Welcome December. I'm not happy about you.

I'm in total denial that it's December.  And I am in no mood at all for Christmas.  No. Mood. At. All.  Not sure why.  I think one reason may be that we've decided to cut waaay back on our Christmas spending this year.  Gifts is my "giving" love language - I spell LOVE "g-i-f-t" - and so to me, less presents = no fun.  But reading books like Jen Hatmaker's Interrupted and Will Davis's Enough have totally messed me up and ruined me forever for the kind of over-the-top gift buying I used to do. Sigh.

Of course, it also doesn't help that the weather around here has been sunny and in the high 70's for the past several weeks.  We've done zero decorating, very little shopping, and I can't even muster up my usual excitement for doing our Jesse Tree or reading Jotham's Journey.  Even going to my friend Katie's annual cookie swap didn't do the trick.  Bah humbug.

But, regardless of whether I'm in the Christmas spirit or not, there are a few things I'm determined to accomplish this month.  First of all, in the spirit of having more than enough of everything we could ever need (ala Will Davis), we are having the Great Family Cleanout of 2012.  Every day in the month of December (doubling up after any days we miss), each person in our family will be choosing 1-3 items to give away or throw away.  Clothes, toys, books, CDs, jewelry, kitchen wares, movies, home decor....everything is fair game. 

At this moment in time, Jacob literally has a closet full of clothes, a dresser full of clothes, and a dirty clothes hamper full of clothes.  That's just ridiculous.  More than enough.  I have a drawer full of (albeit fake) jewelry that I hardly ever wear.  Ridiculous.  Shoes, I must admit, are not my weakness, so I'll probably be keeping what I have.  Same with purses (in fact, I'm not sure I even HAVE any purses other than the one I'm carrying right now).  But I'm quite certain there is a skirt or two or five that someone else should be enjoying.  And Kloe?  Don't even get me started.

Another thing I committed to doing this month is our Candlelight Christmas.  I love this tradition so much, and we only get to do it every other year, on the years when we're home for Christmas.  Maybe we should do it early this year - maybe that would get me more in the Christmas spirit?

Well, here's one thing I'm happy about December for - Downton Abbey reruns!  Even though we've watched seasons 1 and 2 about three times each now, knowing that this rerun of season 2 is leading up to the debut of season 3 just makes me all kinds of happy.  We've waited a whole year for this!  Are you a Downton groupie?

Here's to a more joyful December!

My Hero.

Valentines

Yesterday was Jacob's school Valentine's party, which you know I love getting ready for. :) Kloe was so bummed that they don't have parties in middle school. "The teachers say we're too oh-old," she moaned to me. Poor kid. I'd be sad, too, without a Valentine's party!  I loved Valentine's day even as a kid.  I love, love, loved decorating my shoebox every year for my friends to drop their little notes of love into.  Such fun memories.  I'm a little sad that the kids don't do that anymore.  (Actually, Jacob's class did it last year, but I don't think Kloe has ever gotten to.)

I loved this game.  Jacob's class had a substitute (brave man, subbing on party day!).  Jacob informed me that, "He's NOT Chinese.  He's from in between China and Japan."  *grin*  Mr. C. was fabulous with the kids, and they loved him.  Anyway, he had them play this great game where they passed candy conversation hearts down the row using chop sticks.  It was so much fun to watch HIM do it (pro), and then watch the kids try. :)



While we do often oversleep (a lot of night owls in our house), it actually WAS pajama day. :)

We made these fun Valentines again this year.  I found these a couple of years ago over at Holly's blog, and we just love them!  I would make them every year from now on if my kids would let me. :)  Jacob thought it was fun to compare this year's to last year's.  "I looked so young!" he said. haha

And we're making these cute i-pod Valentines to give to Kloe's friends next Tuesday....

....except we're using Hershey Kisses instead of Reese's cups for the earphones.  You can find the pattern at Family Fun online.  Good for tweens and still pretty cute.

The big day's almost here....I can't wait! :)

Guess what's almost here???

So this is was Christmas....

So....I tried to do a "12 Days of Christmas" theme for our Christmas photos, and that totally didn't work.  So here they are the boring ol' normal way. :)
 

Melting snowmen cookies - aren't they cute? :)

Kloe made a friend at the cookie-exchange party. :)

I was laughing because all the other kids in the Santa line were about 3 years old. :) 
My kids were embarrassed, but I made them sit on his lap anyway!

Kloe's first Christmas band concert.  So fun!  And so we come full circle.... :)

Treats for teachers. {and just a few for me :) }

We had two Christmases this year - our family Christmas on Friday morning, then we traveled to the Mister's mom and step-dad's house Friday night to spend Christmas with them.

At home....

Someone couldn't stand to be away from the presents. :)

Love. :)

My mom made me this awesome scrapbook-style cookbook with recipes from members of our family. Isn't it fun? I love it!

Santa must have known Jacob was in desperate need of a new football!


Old ball - poor thing! I had no idea it was in such bad shape!   Made me so sad
when I saw that he had tried to cover the end with packing tape. :(

New.  Much better. :) 



Kloe got a much-longed-for sit-n-scoot, aka Ezy Roller. :)

It was a great Christmas!

For round 2, we had originally planned to leave for my in-laws' on Saturday morning, but the weather forcast was changed to include 3-5 inches of snow during the night along the route we would be taking, so we left Friday evening instead. Good thing we left early! The roads were completely clear for about half of our trip, then literally, when we got to the half-way point and turned south, the roads were covered!  It snowed non-stop from Friday night through Sunday around lunch time.  We got about 8 inches!  But by Monday afternoon when we got ready to start home, it was almost all gone. :)

Isn't this cool?  A tidal wave of snow coming off the roof.

Bet these cactus (cacti?) aren't used to seeing snow!

Best. Mother-in-law. Ever. :)

Hoping you all had a wonderful Christmas, filled with the love and presence of Jesus, in whom we live and move and have our being.

Merry Christmas!

Love.


Love.


Merry Christmas, friends. Praying the true purpose of our celebrating will fill your homes this year.

Five for Friday - Happy Dance Edition

It's cold, cloudy, and spittin' something out of the sky here in our neck of the woods today.  Oh how I would love to have all my bloggy friends come curl up on the couch and share a cup of warm apple cider with me.  (Ok, not actually share a cup, but you know what I mean.)

This week's Five for Friday is all about Happy Dances.  Don't ya love it? :)

1. My Aunt Donna from Colorado came into town on Wednesday and we met her and some other family members at a restaurant for dinner.  My mom didn't go eat with us, but Aunt Donna had stopped by Mom's house before dinner.  When we got to the restaurant, Aunt Donna said, "I left a surprise for you at your mom's house, and you have to have it by December 1st, so be sure to go by there and pick it up on the way home."  Hmmm....by December 1? Any guesses? (*BIG smile*)
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Love love love love. Remember two years ago when we first planned to do a Jesse Tree? Yeah, well, we never did. Surprised? I couldn't ever decide on a book, and I never had the time to print out all the ornaments, and I didn't know what we'd do for the tree, and blah blah blah. But now! we! have! one! My Aunt Donna said she was just about to leave her house when she felt the Lord telling her to go back and get this and bring it to us. God is so cool. :)
   
   *Happy Dance*
   
   
2. Got this in the mail this week:
   
   
   
   
   
   *Happy Dance!*
   
   
3. The children's ministry at our church had a coat drive last month and asked families to bring coats that would then be donated to a local community clothes closet.
   
   Jacob asked his teacher at school if he could put up a poster asking people to donate coats. Somehow the question got passed along to the school counselor, who asked Jacob if he thought there might be also kids at school who need coats. That conversation led to Jacob taking the lead in organizing a coat drive at school FOR kids at school.
   
   The counselor interviewed him about the coat drive on the school's morning news last Wednesday, and he made this poster that is hanging in the front foyer of the school (phone pics = not great):
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Isn't it cute? Look at the little man shivering on the right with his hat and mittens on. Cute, right? See the little line coming out of his head? It's like a word bubble, but it just looks like a bunch of wiggle lines. I asked Jacob what it was. He said, "Those are "C's"....the man is saying "CCCCCCC" because he's cold." :)
   
   Love that kid.
   
   *Happy Dance*
   
   
4. Did you know if you buy a Wal*mart gift card and use it to buy gas, you get 10 cents off per gallon?
   
   *Super Happy Dance!!*
   
   
5. This discount on gas makes me especially happy nowadays, because....
   
   BEFORE[(= me being a dork :)]:
   
   
   
   
   AFTER:
   
   
   
   
   *HAPPY, HAPPY DANCE!!*

Our Thanksgiving in Pictures



It's done!

 


Fallin' off the bone good!  (not sure why this picture came out all skinny-wonky)

 



My very first turkey!  It turned out great!  Tender, moist, delicious.  :)



Can you believe I cooked all that by myself? :) 
(With a little help from Kloe.)



Instead of regular pie, we had individual, mini
pumpkin cream pies.  Mmmmm!



A little after-dinner entertainment.  :)

Me and my mama. :)

The carnage. :)

We had a small Thanksgiving, with just the four of us and my mom.  Quiet.  Slow.  Peaceful.  I cooked my very first turkey ever, and it was delicious!  (Reynolds Oven Bags are the bomb!)  We watched the parade, Charlie Brown, and a little football.  The boys shot slingshots, and Kloe won the wish-bone pull.  All in all a wonderful day!