"Jingle Bells," by Will

My Favorite (Christmas) Things (as sung to "Favorite Things" from "The Sound of Music."

Gingerbread houses and stockings on mantels,

Red Starbucks cups and Christmas Eve candles.

Facebook and postal and email greetings...

These are a few of my favorite things.

Girls in pink dresses and
holiday parties.

Crafting and wrapping and baking some cookies.

Eating then watching some Christmas movies...
These are a few of my favorite things!

When the bills come!
When the flight's late!
When I'm feeling fat...

I simply remember my favorite things
and then I don't feel so bad!

Miscellaneous Festiveness--or Festive Miscellaneousness?!

Some of my favorite Hillside gals at last night's fellowship evening. Good food, good fun, and good fellowship.

Feel free to copy this idea as long as your kids are not in my kids' classes! I think I have done this about every year, except for last year. 6-packs of IBC rootbeer also work well! If you want to decorate the back reindeer also (sometimes I do, sometimes I don't,) just be sure to use brown "noses." Always a hit, I also like to include a couple packs of flavored microwave popcorn, (my favorites are cheddar and caramel!)

Katie & Madison

Katie has the sweetest little girlfriend, Madison. They met last year in Kindergarten, when many of the girls were losing interest in Princesses, they formed a fast friendship. They love singing, dancing, dressing up, and all things girly. Yesterday their class made little gingerbread houses, and of course, they worked side by side.

The two of them together on the playground is something else. They are tireless. They run, swing, run, slide, run, jump rope, and run some more.

Thank you, Lord, for special friends. Tomorrow we will celebrate Madison's birthday and we are grateful for her sweet spirit and loving heart. She is a wonderful playmate for our Katie!

Finding the joy...

Well shucks. Christmas is practically here and I am so not ready. Our designated Christmas decorating week (the one before the week of Thanksgiving) started off with the stomach bug making its way to our home. So we put the decorations on hold. All of our company over turkey day would surely forgive us. Then, with said company being in town, we couldn't seem to find the time to get it done. Please keep in mind that this is basically a one-woman show, as my husband doesn't care to hang lights or do much decorating. Just getting him to set up the tree is an accomplishment. So here we are, preparing to leave town for a bit to celebrate with family in Indiana. I am finding it hard to muster the energy and/or desire to get the show on the road.

Right now, I am drinking gallons of hot cocoa every day (throw in a few visits to 'Bucks every week,) listening to Christmas music around the clock, and eating all things festive. I have been good about having some intentional time with Jesus (come on, He is the reason for the season, after all!) Nevertheless, I am not in decorating mode. So we have made a decision to put the decorations on hold for this year. I have stockings and gifts, of course, and a couple of nativities around the house, but we are not going to do our tree and pull out the rest of the stuff, just this year. Ahh...

I should be relieved, right?

It actually kind of makes me sad. Just a tiny bit. But that is okay. I do want to post a picture of our stockings but I am having trouble getting pix off my camera at this moment in time. So stay tuned...