A nice description of what Campus Chapel in Ann Arbor, MI is doing with Advent appears here. So often, we do Christmas in reverse – we don’t acknowledge our need for the world to be renewed by a divine interruption (both then and now).

From Campus Chapel’s site:

Why Lament in Advent?
In order for us to anticipate with longing the coming of Christ, we must recognize why it is we need him to come. That is what laments are– opportunities for us to speak honestly of our need for a Savior. As long as we pretend everything is just fine we will never appreciate why, for instance, hosts of angels burst into song at his birth.

I love the entire-service-framework approach to their Advent Celebration. Stop on over and read for yourselves.

On our way across Nebraska, we stopped at Krista’s grandparents for a few days. We counted no less than 12 nativity sets on the main floor! The sets range in diversity from Eskimo to Native American to Precious Moments to Blue Man Group (see for yourself with the link below).

A camera phone, Flickr, and a slow afternoon; you can see them all with commentary here.

Via Seth Godin’s blog…

I enjoy listening to short podcasts (and long ones too) and one of my favorites is The Writer’s Almanac. A few weeks ago Keillor read a poem that (I think) describes the old me (some would say the current me). You can find it here.

They look so happy, don’t they?

After ordering one stand-alone DSL line and getting confirmations for two DSL lines, I spent 40 minutes on the phone with 5 different people (including one who was so quiet I thought I was listening to someone doing an imitation of me on the phone). The next to last person sent me all the way back to the first number I dialed! In the end, it worked out, but not without much frustration – and I can’t afford to lose any more hair.

This week’s This American Life eerily prefigured my experience; check out Act 2.