Stole this from another blog....but I like it!!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping!! But T LOVES to wrap all the gifts, it relaxes him:)

2. Real tree or artificial? We considered getting an artificial one this year, but we caved and bought a real one, you just can't manufacture that winter pine smell!

3. When do you take it down? Day after Christmas..I know it's early but I get sorta tired of all the extra "clutter"

4. Do you like eggnog? Totally!!!! But I never buy it because no one else in my family (except my mother in law) actually drink it..

5. Favorite gift received as a child? My day bed, when I was about 15!! Loved that thing:)

6. Do you like to know what you are getting or be surprised? I don't mind knowing...however T really likes to be surprised, and to surprise me!!

7. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail, baby!! Part of the fun is actually taking the pictures!!!

8. Favorite Christmas movie? All of them....I practically have the whole Hallmark channel recording..

9. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Anything!!! But I really look forward to the "harvest potatoes" Mmmmmmmm

10. Lights on the tree? Of course!!! We have all white lights, but my parents have multi colored...kinda liking the multi!!

11. Favorite Christmas song? Breath of Heaven

12. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Sure, if you call driving an hour traveling!

13. Angel or star on top of the Christmas tree? Angel!

14. Favorite ornament theme or color? Our tree is a theme tree of snowmen!!
The colors are white and red!! Too cute

15. What do you want for Christmas this year? Wishing for a necklace to hold a special pendant that I got from my grandma Betty...

Lacking...

I've been told that my blog has been lacking in content lately. I have to agree, but somehow I just can't put into words what has been going on in my heart. Being that I've been "hiding" in my cave, there has been much quiet time for me to search, ponder,weigh and transform the current state of my heart.

Last week was a very hard week at work. I was so drained emotionally, and spiritually that I couldn't stop my eyes from leaking sporadically all weekend.
Since I can't, as of yet, clearly define all that is ME...I will leave you with some of the questions I am attempting to answer:

1. I find it rather easy to extend grace and compassion to others yet struggle with receiving it for myself, BUT how do I learn to receive?
2. How do i lose the pain of the past?
3. Where is my "safe place" to heal my wounds, where I can recuperate and regain my emotional and spiritual strength?
4. How long will this season of my heart last??

The book I am currently reading is Break Through by Marsha Crockett...
I will close with an insert from the book that grasps where I am this morning:

This is God's tender response to my disbelieving heart: He has marked me as his own and given me hos own name. So, I claim this blessing on difficult days when anger growls deep within. I wrap his name~now my name!- around my ache. My name is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love.
I sit with this blessing until I believe and become this name.

Decor Party at Mom's

Every year we all get together and decorate my mom and dads house for Christmas!!
On Friday we all meet for moms famous chili, Alicia's cornbread, and of course Tree Decorating!!




T and I always provide the game for the night, this year we chose the "wrapping" game. The way you play is, you wrap a gift (ours was $40!!) about 7 times, each time harder than before...you can use duct tape, bags, whatever you can to make it really hard to unwrap...the harder, the better!!
So the game is, everyone sits in a circle and rolls a dice..if you roll on a 6, you put on 3 items of clothes (scarfs, hats, etc) that are in the middle of the circle and after you have the items on, you may start to unwrap the gift...but as you are putting on the clothes and unwrapping the dice is still circulating and if someone else rolls a 6, you have to stop and hand everything over to them. It gets pretty intense, and it is hilarious!! Christian won the money but just barely...my mom almost had it unwrapped, but at the last minute Christian rolled a 6!!!!!!

Thanksgiving Day

I had an amazing Thanksgiving!!!!
It all started early that morning with me falling out of bed and spraining my wrist, followed closely by a panic call from my mom about a turkey and a migraine...
She felt a migraine coming on, and there was no one to do the turkey.
Needless to say the day went on, with mom in bed and T, me, Alicia, Rachel and Christian left in the kitchen to make sure that all the food got on the table at the same time. I honestly have to thank God for my mom being out of commission that day, because the hustling, working, and just bonding that was going on in the kitchen with me and my nieces and nephew wouldn't have happened otherwise. It was chaotic and so fun!!! We made the turkey, ham and all the sides to go along with it..MADNESS I say...but oh so fun. My niece Rachel even said she wanted to be a housewife now, because she had so much fun!!



Yay for migraines!! (just kidding mom:)

So the delicious food was followed by a night of games, laughter and new memories!!
Dave, Jenna and family were truly missed...
It was really one of the most memorable Thanksgivings ever for me...
This is one of my most favorite holidays, I love all the family time, and no matter much I don't understand my niece and nephews music, clothes, friends or whatever..We bonded over cheese like no one's business!!!

I'm no Martha Stewart...

This past weekend, we hosted an annual Thanksgiving "name card" decorating party!
Every year I become a Martha Stewart wannabe, and attempt to design my very own, unique, homemade, creative name cards for the Thanksgiving meal table.
This year the plan was to take the mini pumpkins, paint them and attach a leave with each name written on it...One small problem...WHO KNEW!!! that the mini pumpkins would be rotten after only 2 weeks...UGH

So on Friday afternoon at 2:30 (party starts at 5) I have to revise my whole idea, and go with "flow" Totally not my style, I'm a planner!
So I enlisted the help of Alicia (my niece), and with her help we found a compromise that actually worked out better (smelled better too) We used cardboard ornaments, and painted them just as if they were pumpkins, a few drops of hot glue (let it completely dry before placing on the plate) to keep it stable on the plate, and we are on our way to a beautiful table setting!!

I'm really happy with the final product!! The good thing is, we can use these for the Christmas table as well!!
What do you think of them??

I don't know him at all..

Last night as T was folding laundry, it occurred to me that I must not know him at all...he was sharing with me some pet peeves that I was totally unaware of:

One of them being something I do often, therefore annoying him without the pleasure of knowing I was doing it!

It all started two nights ago...while I was at a pampered chef party, which by the way; no pampering involved what so ever, T was at home watching a movie. I assumed that he was doing the dishes, laundry, you know the stuff I would normally do but couldn't due to the fact that I was getting pampered...but not really.
Ok, so we have this long conversation about both of us helping around the house and one of us is being consistent (me) and one of us isn't(him), and what to do to change that...long story short, last night he stepped it up and took care of laundry and did the dishes!!

Turns out as he is doing the laundry, he was so annoyed with me (his peeve) because I have a habit of folding the clothes and putting them back into the basket. This, my friends, apparently needs to stop right now!
The other thing that needs to stop is the way I don't rinse off my knife after making a sandwich...I've been told that this is extremely gross..ewwwww

2 things I didn't know about T:
He gets irritated by mustard on a knife
Folded clothes in a basket drive him crazy

My AMAZING man, I didn't know you at all:)
Love you sweetie

Season of transitions

As this holiday season quickly approaches, I am reminded yet again of all the transition's that our family's endured this year.
This year has been our first without our beloved Grandma Betty...if you knew our family at all, you've probably crossed paths with her...and most likely she poured her love and laughter all over you.
This year has been our first without my brother David and his family attending all our family functions...they moved to Oregon.
This year has been the first year that my mom and dad have been partially retired.

As we head into Thanksgiving, I am reminded of how much I have to be thankful for.
Even though my grandma passed last year, I had 30 years with her!! 30 AMAZING years!! To soak up her attitude, her love, her cooking, her laughter, and for 30 years I was her special "Carey Joy".
Even though David and his family are in Oregon, I had and will have so many more memories with them...this isn't the end, but merely a bend in the road. I am thankful for the phone conversations I've had with David, that have gone deeper that our usual chit chat at birthday parties, I see our relationship changing...in a good way!!!
My parents are spending less time scheduling and working, more time focusing on their health, their friendships and their grand kids!!! They have an AMAZING opportunity, especially now, to carry on the love of grandma Betty. To extend that same grace, unconditional love, and acceptance that we were all shown by her.

My prayer for this season, is that my family embrace the transitions, grow with the changes, and learn more about each other. We are all a little older now, all a little more stressed out, we all miss David, Jenna, Caleb, Grace and Luke, and we all miss grandma Betty.
I pray we don't miss out on what the Lord will do in our lives this holiday season. Through this year, yes many things have changed. BUT one thing remains constant:

God's love for us is unchanging,
God's hand has never been removed from our family,
He is in control!!!!!!