where are those elves?

The elves are missing in action!  I'm busy in the kitchen today, getting food ready for our Christmas celebration, and I wanted to pop in and wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas.  It's the season of preparation and giving, a very busy time of doing and going, but in the midst of all your preparing and wrapping and baking, my prayer is that you take time to enjoy the gift of Christ. 

 "But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law.  God sent Him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that He could adopt us as his very own children." ^{Galatians 4:4-5}

^{It is because of His coming and His sacrifice, that we can enjoy fullness of life as His children.....    Merry Christmas Friends! We have much to celebrate....}

^{even if those elves never show up!} 

free printable: here

closing in on Christmas

As we get closer to Christmas, I find myself trying to snatch away moments for savoring the season.  I'm certain that the hours fly by faster in December than in any other month.  In between school, basketball games, and practices we've been:

***learning how to play chess....John and John Samuel have been challenging each other as often as time allows (this is a teaching set and it shows you the moves and directions you can make for each piece...very helpful for me!)

***putting finishing touches on my decorations....this little tree was blank and boring so I hot glued wooden hearts, gingerbread men, candles and pine cones to it.  I tied some homespun fabric to the branches and now it's perfect! 

 ***cracking up at our dog....the kids found her laying on the remote, looking at the TV and they said she was watching Animal Planet! (I think this whole scene interrupted our math one day! )

***adding Christmas lights to more and more corners of our house....it's just so magical with all the beautiful lights.  It's so special to check on my boy and finding him sleeping in the glow of his Christmas lights.  (I always unplug them before I head to bed :))

***reading mysteries and taking notes as we go...after listening to Andrew Clements' Room One, my boy decided to solve the mystery of his chapter book in a similar fashion....works for me, I just like to see him reading and having fun at the same time

 ***for book club we read the light-hearted book: A Redbird Christmas...perfect for holiday time!  One of the ladies at book club gave us each a box loaded with an assortment of cookies that she prepackaged and labeled for us in little cello bags!  What a work of love...a delicious work!

And I've been knitting some little last minute gifts....dishcloths and toasty fingerless mitts....nothing like watching TV by the glow of the Christmas tree and knitting.  Some of our DVR'd favorites include:  NCIS, Person of Interest and Blue Bloods. 

So how have you been savoring these days before Christmas?  I hope you're finding time to enjoy the moments before they fly by!  It's closing in on Christmas...stay merry!

celebrate everywhere

I love this time of year, when the house is all decorated for Christmas and the lights bring such warmth and coziness to everything.  We decorated right after Thanksgiving and have been enjoying the magical feeling that the house takes on during this time of year.

 I took a ton of pictures as I decorated so that next year I might be able to 'recreate' my decor more easily next year.  I tend to be a fusser.  I put something somewhere, walk away and then return to move it around until I get it right where I want it. 

I figure if I can look at pictures I might save myself some fussing next year....right!?  I'll let you know how that works out. 

We are an artificial tree family....Maggie and I get awful allergies and sinus infections from having a real tree in the house, so I've learned to find the positive in our 'boxed tree'.  One things I hate though, is the stem that shows down at the bottom.

 It's long and skinny and looks really ugly.  So, I hide it with our wrapped presents.  It looks so much better with all the gifts piled around the bottom.  (this also helps motivate me to wrap my gifts early)

I also love to decorate our outside.   I put pine and boxwood in baskets and watering cans and create little vignettes of beauty along the way.

 Whether I'm bringing in the mail, welcoming guests or looking out the kitchen window while washing dishes I get glimpses of beauty that make me smile.  (and when it snows...they even look prettier!)

How about you?  What do you do to transform your home during this magnificently wonderful time of year?  The Savior has been born....celebrate everywhere you can! 

****Thanks to everyone who shared their thoughts on my last post....you guys are hilarious!  And just so you know....I've decided to keep the sausages for myself.