Tag Archives: family

The Merry, Crazy month of December!

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And so it begins…..the merry, crazy, chaotic, overscheduled month of December.  Thanksgiving and Christmas are positively my favorite holidays of the year.  Thanksgiving because the focus is on family, food, friends and taking a few seconds to appreciate how much we have to be grateful for.  And blessed we are.

(Ok, this picture is actually from last year because I took NO food pictures this year, possibly because I was truly enjoying the moment, however, the bounty was similarly traditional and full!)

Hubby was truly thankful to be enjoying non-institutional food with his favorite people on the planet (US!!).  My grandparents joined us last-minute due to car trouble while driving to SC to see my aunt and cousins.  I know she was sad to have missed the trip, but it all worked out and we had a great dinner. and somehow there just weren’t as many leftovers as I had thought….and it was all worth it!!

The remainder of the month will be filled with:

  • the town Christmas parade:   2 of 4 children participating
  • school programs:  band concert x 2
  • shopping:  any time I can fit it in…lunch time is UBER productive during December!
  • church programs:  2 of 4 children participating
  • cookie exchange:  an annual event by my old roommate, her mother in law and sisters in law and the focus is on fellowship, food, exchanging AMAZING cookies and Jesus.  Yes, I said His name, Jesus.  This IS Christmas people, notice the “Christ” at the beginning of the word?  The entire season is because it is a celebration of Jesus’ birth!!!  (had to clear that out….political correctness has no place here..)  It is a fabulous time!!
  • “Happy birthday, Jesus” party with my grandparents, an annual event which we ALL look forward to!
  • tree decorating, holiday baking
  • dinner with our Priest at our house
  • Walk through Bethlehem with one of the local churches
  • Hiding Finding our “Elf”, Friefel
  • West side story high school production (date with hubby)
  • Sending and receiving Christmas cards (of which we are ALL in this year!!)
  • Nutcracker with the girls.  It will be the first time for ALL of us and  a total surprise for them.
  • finish up with regular school, work, flag football and softball and it’s a crazy month.  And I bet YOUR month looks JUST the same!!

(these delicious Peanut butter Buckeye balls are the favorite of our family for holiday baking!)

Don’t forget, the Reason for the Season.  Christmas is a day to celebrate the birth of Jesus and the days leading up to that, Advent.  The waiting on the Lord.  The anticipation.  Enjoy every moment.  Every morsel.  May your Advent season and Christmas be as joyous and filled with thanks as ours!!!

The advent of Advent….

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‘Twas a busy weekend with our little family and with today following a 5 day Thanksgiving break for the kiddos the morning is set to be a lovely cacophony of tired wails, whines and sluggish morning movement…

But it’s all good.  We put up the outside Christmas lights (after hubby finished painting the FRONT of the house), brought all the decorations down from the attic, washed and put up all the Christmas dishes, 2 children finished up school projects (a weekend long affair fraught with anxiety, stress and whining….oh, wait that was me….), picked up a kayak to borrow for a while from a friend AND…….took the family Christmas Card picture AND….ordered it.

Perhaps I will look at the kiddos’ Christmas lists now….I’m starting to feel Advent-Y!

The way to their heart…..

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I love this hutch.  It’s not super fancy, but it holds some of my favorite things:  my cookbooks.  Of course, if you look closely, you’ll see my apron (which I don’t always remember to wear, but I absolutely ADORE…thanks Brite!), our nod to our beloved FSU ‘Noles, a jar of lifesavers for the “I’m hungry, mom…but dinner is 5 minutes away moments”, pie tins ready to make something delish, baskets to deliver with, bug spray and Benadryl (mosquitos love us!), and a left-over mustache from Halloween.

I have a lot of cookbooks and at some point I’ve used them all.  I think.  But it seems I have my “old standbys” that I always go back to.  And maybe I should just remove some and de-clutter a bit, but I can’t bring myself to do it.

These three are my most solidly used books.  The folder is a collection of friend’s and family recipes over the years.  I had a separate one for desserts and sadly one Christmas shopping trip to Publix it was left in the cart with no one turning it in.  BOY, did they SCORE!!  The green and white book is a smaller collection of F&F recipes from when I started putting them on cards and they became too overwhelmed by the volume, however, I add all the Publix Apron meals cards in there.  And my Tallahassee, Junior League“Thymes Remembered” has some standard recipes and family faves that I practically know by heart.

My apron.  Still has some dough from last week’s Pioneer Woman cinnamon rolls.  Still have some in the freezer.  Yum!  Soon to be sporting some Peanut butter from our holiday tradition of making “Buckeyes“  for my friend’s Annual Cookie Exchange.

I may not have a cooking blog site, or show on Food Network, however, I love cooking.  I love cooking for my family and my friends.  It brings our family together at dinner most nights of the week so we can share our day and our “Hi’s and Lo’s”.  It might keep me fluffier than I prefer, but I absolutely love trying new things and filling their tummies with love.  Baking is the best, but sadly just not enough nutrition to fully sustain us, so I try my best to keep it to a minimum, but ‘TIS THE SEASON, BABY, so watch out!!

One of the way to their hearts is through their stomachs and I am happy to oblige and love on my family!

Galations 6:7  A man reaps what he sows.

I hope I am sowing a loving and happy family with full tummies!

Children ARE our refining fire…

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After a particularly stressful beginning to our Mass this morning, it occurred to me during Mass (as I prayed diligently for my head to NOT spin off) that it’s quite possible that children are our refining fire.  They are our opportunity to test our faith as we question “Why in the WORLD,Lord, did you ever think I was capable of dealing with all of this drama?”  And He answers:  “Because I made you and you are capable of far more than YOU realize.”

As I mull this over,  my 8 year old kisses my cheek, my 9 year old hugs my waist and my 12 and 14 year old have miraculously turned their hearts back toward us and are no longer complaining about RETURNING to church (yes, twice in one day, IMAGINE that!!!) later in the day.  The ups, the downs, the loopedy loos….ain’t parenting grand?!?

1 Peter 1:6-7 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith–more precious than gold that perishes through it is tested by fire–may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

It’s the end of the week as we know it….

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  • I’ve finally made some headway into writing the story of our family’s Faith walk through our years of incarceration.  For some reason, (I’m going with the Holy Spirit’s leading on this one), I haven’t been able to write.  Perhaps it’s nerves.  Either way it’s begun and to say it’s mind-blowing to look back on how firmly we were under the protection of the Lord, and still are, is truly amazing.  God IS good.  In the midst of it all, He is good, He is present and He loves.
  • We are going to attempt a photo shoot (complete with tripod) for our Christmas card this weekend.  I have a mental block on ANY Christmas shopping until our card is done, ordered and MAILED–shortly after Thanksgiving (I like to be one of the first–I’m weird like that!!).   I’d love to do a post on the pics that don’t make the cut.  You know the ones….”he’s touching me, I’m TIRED of smiling….this is boring….WHY do we do this EVERY year”…and so on and so on….at least they are a little older and tend to sit longer for pictures these days…mostly…
  • I have pinpointed my errors in lack of pre-planning for our week with the dueling football and softball schedules.  I now have a plan going forth.  Not surprisingly, it usually takes me a couple of weeks to “work out the kinks” when change is upon us!  There will be freezer meals a-cookin’ in the casa this weekend!!
  • The weather is changing, the air is fabulous and crisp.  Now to decide if we will be brave enough to go through with our scheduled stand up paddleboard trip on Saturday morning.  It’s supposed to be in the low 70’s and sunny….and I suppose if I stay OUT of the water it will be OK…
  • Had a great two days of exercise in early this week.  Mid-week…ummmm, let’s call that “recovery” and here’s to hoping the week finishes BIG with a fun and physical weekend–which of course, means I have to get off the laptop and walk this morning before work…
  • Successful purging of summer clothes into fall/winter clothes is complete with a VERY small list of “needs” for the girls (even smaller for the boys) AND I managed to make it to the Post office to send off some winter shoes I purged to a dear friend’s daughter.
  • I can’t believe it’s been 10 years since 9-11.  Wow.  There are no words.  Prayers for all the souls of the lost.  Prayers for the families who annually relive that day.  Prayers for peace in this world.
  • It’s the end of the week…the kids sweetly asked if I would have today off also for Veteran’s day, but alas….not so much.  Daddy is working from home to oversee activities and such, so for THAT I am heartily grateful!  And on that note, I think I will grab some sweatpants and go for a brisk walk and get this day started!!  Happy Weekend, y’all!!