Chronicles of Narnia

I first read The Chronicles of Narnia when I was given all 7 books as a present by my parents in elementary school. I re-read them in high school, college, and a young adult. I've listened to the books on tape in the car with my kids and listened while my husband has read 6 of the books to my 5 year old. To say that these are some of my all-time favorite books would not be exaggerating at all.

So, I head off to the opening night of the new Chronicles of Narnia movie with some trepidation. Was there really any chance that the moviemakers could get the movie right? As with most well-loved books, they didn't. They did a lot of things extremely well but did miss the mark on some big things as well. They added some scenes to the movie that weren't in the book which to any true bibliophile is wrong, wrong, wrong. Although well-casted, they got the characters of Peter, Susan, and Edmund wrong (the character of Lucy, though, was just so perfect that it almost made up for this). They focused a lot of energy on the battle scene and war theme in general and short-changed the redemption of Edmund.

Probably the biggest short-coming of the movie was the fact that as far as I know, none of the actors in this film are professing Christians. There were some Christians involved in bringing this great book to screen, but the people doing the acting - no. You could almost sense that they just didn't quite understand what C.S. Lewis was trying to do in his book. Aslan is a great leader with deep magic, but that magic can be whatever you want it to be. I thought they had taken one of the best lines of the book out of movie (i.e. "Is he a tame lion? No! Not at all - but he is good), but they did manage to squeeze it in at the end with a different character uttering that great quote.

Would I recommend this movie? Absolutely. It's filmed extremely well, acted extremely well, and didn't mess up the core story of the book. Best of all, despite anyone's beliefs who worked on this movie, the light of the Lord can not be hidden and still shines through loud and clear. The message of the deep magic is there for anyone who wants to find it.

Gutenberg

My son had been asking us for a Bible - a real Bible and not a story Bible. He seemed very serious about the request so we got him one. He has been so excited to have his very own Bible.

Two days ago, my son asked me for a notebook and pencil to take into his room for his quiet time. He took his new Bible in with him as well. After close to an hour, he came out and handed me the notebook. It had letters on it, and I at first assumed that he was just practicing his letters. Since he kept staring at me with a big smile on his face, I took another look and noticed that there were actual words on the paper. They scrolled haphazardly from line to line, but they were words. It read, "in the beginning, God created the heavens and the." My son then announced that he was writing the entire Bible for his two year old sister so that she could have her own copy. He wants it to be a surprise for when she turns 5.

At the rate he's going, our little Gutenberg will need the 3 years to finish.

Christmas Lights

Since my kids are now 5 and 2, the oldest is finally old enough to get truly excited for Christmas. Decorating the house this year for Christmas has been so much fun. They both loved helping and especially enjoy re-arranging the nativity set to reflect whatever storyline they have going on in the stable that day. They also usually have our Christmas lights on for the neighborhood to enjoy by 7:30am.

As we drive through different neighborhoods at night, my kids are always completely thrilled by the Christmas decorations. They are particularly drawn to any Griswald Family Christmas type homes. They truly love the houses that are completely covered in lights, with the lit up candy canes, reindeer, trees, and santa sleighs all cluttering the front yards. I usually make some comment to my husband about how I don't think those types of items would fit in with my candles in the window and greens on the window sill motif that I like to use to decorate my home.

But, as I watch how excited my kids get as we drive through the neighborhood, I do have to suppress my Grinch like attitude when it comes to decorating and give a big shout out to all my neighbors in the Pittsburgh area who go all out in decorating at Christmas. My kids love it, we appreciate it, and we hope you all continue to decorate as you do for years to come.