – Ray LaMontagne (from God Willin’ and the Creek Don’t Rise)
I mean. Come on. There was no way this was going to not be great. It’s Ray LaMontagne. With a band called The Pariah Dogs. On an album called God Willin’ and the Creek Don’t Rise. Perfect.

6. At or With Me – Jack Johnson (from To The Sea)
This one is all Aaron. He always surprises me with the songs he picks out. I actually found this one annoying for a long time, but then I listened to the lyrics (and saw the video with Andy Sandberg) and it started to grow on me.

7. Dog Days Are Over – Florence + the Machine (from Lungs)
OH MY HOLY PAJAMAS this girl is amazing. She’s super vibey, like a more accessible Neko Case. We are pretty removed from what is cool and didn’t see her until some friends made us watch an awards show where she performed. And, you know, blew the roof off the place.

8, Spanish Pipedream – The Avett Brothers (from Broken Hearts and Dirty Windows)
So there’s this band called the Avett Brothers. Have you heard of them? I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned them here before. This is from a John Prine tribute album. We sing it nonstop in this house.

9. All the Poor and Powerless – Sons & Daughters (from All the Poor and Powerless)
Sons & Daughters is David Leonard and Leslie Jordan. David is a friend of ours… he was the lead singer of Jackson Waters, a band Aaron worked with for a few years a while back. He is amazingly, amazingly talented, and this is his new project. It is so beautiful it hurts me, y’all. So good.

10. Couple Cheap Rings – Waterdeep (from In the Middle of It)
Waterdeep. Obviously. The Lori songs were always my favorites, and this one is no exception. I love the guitar sounds and the oh oh ohs especially.

11. Dancing in the Minefields – Andrew Peterson (from Counting Stars)
“So when I lose my way, find me / When I loose love’s chains, bind me / At the end of all my faith, till the end of all my days / When I forget my name, remind me.” Andrew Peterson and his beautiful lyrics get me every time.

12. The High Road – Broken Bells (from Broken Bells)
I tried to avoid this for a while. It suffered from what we call “Seabiscuit Syndrome” around here – too many people were telling us to like it so we stayed away on principle. But it is too catchy to ignore, y’all, and it turned into one of my very favorite things.

13. Kings and Queens – 30 Seconds to Mars (from This Is War)
It’s Jared Leto. With blue hair and eyeliner. I KNOW. I miss Jordan Catalano, too. But you can’t deny this song. It has a huge chorus and tons of people singing and a video with bikes. It rules.

14. The Mystery Zone – Spoon (from Transference)
The first thought I had about this song was how I like the bass line it has. Then I went back and listened and realized that the bass pretty much stays in once place the whole time. So I guess I like the way this song feels bass-y.

15. Crossfire – Brandon Flowers (from Flamingo)
Another Aaron pick. He loves him some Killers. That kid has a great voice.

16. Drunk Girls – LCD Soundsystem (from This Is Happening)
I heard Aaron say the other day that LCD Soundsystem is his favorite band. I don’t know if that’s totally true, but he is certainly enthusiastic about the guy. I love the line “Drunk girls are boringly wild.”

17. Murder in the City (live) – The Avett Brothers (from Live Volume 3)
The song is older, but this version was released this year so we’re counting it. You can’t beat live Avetts, you guys, and this is one of the best. Love love love.

Check out my guest post on the Men of the Cloth blog! They are doing a series called “My Story”, where youth pastors can write a little about where they come from, how they do ministry, trends they see, things like that. They let me write the very first one! Clearly they are trying to set the bar low. You should read it anyway.

Nov 1 – Ribs and brisket tacos with friends for Aaron’s birthday.
Nov 2 – We voted. None of our people won. Business as usual.
Nov 3 – Cried my freaking eyes out during Friday Night Lights.
Nov 4 – Interesting conversation in class about expectations.
Nov 5 – Fun (wine-y, crabcake-y) meeting of the Super Secret Women’s Committee before a great night of massages and beauty treatments at the women’s retreat and a staff sleepover.
Nov 6 – My team almost won the icebreaker game on retreat day two.
Nov 7 – BEAUTIFUL service at church. I cried both times.
Nov 8 – Great, honest discussion with youth parents about sex and dating.
Nov 9 – Had a super tough conversation in the morning, then saw Back to the Future at the movie theater in the evening. It helped.
Nov 10 – Coffee and crepes with a friend, chili and beer with friends. Great food and relationships day.
Nov 11 – Sickness tried to take me down but I beat it back with Gilmore Girls reruns and chai.
Nov 12 – Heard our friends play a great show in a fun little coffee shop.
Nov 13 – The kids cleaned a community center from top to bottom and then we ate pizza and watched Adventure Now.
Nov 14 – Football and naps.
Nov 15 – We had a really great responsive prayer and request time with the kids.
Nov 16 – Homemade pumpkin whoopie pies! So delicious.
Nov 17 – Dinner with old friends. Delicious enchiladas, excellent Scott Hamilton jokes.
Nov 18 – NYWC begins! Went to a seminar on sticky faith that blew my mind.
Nov 19 – Fun day with a new volunteer, David Crowder and Kara Powell.
Nov 20 – Chinese food and HARRY POTTER with Aaron.
Nov 21 – Learned about Bible storying and prayer exercises. Also, Tony Campolo. Also also, Jars of Clay. Also also also, old school youth group singalong. Grin again gang get greatly gung ho about Jesus.
Nov 22 – Great conversation about ministry with special needs kids.
Nov 23 – Lunch and Thanksgiving shopping trip with Aaron.
Nov 24 – Cleaning, pie baking, decorating, general relaxation and fun.
Nov 25 – Rock Em Sock Em table gifts, fun new friends, cheesy olive puffs, breakdancing babies.
Nov 26 – Rigged the family Christmas name draw in my favor.
Nov 27 – Dinner and a fun night with friends.
Nov 28 – Delicious lunch with some old friends who are new to our church.
Nov 29 – The youth group spent $1500 in half an hour on gift donations for the holidays. SO FUN.
Nov 30 – I managed to cram $1500 in gift donations into my car and get them delivered. SO FUN.

We’ve gone to the Behold the Lamb of God show in Nashville every year of our marriage. We were there at the Belcourt, we were there the year Sean and Sara Watkins performed, we’ve heard Pierce Pettis sing “Miriam” more times than we would care to admit. It is hands down my favorite thing we do in Nashville for the holidays.

And this year we can’t go.

We were already considering not going for financial reasons; the tickets seem really pricey this year and we are in serious budget mode. Then I realized I will already be in Texas for Christmas on that day so we definitely would not be able to swing it. Sad. I was even considering driving the hour and a half to Corsicana, TX, by myself just to make sure I get to see the show.

And then the heavens opened up and grace rained down.

Andrew Peterson retweeted this guy at about 5:00 this afternoon. I have never been so happy at 5:00 on a Wednesday afternoon, I am pretty darn sure.

Aaron and I booked it over to the church and found great seats. And, oh, it was wonderful. That show and those songs have become such a calming thing in my life. As we sat there in that dark sanctuary I could literally feel the stress falling off of me. Gabe Scott and his dulcimer, Ben Shive and his accordion, funky percussion and a gorgeous cello and so. many. guitars. I cried at all my usual moments: when they played the instrumental O Come Emmanuel, at the line “behold our broken hearts”, during the big “sooooo sing out with joy for the brave little boy” moment in the reprise, when the crowd sings the Doxology at the end.

It’s just all so beautiful and thoughtful and moving. It hurts me, it’s so good.

I know I talk about how much I love Nashville a lot. Maybe too much. But, you guys, I really love Nashville. Sometimes I think this city was tailor made for me. We’ve had a pretty tough go of it this year. I’d kind of written it off, thinking I could just hide out in Texas for the last couple of weeks and get a fresh start in January. But something in the show tonight gave me hope. Hope for the Christmas season this year. Hope that all the weird stuff that’s gone down this year will be redeemed.

I’m thankful to live in a place where there are free dress rehearsals of albums I love by artists I love full of songs that are so meaningful to me that I can attend on a moment’s notice. So thanks, Andrew Peterson. Thanks, Christ Community. And thanks, Nashville.