planning for the holidays!

Last night some of us went to Kashmir for some delicious Indian food in honor of Lisa's birthday next week. I do love samosas... but I'm really looking forward to some Swedish specialities! I leave on Tuesday, and I can't wait!

and Kacie and I are planning to visit Krakow over Christmas! I'm trying to take advantage of the great exchange rates right now, so even if I can't afford the ridiculous cost of plane fare home, I can do a little bit of cheap traveling. It's of my favorite perks of living in Europe.

I've talked with a couple people about Christmas packages... and I do love getting mail (by the way, Kathy really stepped up her already stellar package sending with an awesome State Fair theme... a bunch of state fair freebies! For instance, I'm typing this while a giant mask of Greg Fishel watches me. kind of creepy.)

However, I can't really think of things I need this year, and mailing things can be pretty costly. So then I saw this list online today when I was reading some John Piper. Some of them aren't especially helpful here (and the thought of a pizza with corn and shrimp kind of disturbs me). but I particularly liked the idea of people praying specific Scriptures and then emailing them and of the video greeting! Some of you blessed with adorable children did that for me on my birthday, and it was awesome. So anyway, I pass it along to you in case you were looking for ideas :)