movies

Christmas Dinner

| Laura Lee Bonde

I’m not sure when it started, but somewhere along the line, we started a tradition of having ham on Christmas day, and as Kyle and I were shopping for Thanksgiving, he mentioned our Christmas ham, so I knew what I’d be cooking on Christmas.

Although money’s been tight, I knew we’d have our ham because Scott would be with us, and he always takes me grocery shopping. Well, this time, I asked him if we could have steaks one night because I never have the money to buy them.Of course, he said yes, so I was able to get steaks and many more things from the store.

Our plan was to have the ham on Christmas and the steaks another night, but God had different plans for us. It turned out, we had our ham Christmas afternoon and the steaks Christmas evening.

As I was cooking the baked potatoes, Scott was getting the grill ready, so I snapped a picture of the steaks. I hadn’t remembered the last time we had them and wasn’t sure when we’d have them again, so I wanted to grab a memory.IMG_1141

While we were all sitting down eating, it dawned on me: we’d almost lived here four years and had never eaten steaks in our home. So, our first time of eating home-cooked steaks was on Christmas. What a good memory to make!

We’ve had so many good times the last couple of weeks, even though we’ve taken turns being sick. We’ve laughed over games, watched movies and football together, hugged, exchanged “I love you”‘s, and just enjoyed the moments.

And as usual, we forgot to take pictures, but sometimes, the pictures in the heart are clearer than the pictures on the screen.

(At least, I got a picture of those beautiful steaks!)

 

God in “Movies”

| Laura Lee Bonde

Dreams: most of them good; some of them bad
Visions: not everyone has them; not everyone believes in them

Even as I start to write, it feels odd because it’s about someone else, whom I haven’t asked permission from to write about, so I’ll leave the name out and make the gender general. I’m not too familiar with the timeline, but that’s not the “meat” of what this is about. As you read, you’ll find out what I mean. Continue reading →

Laugh Out Loud

| Laura Lee Bonde

Tonight, I went to the movie theater with Carolyn because I had two free tickets to use. We went to see “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay.” The previews were hilarious…a little too funny.

If you know me, I have a rather loud laugh. Well, unannounced, it comes out of my mouth, and there were a lot of funny scenes in these previews, so I was laughing a lot. There are times where I’ve learned to hold it back, but a movie theater isn’t one of those times I feel it’s needed, so if something’s found funny to me, I laugh. It’s just the way it works.

There was a scene that was SO funny that this loud laugh came out of me…uncontrollable, and these two women sitting one row below us and about four seats over leaned way forward, gave me the dirtiest looks, and said, “Are you serious?!!” They were SO rude about it and made us feel so uncomfortable that my daughter and I got up to leave. There was no way I could sit there and not laugh, and I certainly didn’t want to get into a fight, so we left.

I went to the front, explained the situation, and asked for two free tickets for another time. With no questions asked, they gave them to me. As we walked outside, I began to cry because…well, just because, but then, I pictured the scene on the movie screen that had made me laugh, and I started busting up, laughing. Carolyn was so confused. She didn’t know what was going on.

When I could speak through the laughter, I told her, “All I keep picturing is that scene with the gun,” and she started laughing hysterically. The beautiful part of all this is that, before the movie, Carolyn had been grumpy, yet because of all this, we ended up laughing all the way home. We bonded so closely. We still want to see that movie. We just want the freedom to laugh during it. I love God, and I love the laugh He gave me, and I pray those ladies learn to love laughter someday.