in the in-between

before Christmas i prep the house, clean it all up, and get it ready to set out decorations.
after Christmas, i don't mind taking down all the decorations or putting the regular home stuff back in its place, but i hate the in-between.

when decorations are littering the living room and surrounding areas, wrapping is still out, unpacking has not been done yet, and everything seems half done, i've found it hard to be joyful. we get home from traveling and i'm in a tizzy till all this house stuff gets taken care of. --almost as if the expectations i have of the entire upcoming year must be figured out and carried out in the first few days.

but i was talking with the hubs before we came home and i let him know that i am aware this is my pattern. -the discontentedness until everything is in its place. ain't that the way of it? me feigning control.

so this year i tried to gear up for the in-between. -when everything's up in the air and the kids are wired and out of sorts. i wanted to come home and not feel this immediate weight of get it all done NOW. and i have to admit that it's been hard. i want to hurry up so it can all feel settled. and that's silly. life is never really settled. there's always something up in the air. something left undone. something you wish you'd gotten to. so the conviction comes in when i realize that God settles my soul, not a clean house. God gives me peace, not having everything in its place.

so i'm taking it one step at a time. cleaning a room, putting something away, unpacking a bag. and i will keep plugging away at it because life just has these tasks that need to be done. and i can do it more joyfully when i remember that it is not the "done" list that satisfies. it's knowing i've lived the day for Him, and even on the days when i don't do it well, His grace is enough.

may we be satisfied in Him and learn to love Him more deeply, more dearly in this upcoming year.

our holiday and my awesome book title

after you see all these iphone pics on this post, you're gonna be like, "holy cow, maggie may, you are a photo wizard.  you went from no pics to like 50. your inconsistency enthralls me." 

you are welcome.

i've been away for far too long and it makes me sad. above is a photo of a beautiful blooming plant my mom grows. it's spelled with a b and i know the name but no idea how to spell it. isn't it lovely. 

if you saw my parents' greenhouses you'd be all in shock and awe at the lovely plants. 

below is a Christmas cactus. she has like 70. 

we had an awesome Christmas dear friends. awesome. the traveling was a kick in the pants, but we are home now and after a few days of cleaning and laundry, we'll be back to normal. 

i'm just gonna jump all over the place just to keep you on your toes. ready?

these are the boys on the mule at my parents' farm. my sister lives there and when we visit, we get really dirty, don't brush our teeth, and eat more s'mores than should be legal. it's awesome.

while visiting my side of the family (we really don't have "sides" but more like a big blend. the hubs and i both have awesome families so we don't discriminate) i got to see all sorts of wonderful friends. below is amanda jo...who happens to be the best accountability partner of all time. i brought her apple cider and in exchange she let my banshee boys run wild at her house for several hours while we showed each other blogs we love and threw matches in the fire. hard core. 

Christmas day we were traveling. we ended up at my parents' house where judah and asher got to see their first snow! exciting! don't you love elijah's hat with all your heart? we do hats---norwegian style.

below is uncle sandor trying to help gabe figure out stilts. he's on his way to joining the circus as we speak. we had an awesome time visiting the hubs' hometown and getting to see all our family and friends. 

a boy and his dog. need i say more?

my dad picks up things around the farm that he thinks i'll like. this is a tobacco tin. and what do you know? i love it. if it's vintage and has bright colors, i'm pretty much in. thanks, dad!

 right before Christmas, my friend allison and i went shopping for a girls' night. she found this table cloth for me along with some bedding that is gorgeous. this tablecloth looks so friendly in my dining room and matches the plates. good find, al, good find.

but wait, there's more. i arrived home today to find that, as never before in history, i have blooms and blossoms on my violets. do not wet yourself. it is true. like bunches of them. and i shrieked with glee.

 -sadly i'm not kidding. 

 and since we've been out of town, we finished up advent tonight. because that's how we roll. and while every other advent lighting night has been really special, this one was a bit rushed because the boys wanted to watch scooby-doo. i tried to tell them they were heathens who should love Jesus more than scooby-doo, but they wouldn't listen...because they're heathens. (i jest)

 this last leg of the trip i was alone with the kids. the hubs came back early to work. he works hard for the money so we treat him right.

so these banshee children i have referred to...um...they drove me nuts. they had been so wild and free for so long that they simply COULD NOT calm down these last few days. so a 5 hour drive home alone with all of them? not great. in fact at one point i called the hubs to inform him that when i write my parenting book, i will be calling it "awful little humans." 

and it'll be all about when little men can't calm down and are loud and rebellious and sing "happy birthday ninja turtle" to their aunt on her birthday, which actually is just plain hilarious.

don't lie, you would totally buy my book. and i would too. just look at that title. 

it's under copyright so you can't steal it. 

here's our wee tree. i have never seen so many ornaments with names on them before. the kids' schools went crazy this year with awesome ornaments. and i shall hang them on my tree and fill it full of pictures of cute little men. they're not really awful after all, just a bunch of wild and crazy guys. 

whew. was that a post or what? man. there's like two weeks of info in there. hope you're not overwhelmed. i just missed yah and wanted to share our holiday with you. 

 happy new year, peeps. catch yah on the flip side.

in full swing

you know when you go so long not blogging that you feel as if you have nothing to say because all sorts of hustle and bustle is going on but none of it is a huge deal? yep. that's me. with blogging block. not able to fully form a whole sentence because i'm scatter-brained and i kinda have to pee but i want to finish this post before doing so. too much information? my bad.

we have started our advent fun this year and can i just tell you i am loving it?
the pastor ended up preaching about advent the day after we started it as a family. gabe's big beautiful eyes looked up at me with excitement when he realized that we do stuff at home that we also do at church. you know the moment... when your kid realizes that church and family are not separate, they are a continuum of one another. beautiful blessing.

i bought my son a power ranger ornament because i am possibly the most loving mom ever. hold your applause. his class is decorating their class Christmas tree and he really wanted an ornament, asked nicely, but did not pester. so i got him one today to surprise him with it. and i know it's not a huge deal, but i get really excited to give my children things. and i don't do if often so it's a special wee treat. and it reminds me of how God gives to us and enjoys doing so. --not health, wealth, and prosperity stuff but just how He loves us and cares for us and enjoys us.

and now, on an un-holy note, i'm gonna go watch castle, because i love that show with my whole heart. and i'm gonna fold some clothes. and then i'm going to pick up 4 banshee children from school and the circus begins again.

but i missed you peeps out there and wanted to drop in and say hello.
how is your advent season going?

i'm starting this next week

hey peeps. i had written a thanksgiving post last week and was about to post it when my kid threw up everywhere and i had to take a brief break from writing. ;) eh, life happens.

last week, my internet wasn't working to watch my daily ration of hulu tv... so i got productive and started thinking about advent. --yep. super holy things happen when hulu doesn't work apparently.

i thought i'd share what we'll be doing for advent this year. in the past we haven't really done anything for it, but i had read several blogs on the topic and have been trying to figure out how to actively let God have His rightful place in this upcoming holiday. and 25 days of advent readings kinda freaks me out because if i get behind, i sometimes give up. and we sometimes travel during the holidays which makes it hard to stay on task. so...i thought maybe we could do something each week leading up to Christmas. that's not overwhelming. that's doable. so... here's what i came up with. it kinda looks like this: read, pray, go. each week we will read a Scripture while we light the candle on our advent wreath, pray for something together as a family, and go do something related to that week's theme for someone around us. advent is a season of anticipation and i am so eager to have our family focus on the meaning of the season and not on one day of getting gifts. so here we go:


Advent: "coming" or "arrival"
week 1: hope
read: isaiah 9:2, 4-6
pray: thank God for the hope that comes from Jesus, and pray for those that do not know Him, that they would receive Him as their hope and their salvation
go: take food to our local food pantry to offer hope to those who are struggling

week 2: peace
read: isaiah 9:6; romans 5:1-2
pray: thank God for the peace He gives us and pray for our family: immediate, extended, and church, that Christ would help us be a family that promotes peace and humility over entitlement and selfishness
go: do a random act of kindness for someone who lives in our home to promote peace

week 3: love
read: luke 1:26-38; john 3:16
pray: thank God that nothing is impossible with Him and that He loves us so much to send His Son even though we do not deserve His love, pray that He would use us in a mighty way to accomplish His purposes, and that we would carry His love to others through sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ
go: put together a care package for a missionary friend and send it to share love with them and encourage them in the work they do for God's purposes

week 4: joy
read: matthew 1:18-25
pray: thank God for how He saves us from our sins, how He sent His Son to be with us, our Immanuel. ask Him to make us more aware of how we need Him daily, and to rely more fully on Him
go: make cards for our local retirement home residents and deliver them to hopefully bring joy to others

Christmas Eve:
read: luke 2:1-20

a bunch of characters

a few posts ago, we discussed how Christmas might look a little different around here this year. and i thought i'd follow up.
again, this is not intended to be a place where we all just proclaim our own righteousness, but instead, a place to hold one another accountable, to get ideas, and to pray for one another.
--and this way you can't tell me, "hey you flakey-flake girl, you! you flaked out! and i'm holding you accountable! if you don't want to be held accountable, don't post ideas on the web and then tell people to hold you accountable!"
--man, you are so right. you really get me. you really do. let's hug.

now onto the fun: we bought our items for our shoeboxes for operation Christmas child today. and the boys had a BLAST!
we ended up doing two boxes and filling them with things like silly putty, yo-yos, stickers, socks, a ring pop, and a harmonica. come Christmas, somewhere in the world, a mom is going to be SO ticked at us for getting their son a harmonica. oh, momma, i'm sorry. i'm so, so sorry.

as a family, we packed them up and prayed for the boys who would be receiving the boxes. we prayed for the people who would deliver them. and we prayed for ourselves, that God would help us remember who is the Giver of all good things, and that what we have is not ours, but a gift to share.

when i told the boys i wanted to take a picture of them with the shoeboxes, they decided they needed to get dressed in their halloween best. --because nothing says "merry Christmas to some wonderful little boy somewhere in the world" like ironman, batman, a race car driver, and a kid in a polo.
am i right, or am i right?

and i could've just blessed you with a lovely little photo like this: look we're all happy and somewhat normal...haha...normal...in costumes...ha.

but instead i'll leave you with what we're really like. be impressed. in another picture, asher was picking his nose. the hubs is the only normal one around here. the kids take after me. so photogenic. ;)

maybe we should just use this photo for our Christmas cards.
happy holidays, from a hodge-podge of characters. i'm only half-joking.




**in case any of you are interested in doing operation Christmas child, the deadline isn't until the middle of november. you have plenty of time. i just knew with crazy fall happenings around here, this might be our last chance to shop together.

changing the norm

yesterday in the midst of chaos, we received our operation christmas child form. 

so around our dinner table we discussed how some little boys and girls do not get to celebrate Christmas. 

we talked about how wonderfully blessed we are... and that we should be good stewards of what God has given us. 

we get to share. we get to give.

so we planned out how each boy will pick out their own shoebox full of goodies for little boys in faraway places. 

after talking about this opportunity, gabe drew this. the orange t-shirt says, "caring friend."

the caring friend is giving a gift. ---even though it might look like an ominous black box, it's really a gift, don't be fooled.

after reading this and this by jami nato, it really made me think. we really try to keep Christmas simple around here because, after all, we are not celebrating ourselves, we are celebrating Him. the ultimate gift. but when i read those posts by jami (apparently we're on a first-name basis...yah know...when we shop together at the grocery store and braid each other's hair and stuff) i thought, "you know, our family could do better." i don't want to just give of our excess...i want to give in a way that is sacrificial. 

i'm not exactly sure what steps in addition to prayer to take...but i'm determined to make it happen. this upcoming Christmas season will not pass without us truly basking in the awesomeness that is Jesus. 

so whether it's operation Christmas child or any other wonderful way to give... around here, we're gonna step it up a notch. and this is not a, "hey look at us, we're awesome and sacrificial," because anyone who knows us knows that's not true, but it IS a public way to hold myself and our family accountable to make sure conviction turns into action. so if come january, you haven't heard any more about this and all i post is outlandish pictures of Christmas-gone-crazy, you can comment and say, "what the crap, maggie may, you suck." and i'll appreciate that. because that's what real friends do. and despite the fact we might not have ever met or know each other's last names, we can still be real friends. now gimme a hug.

*if you'd like more info on operation Christmas child, visit 

www.samaritanspurse.org/occ

**and a special thanks to jami nato for her awesome, deep thoughts that stir up people to action. 

way to go, chiquita bonita. 

keep moving forward

here's the pictures that SHOULD have gone on our Christmas card, but i never got around to making them. enjoy!
i just finished writing this post. read it, read it to the hubs, and decided to scrap
it. this year has kinda sucked. i'm not gonna candy-coat it for yah, people. you can handle the truth. but i decided instead of writing out the good, the bad, and the ugly about 2011, i can focus on the good things about 2011 and the things i'm looking forward to in 2012.

top 5 most wonderful, brilliant, flippin' fantastic things of 2011:

1. we adopted judah and asher, otherwise known as judy-booty and asher basher. they will hate these nicknames in years to come.

2. the hubs made it back safely from india. whew!

3. we sold our home! praise God!

4. we bought a new home, hooray!

5. we met ALL our neighbors on our new street and have had a great time building relationships
with them!

--see the exclamation points?! see?! upbeat!!

exciting things to look forward to in 2012:

1.settling into our new home a bit more, which includes but is not limited to: curtains, plate hangers, vintage books, old sewing machines, a free wardrobe (yep, FREE!) and much, much more! --all this is being typed as the hubs huddles in a corner and rocks himself. he'll be ok.

2. joining a new church. we have found one we really like and are excited to spend more time there and possibly join.

3. since the hubs has worked so hard this past year, we are planning some family trips to get away. we have not had a vacation in a long, long time, so this is exciting! rest is good.

4. reading a book my friend suggested to me about raising boys to be godly men. it's a pretty tall order to fill: raising boys who will grow to be strong spiritual leaders of their families and communities. can't wait to read it!

5. having no real resolutions whatsoever. i always say if you fail to plan, you plan to fail, but in this case, it's pretty freeing. if it gets done, it gets done. if not, it'll be there tomorrow. --a wise woman taught me that. thanks, momma.

hope all of you have had a wonderful holiday season! may you be encouraged this year in your relationship with Christ. may you remember in the easy times and the hard that God loves you with an everlasting love, desires for you to know Him more, and has promised to never leave you.

happy new year, friends!

clucking away

how 'bout all those Christmas posts, eh?! aren't you glad my computer is fixed so i can blog? i could use this moment to promise better, more frequent posting in 2012, but i'd probably be lying. i'm inconsistent. my bad.

tonight is Christmas eve...we'll be unwrapping presents, spending time with family, and eating more than any human should. good, good times.

last night the ladies of the family sat around chatting... and it was HILARIOUS!!!
stories that go like this, "i go poo a lot and my butt hurts." --i'll just let your imagination go where it may with that one. stories about kicking people in the face, where people say things like "--just stand REAL still or you'll mess me up!" stories about moms saying, "did anyone see you?! no? then just drive away!"

family time is good. good for bonding, sharing, and getting great material for blackmail.

Merry Christmas!

late Christmas

i am prompt on a lot of things in life, but apparently posting on this blog is not one of those things.

gabe was very excited about Christmas. this is his excited face. ;)

we had Christmas at the in-laws, which sounds like it should have a "dum dum dum" after it, but i love my in-laws. we should think of a nicer name for them. like "awesome-laws." i call them momage and popage. --a combo of mom/pop plus part of their last name.
doesn't that sound friendlier?


we had a great time. momage and popage had the whole family at their house Christmas eve. i think it was about 40 people plus kids. it was great!
the best part was our kiddos getting to play with their cousins. they played with foam dart guns for pretty much the whole evening. a lot of the family had not met colalicious and z-diddy, so it was nice to introduce them to their family.

i have tons of great pictures of the whole crew opening presents, but you know the drill...can't post pics of the foster kiddos.

hopefully their status will be changing soon. -january 3 is the end of the 90 days, and after that (if nobody comes forward) we get to pursue adoption! hooray!

we're not even 30 and we already have a 6-person family. i tell people we're on the accelerated family plan.

happy new year. maybe next week i'll do a post about that.

marge revolution

so instead of new year's resolutions...i'm going to do
a marge revolution. dum dum dum.
the hubs thinks this is corny. and ridiculous. and that's exactly why i like it.
i have a few goals:
*i bought a daily Bible from lifeway and it was on sale for $5.
i started it today. one of the goals is to read it daily and finish the Bible in a year. --thanks to my friend amanda jo for that one. she's a good tipster.

*i have been doing power 90 on and off for months to get in shape. i am not making a resolution to lose a certain amount of weight, but i want to be healthier all around. and my "all around" is much bigger than it used to be.

*i like sudoku. my mom gave me a book and i plan on working on it to where i become THE sudoku champion... of.the. WORLD! (when you say this or read this, try to use a wrestling announcer's voice.) --in all reality, i just want to challenge my brain a bit.

*i bought a new study on ruth and am excited to delve into that one. i will have my Bible study brain in full gear because we're also continuing our revelation study by kay arthur next week.

*AND i received two new books from my parental units: vintage Jesus by mark driscoll, which i have not started yet and adopted for life by russell moore.

adopted for life rocks my face off. it's pretty amazing and i'm not even to chapter 3. it's not solely about the physical adoption of a child, it's about our adoption as children of God. i think everyone will love it. that might be what my free giveaway will be. who knows.

so those books and things won't take me a whole year, but they're things that will keep me learning new things. and the sudoku thing...well, who doesn't want the fame that accompanies such a feat?


our Christmas was fabulous and blessed and new year's was uneventful. i have to admit that i have been nervous about moving past Christmas. january is when some things can change with our foster child and bio mom might get out of jail. this is the beginning of the end. either parents will work their plan to get him back or they will falter. either way, by this time next year, we should know if we'll stay a 4 person family or not. the boys are growing and flourishing and learning so much. i am such a proud mama.

enough about me. let the revolution begin.

bing crosby in all his glory

i'm dreamin' of a white Christmas...i love me some bing crosby.

here's our white Christmas!



the boys loved their gifts and we had a wonderful time with family.

hope you guys did too.




i am enjoying hot chocolate, pictures of family, chapstick, some great books, and cute kids learning to ride bikes and make Christmas tree cookie sculptures.

"for i bring you good news of great joy which is for all nations..." --hope you are celebrating the Good News this holiday season.

holiday decorations

i am having such a great time with this holiday season...i'm not gonna lie. i have Christmas candles burning, carols playing, and the tree lights on. love it!

thought i'd show you guys some more of my house. sadly, i didn't get hardly any responses from my last "fave 5" post, so i don't know anyone's fave 5's for the season. sad day.

anyways, here's a serving tray i found at homegoods years ago. i love it. and i've finally found a home for it in my house. if you look in the cup, there's a happy birthday Jesus card that gabriel made. we like to make gifts for Jesus for His birthday. admire the cardinal salt and pepper shakers, too. i love 'em. they're a whopping $5 at pier one.



i had some questions about my placemats made of Christmas cards. this is just one example. when my gramma did them, she had themes for each mat. i just threw some cards together, cut off the fronts, cut to size, and placed on posterboard. then you can use contact paper to seal it, or get it laminated. either way works fine.






we had a small get together this past weekend at our house. part of the reason was that we didn't want to attend the big party for my husband's work (although REO speedwagon was playing). the other reason? i wanted to use my Christmas dishes. i have all these cute serving trays for Christmas and never get to use them. i'm sad i didn't take pics during the party to show off my awesome hostess-ness. but here is the centerpiece i used for the serving table.

i have holly growing outside our house and went a bit crazy decorating with it. i used it for our drink tray, the centerpiece, and anywhere else i could find to put it.

are you enjoying this holiday season?

top 5 faves

i thought i'd share with you a few of my faves of this season. --things that make me realize Christmas is coming. please please please send me your top 5 favorites.

1. "winter" scented candles from bath and body works
2. the big, multicolored light bulbs hanging on houses (i think they're called c9's)
3. my children screaming to get away from santa
4. hot apple cider...i make it myself
5. decorating Christmas cookies with my kids, even though i don't like sugar cookies

ps: don't you love my vintage new year's postcard? if you look closely, you'll see "1906" and "1907" on the flowers. thanks, stormy, for knowing i like old things and gnomes. you truly know the inner depths of my soul.

pss: stormy found out i liked gnomes when i bought one for myself in college while we were roommates. i nicknamed it "scotty" and spoke in a scottish accent while addressing it. i wanted it to feel at home.

over breakfast

we've been reading about Jesus's birth over breakfast. gabe loves the part where the angel gabriel talks to mary. we are using the book called "The Jesus Storybook Bible" and i really really like it. i read a review once that said children have trouble seeing the Bible as something different than short, separate, fictional stories. the Jesus Storybook Bible carries Jesus thru the entire Bible for children to know that He was promised and God delivered.

we are trying to impart in our children that Christmas is about Christ. --the greatest gift. we talk about God giving us everything we have and to be thankful for that. we have all we need and more.

it's exciting because gabe is finally seeming to get what it's all about...in small pieces. and it's amazing to see the fruit of that. monkey sits and smiles and is attentive, but has yet to declare "Emmanuel, God with us" or anything like that yet. :) maybe next Christmas.

on another note, i was telling someone that gabe was going to visit his previous foster family (the family he lived with before we adopted him) for a short playdate. later, he asked "where's your foster family?" what a great question! i love that his mind is thinking about things like that. it was a great chance to explain that we're a foster family for monkey, how God made families, and that there are lots of different kinds of families.
good teaching moment!

have your elf a merry little christmas

we got home from our thanksgiving with family and started decorating immediately. i am on the ball this year and ready to enjoy the holiday. i put on the christmas carols and lit a candle and got to it. we bought a little fake tree this year because of where we had to put the tree... since we have a 19month old who likes to pull on ornaments (ahem...monkey....ahem) and knock things down. so here's our wee tree...in all its glory. that's a homemade star on top, made with tin foil and scotch tape. impressive, huh?

it's rainy here today and very cold (in texas standards). i am enjoying this season so much! i found a good idea for an advent calendar focused on Jesus and His birth online today at (in)courage and am going to put that together tonight!

here's one of my favorite cards ever in the history of the world. on the inside it says "have your elf a merry little Christmas." when i get enough cards, i start making placemats from them. i cut them up and lay them out on a large piece of posterboard and then laminate them. that way, we have placemats with reused materials. my grandmother used to do this and so my mom has a bunch of vintage card placemats at her house.

on that note, today would have been my gramma's 100th birthday! she passed away a few years ago after living an amazingly godly life. we love her and miss her.

spontaneous dancing and elf costumes

i...am...productive!!!!
i know, you're jealous. and it's ok. you don't need to feel like a disappointment to the human race or like a sorry lazy louse just sittin on your keister waiting out the holiday. nope. just live vicariously thru this girl...right here. yep. that would be me!

i have spent this holiday shopping and spending time with loved ones and giving hugs and being sarcastic and laughing out loud so much so that one could call that type of laugh a "chortle." --fun to say, isn't it?

chortle

try it again

chortle

yay! good listening!

anyway, the kids are awesome and presents are bought and paid for...and...wait for it....wait for it....WRAPPED. yep. that's right. let's take a minute for you to stand in awe.

thanks...


i am ready to dress up like an elf and go door to door handing out gifts and singing songs like "it's beginning to look a lot like christmas" which is a blatant lie in south texas because it never gets below a whopping 65 degrees outside.

speaking of elf (keep up with me, it was like a sentence and a half ago), did i ever tell you about the idea i once had to make the hubs a "hubs-sized" elf outfit like will ferrill's? i wanted to dress him up in it, send him out into a shopping area, and make him do hilarious yet stupid things for onlookers. "i'm with my dad and i'm singing..."

i like odd ideas. i like ideas that make me giddy with excitement. and yeah, a 6'5" man dressed as an elf makes my day. doesn't it make yours? another GREAT and fabulous idea that everyone is going to try to steal is my idea to produce a small-scale musical number to be performed in public by myself and a few ballsy friends. we've been in negotiations for years on this, but it has not yet come to fruition. one of the greatest disappointments of my life to date? possibly.

we'd arrange the music and dancing beforehand and shock the pants off people as we start singing about "sporks are a girl's best friend" as we all break out into a spontaneous yet amazingly in-sync chorus line. watch our highkicks, folks! the basis for all this? --how come in musicals all the people know all the words and dance moves to every song? i've tried making up songs on the spot with multiple people, and no one, not a single person ever, and i mean no one, in my life, has ever, and i mean this, even remotely, even irremotely (is that a word?) come close to knowing when to do the high-kicks and what words to say to finish the phrase that i'm singing. shocker...i know.

all this to say...i have dreams. big ones. and they involve elf suits and spontaneous dancing.

here we go

we are heading towards thanksgiving full force around here, ladies and gentlemen. i have been cleaning all morning. and will continue this frenzy until tomorrow around noon.

i have an autumn wreath yankee candle burning, which brings me endless joy, and the windows are open, making my toes a bit chilly.

i am so excited to celebrate thanksgiving with friends and family, and am looking forward to christmas.
i have almost every gift bought and wrapped for christmas, which inevitably means that something will backfire and i will no longer be ahead of the game.

i used to be one of those people who believed "no christmas until after thanksgiving." but then i had kids who are stinky at shopping with me, so this year i got it all done ahead of time. now the fun part begins...
eating turkey with the fam
celebrating why we're thankful and Who provides it all
winter scented candles from bath and body works
giving gifts to friends and family and hoping they like it
knowing you got someone the perfect gift
celebrating our Lord being born and teaching the kids the true meaning of Christmas
gooky, lumpy homemade christmas cookies with too much icing
candlelight service
christmas carols
lights on houses
putting apple cider and cloves on the stove to make the house smell yummy
letting the kids help decorate
seeing old friends
making homemade ornaments

see? so much to look forward to!!!
happy thanksgiving!