December Memories

December has been a very full month for us. It went flying by as well. I have a rare moment of down time today. We are on Christmas break and enjoying Leon's family, especially the ones from the South, and while the older grandkids went bowling, I stayed back to be w/ the ones who are a bit sick-ish. Then we all plan to end up at Pizza Hut later. Pizza Hut has a long standing place in this family, mind you. Don't mess w/ the Pizza Hut tradition. :) As long as I don't have to cook, I'm not complaining.

So here are a few of my favorite memories from the past month...

• cutting and tying 6 fleece blankets with the help of my children and my Mom  for the youth Christmas gift exchange
• baking cut-out cookies and decorating them with Brooke
• getting frustrated over chocolate that wouldn't cooperate for turtles and mocha truffles (that's not exactly a favorite memory..)
• watching Logan's basketball games which they both lost, then missing the one where they won!:(
• coffee shop date with my special friend, Lori
• church Christmas banquet
• youth Christmas banquet and gift exchange
• sewing a dress for my little 9 mon. old niece
• Christmas shopping
• letting the children plan how we want to 'do' our family Christmas this year (more on that later)
• decorating the house
• enjoying the Christmas lights in our house at night and the cozy feelings it provides
• helping my Mom with Christmas meals
• watching the Live Animal Christmas Play, a yearly tradition
• singing 'He is the Lord' at church
• Christmas caroling with the church and the youth
• giving gifts
• receiving Christmas letters and pictures in the mail
• being reminded of the great sacrifice God made to come to earth as a baby in order to fulfill His Father's plan
• singing carols with my sometimes naughty Sunday School class last Sunday up front at church and hoping and praying that the love they feel from me makes them want to know True Love
• watching my 4 year old play with our manger scene and re-enact the Story over and over
• getting snow
• sending Jamison to SC for several days with his uncle to surprise his cousins

One of the things that has been impressed on me so much this year is that less is more, especially if the heart is right. Simple acts and gifts are priceless when we feel genuine love from the giver. Large gifts feel 'small' when given out of obligation or to impress. Oh, that I could get that in my children's heads, for it truly is 'more blessed to give than to receive'. I think I have to live it,  if I want to give it. The responsibility lies not in my knowing, but in my showing and doing and acting. oh, that my heart could be filled with genuine agape love and that it could flow through all that I do.

random {that very overused word of the day}

I feel like I must write. I haven't really blogged in so long. It's very theraputic for me.  I have an extremely busy week and it seems like this is perhaps the last thing I should do. I'm forgetting the to-do list for just a minute and giving myself 10 minutes to rant about random things in my life.

The timer just went for the pie crust I'm baking. I love, love having frozen pie crusts in the freezer for desserts at busy times. Tonight the pie will become a peanut butter cream pie and hopefully grace the table of one of our pastor's family's for a belated Pastor Appreciation meal that was supposed to happen back in October.

I want to do some Christmas baking. I have to make cut-out cookies. It's a family tradition around here and I know better than to mess with those. I also want to make party mix and those Peanut Butter Blossom cookies.

Logan's basketball consumes way more of my time than I like. Running him to practice 4x a week is so NOT my cup of tea. But watching him get to play last week made up for it. (sort of) It's been a dream of his for a very long time and I love the good things he can learn in sports.

We had steaik fajitas for lunch and if I ever overeat, you can blame Mexican food.....or steak and potatoes...or salad..or grilled chicken....or fresh homemade bread....Sometimes I wish for no appetite, but then I remind myself that only the sick people have no appetite so maybe it's not a bad thing, as long as I control it.

Thursday looms before me like a giant monster stalking me...coming closer and closer. Yes, a dentist appointment is on the schedule for the afternoon. I never had a cavity until a year ago, of course if you didn't go to the dentist for 8 years before that you don't know what you have, :) but suddenly I learned about cavities and root canals and I do not like it. Not one little bit.

Why do some people have such a hard time being okay with their past and where they've come from? It's all part of our story and most of us can find at least a  little bit of good in how we were raised. I feel sad for people who spend their whole life running away from it and missing the good parts along the way.

Relationships can be tricky no matter where you are at in life. Getting along w/ people is not an art you learn overnight. Usually honesty is the best policy, but then that's the way I roll. For you, that may be totally offensive. I just don't like when I feel your frustrations toward me but to my face you are all friendly and sweet.

Last night I poured out all my woes of my busy week to my kind husband. He listened, and offered a bit of advice, but I felt so much better afterwards. He has been so helpful when I get overwhelmed and he is my solid rock more times than I can count.

It's really hard for me to admit when I am busy or overwhelmed. I am a firm believer that people choose the life they live and for some people being insanely busy is their status symbol, the way they are known. Count me out. I want to enjoy life. But having said that, sometimes life happens and things come up that are not in our control and that's okay too. Sometimes.

There is nothing worse than a whiney, fussy girl on a Sunday morning unless you make that two whiny fussy girls. For real. I think Satan just walks in here on Sunday mornings and tries so hard to rule the roost and too many times I'm too dumb to notice it was him until it's all over.

Watching people interact with my children is the coolest thing. I hope my children grow up to take an interest in other people's children. What a blessing and example youth can be to younger children! We are so, so blessed with a youth group that loves our kids and not just in a crazy, 'I'll have fun with you ' kind of way, but 'I'm reallyt interested in you and your life'.

My 10 minutes are up, my brain is a little de-fuzzed and I'm off to tackle the next project.