"You are my [sister]."

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JENNIE!!

So I went on a quest to find a picture of myself and Jennie for this special-edition birthday post, and you know what? It was harder than it should have been. I think the last picture that was taken of the both of us was this one (Daddy's 50th birthday celebration/meeting Sarah in Oregon, last JUNE):

And we're not even sitting next to each other! Jennie, we need to rectify this situation. You and me, picture time, May 22, 2011. Be there, or be well, absent. But you'll be there! Yes, I see this working.

Well I thought I'd include a more recent (and absolutely wonderful) picture of Jennie with her family that I sleuth-fully downloaded from Facebook.

Now aren't they a good-looking family? The answer is yes. Decidedly so. Unequivocally so. And no, I'm not biased at all.

Anyway, happy happy birthday to my wonderful oldest sister! There's no one like you in the world (or my life) and I'm so grateful to have your friendship. I hope your day is special and full of smiles and laughs and the fun of birthday magic!

I love you, Jennie!

St. Patrick's day, you make me smile!

So for whatever reason...well I know the reason(s), but they're not relevant to this here post...I've been in a little funk lately. Just a couple of days, really. Or an hour here, a couple hours there. It's hard because usually (gratefully) I'm a pretty happy, hopeful person. But anywhy (if we can say anywho, and anyhow, and anywhere, and anyway, why not anywhy?) there's a certain holiday coming up here in one week that never fails to make me smile and put me in good spirits. It's like magic! Green, St. Patty's day, leprechaun, pot o' gold magic!

You may have thought at some point while you've known me, "Wow, Jamie likes St. Patrick's day." or "She sure has a good time on St. Patrick's day!" But I can assure you, it's so much more! It's not just the day (though the day is great and the greens are grand), I actually start getting excited and prepared for St. Patrick's day well in advance. It's like when we were little and would get so excited for the first day of school that we'd set out our new outfit the night before (or even sleep in our new clothes, yes I think I did that). Well, here it is a week before the big day and I just couldn't wait! So a little preview for your blog-following enjoyment:

Seven days, my friends. :)

Can you take the anticipation?! Don't forget to wear green and make the most of this wonderful, beautiful day! March 17. Mark your calendars. It's coming up and they'll be here soon, (the leprechauns). We best get ready!

A dream come true in Maryland!

It all started with a mental image. Several weeks ago I had this vague glimpse of hanging out with Heather and William over dinner in their apartment, it may even have been a dream. The only problem with this happy hypothetical thought was that Heather and William live over two thousand miles away! Oh and there's that little detail of me being currently enrolled in a PhD program.

All I can say is, yay for airplanes and Presidents' day weekend. :)

I LOVED my first trip to our Nation's Capitol. There is a special spirit out there! I'm excited to tour more sites but equally pleased with what I was able to see in the short time I was there.

Thanks Heather and William for inviting me into your home and family for a fun-filled few days! It was a great weekend; everything I had hoped and well worth the trip. You sure know how to show a girl a good time!

I love vacations.

Why the discomfort when it comes to admitting your age?

So I've observed a fairly common trend on Facebook: people listing their birthday minus the year they were born. Posting it May 22 (for example) rather than May 22, 1986. Why is that, do you think? I guess I find it slightly ironic because usually (maybe it's just me) but often the first thing people want to know when it's your birthday is "How old are you?" You know, what birthday is it that you're celebrating? Your 5th? 15th? 50th? (I'm not sure why the fives, but I'm turning 25 this year, maybe that has something to do with it.)

Anyway, I was noticing that I'm one of only two in my cohort that post the full birthday (including year), and was curious to see if this was representative of a larger population. So I started to look up some of my family and friends. That's right! YOU. You want to know what I found? Well I guess you can look for yourself on Facebook; I found it quite interesting. Maybe I should be more sensitive to people's insecurities about their age. Or maybe they didn't even give it a second thought; just preferred to be a little mysterious. What do you think? Those who post the year, why don't you mind? Those who keep that information private (not to name names, you know who you are--March 11 and November 6, etc.) was it a deliberative choice? Are you trying to keep that information (listing the year would give people all the information they need to figure out your current age, after all) out of public view?

Don't misunderstand. I love you all whether you list your birth year or not (though I admit, I'd silently think to myself "Good for you." and smile when I saw people who listed the full date). Not sure why, I just like birthdays. Always have. It's fun to celebrate life and turn the spotlight on particular people on particular days and say "I'm so glad you were born." Granted, I guess you can do that without knowing specifically what year the person was born (and thus how old they are). Perhaps I'm more the exception than the rule both in feeling fine with sharing my birth year and in wanting to know how old other people are turning on their birthdays. Either way, I'm curious to hear what you think. So comment, people. It would serve dual purposes: clarify the thought-processes driving this intriguing social media phenomenon AND encourage me to keep posting on this blog because there actually are people out there who visit me here:).

A Hansen Family Christmas Story

Now that I've let a few weeks lapse before sharing our Christmas stories, I'll just have to hit some of the highlights. On Christmas Eve morning, we all went and saw Tangled (which I highly recommend; I laughed, I may even have teared up a bit). I love to see that Disney is returning to their winning musical ways. :)

The fun continued with a sibling photo-shoot in the afternoon. We had realized that with no adorable babies and children around, we hadn't even taken out a camera, so we tried to rectify the situation:

Our photo-shoot even included an exotic, outside location! Our lovely backyard and trampoline made a nice backdrop:

It took a few tries but we got some good ones!

Christmas Eve was great as usual with some of the now traditional favorite festivities of watching Meet Me in St. Louis, opening our new pajamas, and having an egg nog toast before bed.

Christmas day was awesome as well. Grandma and Grandpa Larson flew in for the occasion and we had fun opening presents and spending time together. I think this year was probably a record as far as drawing out the Christmas morning anticipation. It was 1 or 1:30pm by the time we started opening presents! It was truly a great day. And Natalie and I were completely floored by a pretty exciting surprise gift. We each got an iPod touch!

The rest of the break flew by all too quickly but we did lots of fun things: played games, watched movies (ate genuine movie popcorn and other wonderful food), rung in the New Year with a Martinelli's toast, and even went bowling. Such a relaxing and rejuvenating time. I enjoyed myself immensely. (To see more pictorial evidence of said enjoyment see http://picasaweb.google.com/hansenj22/Christmas2010).

Now it's back to school and back to work! Happy 2011, everyone! (A little late, I know; but hey, there is much left of 2011 and much to be happy about, so I think it's merited, yeah?)

Connecting Christ to Christmas

I hope this won't sound overly preachy or contain too much "psychobabble" for everyone's liking, but I have some things I've been thinking about that I would like to share. First, I loved this Christmas. It was extremely meaningful for me to be home with family and just felt extra special somehow (especially in light of a couple of experiences that I'd be more than happy to share on an individual basis). Anywhohow, I was left with a question that somewhat unsettled me but more so simply got me thinking in the good "search, ponder, and pray" way. Was Christ all that connected to Christmas in my mind and in the way I celebrated the holiday?

On Sunday, I posed a similar question to Natalie and Michael C. "What is the true meaning of Christmas?" I asked. I admitted that I'd really been thinking about it and wondering because I had this terrific day (and holiday season more generally) but how much did I actually sit and ponder the birth of Christ during the festivities and traditions of the holiday? How did all this "Santa" stuff come to be so prominent? I was actually starting to feel somewhat guilty because I really liked all the "Santa" stuff--the presents, the stockings (or in our family's case, the gift bags:)), the tree, the tinsel, the decorations, etc.--and hence began a mini-exercise in self-reflection, something I have come to do fairly often, but I think that's a good thing.

I suppose I should get to the point before this post turns into one of those long emails we all know I'm prone to produce:). And here comes the danger of turning preachy or psychobabble-y, -ish? -esque? So I'll try to keep it short and to the point. In reflecting, I remembered the quiet moments when I had been thinking of the Savior (expressing gratitude for Him in prayer, reading the nativity story with Natalie and Michael on Christmas Eve, going to church with Paula and Brian for their ward's Christmas program , etc.). In addition though, I also thought of why I liked all the "Santa" stuff so much and it quickly became obvious that it's because of my family. All the traditions and the exchanging of gifts--it's a tangible expression of the love of/for/with/through my family. And my family is a web of experiences and relationships that completely defines me. I have some psychological support, but more importantly I've gained spiritual evidence that relationships are absolutely fundamental, or in the language of philosophy, "ontological." In other words, our lives and progress can only be understood in the context of relationships. It's who we are, it's where we came from, it's where we're going. It's what we do:). It's what God does too, as a matter of fact.

With this in mind, Christ was, is and will always be intimately connected to Christmas for me. Not only is it through Him that families can be forever; not only is it in our relationship with Him that we find the greatest happiness and ultimately salvation and exaltation; but it is in celebrating His birth that we can be reminded of what is most important. It is in commemorating His birth that we experience in a beautifully real and poignant way, the love of Christ, the Spirit of Christ. For "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith" (Gal 5:22). I could literally list people and experiences of this Christmas season that have brought every single one of those fruits into my life in wonderfully meaningful ways. "For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth" (Eph 5:9). Is Christ connected to Christmas? Surely if His Spirit is so readily manifest in what we do and feel, Christ is here.

I'm thankful for the blessings of this wonderful season; for family, for friends, for the Savior of the world who makes it all possible and gives everything purpose and meaning. Every good thing I have in my life, every happiness, every blessing is because of Him. God is real; He's alive and well and working in our lives. He's certainly made His presence known in my life for which I will be eternally grateful. I love you all! Merry Christmas! I'm excited to see what new adventures 2011 will bring!

A Happy Merry Thanksgiving-Christmas!

I cannot say enough how much I absolutely love my family. It is so refreshing to be able to go home to Colorado and spend time together with everyone there! This year was our turn to have everyone home for Thanksgiving and when that happens, we get to have a Christmas celebration as well. There are too many words I could/would say, so I'll let some of the pictures do the talking. :)