And What To My Wondering Eyes Do Appear?

So yesterday, I was just sitting here pondering my evening when, all of a sudden, in comes a package aaaaall for me. It was from my sweet friend Missy who gives gifts like none other on this planet, and let me tell you why.....When I opened the blessed box, this is one of the things that it contained:

Y'all.
No seriously....Y'all. This stuff is so mind-bogglingly good that I am gonna go there...yes. I. am. It is better than anything I have had at Starbucks...gasp...YES! I said it!! It's true. And I would never-ever lie about that (because I have no desire to commit the unpardonable sin....even though I am borderline heretical at this point, I realize). I am on my third glorious cup right this minute (I will probably be up until Christmas at this rate, but it's THAT worth it).
I also got this hilariously cute ornament:

When I opened the package and pulled her out, Julianna covered her mouth as she beheld her and said "OH MOMMA! She is beautiful..." LOL! So now she is front and center on our Christmas tree in all her glory.
By the way, don't mind my hair. I am not lovin it right now, but I could not let some of you go on thinking that I had as much facial hair as my last picture indicated....yes, I said "as much" ;) . Gotta love these genes, especially when mixed with a little age. Oy vey.

Everybody's doin' it!

I can't imagine getting out of this season without "elfing ourselves".....
I went through and pulled out the funniest pictures I could find of each of us, so without further ado:
Mark and the Boys and Me and Julianna
Enjoy!

A Few Things...

Hey...do you notice anything different? No? Well guess who has finally stepped out of Archaic-ville and entered the 21st Century? Yup, that'd be me. I finally have a high-speed connection!! We sorta, kinda live in the boonies, so the only option is dial-up. It seems they are bent on trying to charge me a completely ridiculous amount to have their crappy service, so we are now connected via satellite. WHOOP!!

Just to celebrate I am going to give you a link to some much anticipated AWESOME news:

Click here for a fantastic surprise.

In other Crew news, I spent almost the entire weekend shopping....and get this....I was aaaaaall alone. Ahhh, the blessing. Sometimes I forget how much fun shopping can be since I usually have at least 1 kidlet at my heels trying to get me to buy half the store, but this time...yes, this time, it was entirely different. On Saturday night, I made the first glorious stop for Momma Fuel, then on to the hospital to visit my Grandma. After we hung out for over an hour, I casually loaded back up and perused Target for an insanely long amount of time. Now, I am almost done with my Christmas shopping and I am thrilled. So what about you, are you completely giftless still, about done, or have you been finished for a long time?

Tis the Season

Yesterday, I got the bright idea to take Julianna to the mall for a girls day. I think I must have had a horrible lapse in judgement or something because I am pretty sure that all of the people within a 300 mile radius decided to shop there at that precise moment, too.
There were absolutely no free parking places and an over-abundance of rude people. I couldn't believe it when two cars, who were actually simultaneously trying to cut me off, just about hit each other, so they started honking and making rude gestures between themselves while we all sat there and waited. It was nearly the proverbial straw that almost made me punt the whole idea and head home, until I spied a shopping bag laden woman heading for her car. I whipped my van around and stalked her halfway to the horizon to get my space already being warmed up by her cute little sports car.
I sat patiently while she unloaded her stuff into every crevice she had available, and every now and then, she would glance over her shoulder to see if I was going to go anywhere. No siree, not on your life. I will stay here till the end of Christmas, if I have to.
She finally got in and put on her reverse lights when some middle-aged man whose wife probably told him that it would be better for them to go to the mall than watch football, turned the corner.
He had a vendetta.
So did I.
We locked eyes.
We each tightened our grip on our respective steering wheels and continued to glare over the tops of our heads. His next move was going to determine my future as a free citizen. She backed out, and for a split second, I could see that he really wanted to steal my spot. I could practically see his thoughts as he weighed his options at that moment.
He looked at the space.
He looked back at me.
And then he looked at the floor, defeated, as I turned in.
Mwwwaahhhaaahaaaaa!!!!
Bless his heart, and Merry Christmas.

Celebrating Advent

Mark and I have started a tradition of celebrating Advent with our kids each year, and it has been such a huge blessing every time. During all the hustle and bustle of the season with all the world has to offer, we have a chance to really reflect on the Christ's birth when we do this.
Anyway, the start of it is this Sunday (December 2), if any of you are interested. Here is a link to get you started or to give you devotional ideas if you haven't done this before.
http://www.amazingmoms.com/htm/christmas_advent.htm
I tried to find a picture of our Advent wreaths from Christmasses past, but I couldn't. They are really easy and inexpensive to make.
Also, I wasn't sure how many of you received the Veritas Epistula each month, so I thought I would share this free lapbook that they offered in the Dec. issue. It is about the birth of Christ and it is pretty good.
http://resources.veritaspress.com/downloads/ChristmasLapbook.pdf

Awesome Book Up For Grabs

Way back in the beginning of all blog things, the other Gayle brilliantly started a discussion group about the book "For Women Only" by Shaunti Feldhahn. I was part of that group, but miserably failed to participate like a good bloggy friend. :(
However, I read the book and it was so awesome and insightful, that it helped me to understand what makes my man tick a little better. Always a bonus, right? SOOO, when my good buddy, Heidi, did a review of the new book by Lil Miss Shaunti entitled "For Parents Only" and decided to give a free copy of it away, I was ON IT!
This is your opportunity, all you parents of tweens and teens, to get a never before seen glimpse into the mind of that person who sits at your breakfast table with an attitude to shake the earth's core (or maybe that's just me....see, I told you I need the book).
Just go to Heidi's blog and enter the contest while I pray fervently that HSB eats your entry thereby increasing my odds. Good Luck (even though I don't believe in it)!

Going Back

Boy, it's been awhile....are you still with me out there? I haven't had very much to say lately, because I have been kind of in a reflective mode. One where all I can do is listen and just take it all in. Times like these are often where the deepest of deep thoughts come in, but I wasn't able to blog about it because it simply would have taken brainpower, energy and time that I seriously needed elsewhere.
I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I really did. My sweet brother and his family came down and, as usual, we have really enjoyed having them. We went to go see the Bee Movie last night with the whole family and had a great time. I was so blessed to be sitting there with all of these people that I really love, and it reminded me to continue to give thanks to my God during this holiday.
My brother brought down a bunch of boxes and a cedar chest from my Grandparents home where we were raised. They had been transported all over the place with my Dad after my precious Grama passed away in 2000. He finally gave them all to my brother and I to go through after all these years. I cannot tell you what it felt like to open the cedar chest that contained so many family keepsakes from a time even long before my Grama. And the smell....I can't believe it still smelled like home after all this time. My brother and I just buried our faces in the handmade quilts and blankets to deeply breathe in something we never-ever thought we would sense again.
The home that had been in our family since 1853 was sold after my Grandfather died 11 years ago. I am not what one would consider a materialistic person, but I have grieved the loss of that house from the moment it was no longer "ours". It won't go into details here, but my poor Grama never wanted it sold either...and I know it completely broke her heart when it happened.
I guess I will just leave it at that.
Anyway, it's amazing that something any other person on the planet would consider worthless, can be something so precious and irreplaceable to another. As Mark and I were going through one of the boxes, he pulled out this statue of a cute little dog that always sat on the hearth of my grandparents fireplace. Of course, it didn't mean a hill of beans to him, and he was getting ready to put it in the give-away pile. But, when my eyes fell on that worthless little dog, you would have thought we had struck oil. The memories came flooding back about how my Pap, ever the animal-lover, would admonish us with "Now, don't you touch that. Hear?" But, as soon as he would walk out of the room, neither of us could help but sneak in a quick stroke of it's glassy smooth head. That thing sat in the living room of our home through every single family gathering, every single homecoming and every single lazy Sunday afternoon. It strangely was representative of who we are and where we came from, and when I showed it to my brother, he was just as happy to see it as I was. He will now reside, in his proper place, on the hearth of my brother's fireplace.
Even better than finding our old friend, were the love notes between my Grandparents that were stashed in the far recesses of a safe with all of the important documents that they had (including the original paperwork for the sale of the land in 1853!). I cried so much when I read these beautiful expressions between the two people that I completely adored. One of them was even stained with the coffee that was discussed in it. Another one was quite literally sealed with my Grama's kiss. That one really made me cry.
I went to bed last night with every single emotion stirred up imaginable. It was good to reflect on something that seems so far gone and so far away because it brings to the surface, my heritage. I don't think about it very much, because frankly, it is so painful. I miss these two people who practically raised me more than words could ever express. I would give anything to call them up to ask how to tend to a certain vegetable, or to share a funny antic of the kids, or just to say that I am sorry that I was such a rotten teenager. I would give anything to tell them how much they meant to me and how I wouldn't know the Savior that I now serve without their influence in my life. I would love to hug them and kiss those wrinkley cheeks one more time, but I can't. Not this side of Heaven anyway.
The amazing news is that one day I will be able to and for that, I am thankful on this Thanksgiving.