I think it would still be so fun to {still} do stockings. When we were little girls, my sister and I always had such fun surprises in our stockings. Every year we knew there would be a Disney movie in our stocking, but other than that, it was like dumping out a treasure chest of knick-knacks. Maybe next year hubs and I will do stockings...
If I were to fill my own stocking this Christmas, this is what I'd include:
01:: Candy! {Sour Patch kids are my favorite} 02:: Watch 03:: Burt's Bee's chapstick {Is there any other kind?} 04:: Ear phones {I need a magical pair that will actually stay in ears. Any suggestions out there?} 05:: iTunes gift card 06:: iPhone case 07:: Current issue of my fav magazine 08:: Thank you notes
{Special note: I got the idea for this post from one of my fav blogs.}
Back in October, when hubs and I went to Catalyst, we heard Francis Chan speak. He was, by far, our favorite speaker of the conference. I am hoping that he and I will get the chance to read his book in the coming weeks.
There was something in my spirit that agreed with what he said in his talk; he went through scripture after scripture of how the church should care for the "least of these" {which isn't part of the clip I included here}. Why is it so hard for us to care for the poor, the orphan and the widow? Oh how I long for us to be the church who thinks Biblically and makes "weird" choices!
Before Thanksgiving, I told my friend at work that it was just going to be a really full season for Mike and me. I figured out that we didn't have a free Saturday until the New Year. Admittedly, I was a little overwhelmed by this thought. I had to remind myself that all the things on our plate were things I wanted to do and that most of them would be a lot of fun.
Knowing that it was going to be a busy couple of months, I didn't want to loose sight of preparing my heart for Jesus during this Christmas season. My colleague sent me this book. It was such a sweet and thoughtful gift! Each day there is a morning and evening reading. They each begin "Jesus, be in my ________." I love getting the moment to reflect and reposition my heart towards Jesus each day.
What an incredible blessing this book has been to me, especially because my friend gave it to me as a response of my sharing with her how busy I've been. Thank you, Jesus, for moments of quiet rest in the midst of crazy living. Come, Immanuel, Come.
When we pulled out our decorations for Christmas earlier this month, I remembered these ornaments I have never put on my tree. I told the hubs I wanted to figure out something to do with them since I hate wasting things {almost to a fault}. :)
I found this idea via one of the blogs I read and decided to copy it. Here's to Holiday craftiness {which is something I rarely do}. I picked up a fun pink wreath from Target in the $1 section -- the wreath was $2.50 -- and some small ornaments in the Christmas section.
Basically, I just went to town hot gluing the ornaments to the wreath. I was surprised at how easy it was!! Well, besides a few burned fingers. I tried to make sure I varied the colors and sizes so that the wreath looked balanced.
I am very happy with the results! It is now hanging proudly on my front door. It turned out that it wasn't my color scheme this year, but I originally planned for my home to have the bright colors theme for Christmas {hence the extra ornaments}. I'm glad I got to use these fun colors somewhere.
So, I know I'm a little behind on the whole Holiday thing, but I feel like I can't talk about Christmas until I share a little about Thanksgiving. We had a great time in Savannah! We did the actual Thanksgiving meal at my sister's house. The three of us girls had a great time cooking together in the kitchen {and we're so thankful that Mike helped}. We loved the food and getting to spend time with my family--we helped Mom & Dad buy a TV, went to garage sales all over town, watched a couple of movies and played Mexican train.
It's so easy for me to get so caught up on cooking and making everything just right on Thanksgiving that I forget to remember all the things I am thankful for. This year, I made these cards for everyone to fill out while we all waited on dinner to be ready {I wanted to add a ribbon on the side of each one, but I ran out of time}. It was a fantastic and easy way for us to all express our thanks for the things and people that have made our lives so special.
{My grandmama's card}
I am thankful for: 01. Mike 02. A-mazing parents and parents-in-law 03. My sister 04. A new and very sweet niece 05. The rest of my family 06. Being deficit free!!! 07. God's {abundant and sweet} provision during the past year 08. My job 09. The mini-vacations/weekend get-aways we've had in 2010 10. Coffee! 11. So much more!!!
