Rambling through Thanksgiving to Perspective
Just a little update that won’t make a hill of beans to anyone but me-- the therapy it is for me just to type it all out! I saved too much for today...the-day-the-kids-are-at-school. I pulled my head out of the sand and spent until now going through emails from, oh, before B’s birthday week. Fighting shame and with every click hoping there was nothing super urgent. Who was I kidding? All I know is that I have some patient and gracious friends AND family. Now, Walgreens may not be as gracious about the HOURS of CE I was to do by 11/29. {Not for my license-- just in case that worries you if you are a loyal Walgreens customer.} I’ll get right on that.
So, to regain some perspective, here I sit with a cup of coffee and my new favorite morning food-- even though it’s 11:55-- buttered 9 grain toast. I gave up Zone Bars {for reasons you don’t want to know} last fall and buttered toast was my replacement. Makes perfect sense, right? Right. We took the week off of house to do’s for the week of Thanksgiving and had a good ol’ time. We enjoyed sleeping late, staying up late, cooking, anticipating time with friends, first batch of wassail and caramel apples and all the stuff that comes with holidays. Pulling out Christmas and filling the house of reminders of Christ’s birth was a highlight for me because Julia took so much initiative and we were finished in just a few hours. Oh, and Georgia beat Georgia Tech in two overtimes Saturday. Blissful. I tell Jeff, it’s tradition-- that we win. {He’s a GT fan.}
So I will start with that. In a moment of what’s-best-for-my-daughter, we said yes to her babysitting during the game. Well, B’s texts to me let’s you know what was going on while I was picking up Julia. I made it back for the overtimes and for the sweet victory.
He said I could not put this on Instagram but he said nothing about the blog. We went to the Curious George exhibit at our children’s museum. That little monkey has been one of B’s favorites-- the books especially. When he got there, he SORT of figured out that it was really for younger kids but he didn’t want to miss a thing. Hey-- I am hanging on to innocent boy as long as I can.
So on to the craft room before the IMAX- Rocky Mountain Express.
What else is a mom supposed to do sitting there surrounded by markers, clean, unwrinkled paper, glue sticks and tissue paper?
And the cooking begins--- I promise she did NOT put that spatula back in the bowl.
Sultan’s wife Kandice always makes Jeff greens on Thanksgiving so we always get him for a visit during the Thanksgiving parade.
Loved having Em’s friend Casey for Thanksgiving. Our Em sure knows how to pick friends. She’s also got GREAT taste in housemates. Just saying.
Thanksgiving! Em-- thanks for filling up the table with such special people!
And to keep the fun going, my cousin texted me and said they were in Grapevine-- the beach cousins. So we met them for burgers yesterday on the square. I love it how we all just pick up where we left off in St. George.
I share two-- one, Julia’s eyes were closed in one of them ; ) and two, it only took us 15 shots to get them all looking and no one doing something silly. We felt like there were all 3 again at the beach trying to get the family shot!
But today is reality. I started Christmas lists last night-- more like a spreadsheet, actually. Not that we buy that much but we buy for our kids for other people or send ideas to other family members. So to secure that Julia doesn’t get 3 smash book kits or Brighton doesn’t get 4 LEGO Star Wars Jek 14 Stealth Starfighter sets, I’ve got to keep track of all this. It takes time to find all of Julia’s little circles in the magazines, find them on the website and then send the links on to generous family members. {Even though it’s time consuming, I gladly do it to avoid getting “what in the world are we going to do with this?” kinds of things.} I could write a whole post on the $700 worth of stuff she wanted from the Land of Nod and Chasing Fireflies {the catalogs she knows that are only Christmas options.} From the girl that wants to be a fashion designer or a missionary to India, it was quite the mix of stuff.
And, this morning, my noisy friend has been texting me about starting her Blurb book {blogs in book form} .... which I have usually finished by now and am waiting on it to arrive at my front door. Not this year. Not starting it today. Oh, but how sad I will be not to have it at Christmas. Due date for regular shipping is next Friday. Her last text to me a few minutes ago was not encouraging:
"Mo.
Molasses."
The program Blurb uses is not know for it’s speediness.
My reality is really good. Truly. And like yours, really full. Putting the to do list on the back burner for Thanksgiving week was GREAT but it’s still back there- still hot. Makes me wish for a fairy godmother’s magic wand. I could “poof” a few things about now. To help my perspective and my focus, I started my favorite Advent book this weekend, Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus edited by Nancy Guthrie and have been challenged in my thinking each day.
I’ll leave you with two thoughts that will take me straight to Christmas morning {and on to Lent} as I think on them:
Let us celebrate and keep this festival of our church with joy in our hearts: let the birth of a Redeemer, which redeemed us from sin, from wrath, from death, from hell, be always remembered; may this Savior’s love never be forgotten! ……..This, is the history worth reading, this is worth employing our time about. ~ George Whitefield
Only as a man could Jesus do what Adam failed to do and be the mediator between God and man. Why? Because only flesh can die.
From the creche to the cross is an inseparable line. Christmas only points forward to Good Friday and Easter. It can have no meaning apart from that, where the Son of God displayed His glory by His death. ~ Joseph “Skip” Ryan
So, to regain some perspective, here I sit with a cup of coffee and my new favorite morning food-- even though it’s 11:55-- buttered 9 grain toast. I gave up Zone Bars {for reasons you don’t want to know} last fall and buttered toast was my replacement. Makes perfect sense, right? Right. We took the week off of house to do’s for the week of Thanksgiving and had a good ol’ time. We enjoyed sleeping late, staying up late, cooking, anticipating time with friends, first batch of wassail and caramel apples and all the stuff that comes with holidays. Pulling out Christmas and filling the house of reminders of Christ’s birth was a highlight for me because Julia took so much initiative and we were finished in just a few hours. Oh, and Georgia beat Georgia Tech in two overtimes Saturday. Blissful. I tell Jeff, it’s tradition-- that we win. {He’s a GT fan.}
So I will start with that. In a moment of what’s-best-for-my-daughter, we said yes to her babysitting during the game. Well, B’s texts to me let’s you know what was going on while I was picking up Julia. I made it back for the overtimes and for the sweet victory.
He said I could not put this on Instagram but he said nothing about the blog. We went to the Curious George exhibit at our children’s museum. That little monkey has been one of B’s favorites-- the books especially. When he got there, he SORT of figured out that it was really for younger kids but he didn’t want to miss a thing. Hey-- I am hanging on to innocent boy as long as I can.
Both kids feeling a bit out of place here but B really wanted the picture.
What else is a mom supposed to do sitting there surrounded by markers, clean, unwrinkled paper, glue sticks and tissue paper?
And the cooking begins--- I promise she did NOT put that spatula back in the bowl.
Ready for the neighbors-- all four of them.
Jeff figuring out his new turkey recipe-- new EVERY year!
Dear friend’s mom’s recipe
Sultan’s wife Kandice always makes Jeff greens on Thanksgiving so we always get him for a visit during the Thanksgiving parade.
Loved having Em’s friend Casey for Thanksgiving. Our Em sure knows how to pick friends. She’s also got GREAT taste in housemates. Just saying.
Julia’s little pilgrims
Thanksgiving! Em-- thanks for filling up the table with such special people!
And to keep the fun going, my cousin texted me and said they were in Grapevine-- the beach cousins. So we met them for burgers yesterday on the square. I love it how we all just pick up where we left off in St. George.
I share two-- one, Julia’s eyes were closed in one of them ; ) and two, it only took us 15 shots to get them all looking and no one doing something silly. We felt like there were all 3 again at the beach trying to get the family shot!
We missed Jeff-- he had to work. I don’t think Bill ever works.
But today is reality. I started Christmas lists last night-- more like a spreadsheet, actually. Not that we buy that much but we buy for our kids for other people or send ideas to other family members. So to secure that Julia doesn’t get 3 smash book kits or Brighton doesn’t get 4 LEGO Star Wars Jek 14 Stealth Starfighter sets, I’ve got to keep track of all this. It takes time to find all of Julia’s little circles in the magazines, find them on the website and then send the links on to generous family members. {Even though it’s time consuming, I gladly do it to avoid getting “what in the world are we going to do with this?” kinds of things.} I could write a whole post on the $700 worth of stuff she wanted from the Land of Nod and Chasing Fireflies {the catalogs she knows that are only Christmas options.} From the girl that wants to be a fashion designer or a missionary to India, it was quite the mix of stuff.
And, this morning, my noisy friend has been texting me about starting her Blurb book {blogs in book form} .... which I have usually finished by now and am waiting on it to arrive at my front door. Not this year. Not starting it today. Oh, but how sad I will be not to have it at Christmas. Due date for regular shipping is next Friday. Her last text to me a few minutes ago was not encouraging:
"Mo.
Molasses."
The program Blurb uses is not know for it’s speediness.
My reality is really good. Truly. And like yours, really full. Putting the to do list on the back burner for Thanksgiving week was GREAT but it’s still back there- still hot. Makes me wish for a fairy godmother’s magic wand. I could “poof” a few things about now. To help my perspective and my focus, I started my favorite Advent book this weekend, Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus edited by Nancy Guthrie and have been challenged in my thinking each day.
I’ll leave you with two thoughts that will take me straight to Christmas morning {and on to Lent} as I think on them:
Let us celebrate and keep this festival of our church with joy in our hearts: let the birth of a Redeemer, which redeemed us from sin, from wrath, from death, from hell, be always remembered; may this Savior’s love never be forgotten! ……..This, is the history worth reading, this is worth employing our time about. ~ George Whitefield
Only as a man could Jesus do what Adam failed to do and be the mediator between God and man. Why? Because only flesh can die.
From the creche to the cross is an inseparable line. Christmas only points forward to Good Friday and Easter. It can have no meaning apart from that, where the Son of God displayed His glory by His death. ~ Joseph “Skip” Ryan
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