From Us To You

 



Half-Done Holiday

The last time I checked, it was June.
Christmas is coming whether I'm ready or not.  I prefer to be ready, but that feeling of being a little "behind" on things has been taken over by a feeling of "I am a Christmas loser."

I am not lying when I tell you I know folks who've already finished all their shopping.  Their Christmas ham is probably in the oven.

I have friends who own those pesky "Elf on a Shelf," and they've been up to their elf shenanigans for weeks now.

I received 3 Christmas cards on November 30.  Yep... November.

I just thought about ordering our Christmas cards this week.

We are the most "festive" people on our street, and we usually have lights up outside, but right now, our front porch is coldly dark.  The neighbors must think we've died.

I found the garland I like to put on the mantle, but the lights aren't working. 
You'd think I could grab a strand of lights at the store.  Have you tried to buy Christmas lights lately?  There's LED, non-LED, warm LED, cold LED, 60 light strands, 100 light strands, 50 light strands, and lights that hang themselves.  Just kidding.  If there were lights that hang themselves, my mantle would be lit.

Our tree is up, but the topper is missing.  Now that I think about it, the angel quit last year.  Quit "working," as in, stopped lighting up.  She didn't quit her job.  Maybe she did.  Maybe she went to live with a family who has their Christmas act together.

There's a song by Amy Grant called "I Need a Silent Night."
I.  Love.  It.
I'm going to change the words to "I need a silent month."

I understand the song is about the rush and bustle of the holidays; the "chaos and the noise."  But, today - as I was listening to it - I realized (for me) it's also about peace within.  Peace inside my mind.  The ability to stay quiet and calm in my heart... despite what my own voices in my head are saying. 
I not only fall victim to comparing myself to others, I fall short of my own ridiculously high standards.  Why would I do that to myself when life is stressful enough?

So if you drop by our house, the tree may be barren up top.  But this song will be on replay:

I need a silent night, a holy night
To hear an angel voice through the chaos and the noise
I need a midnight clear, a little peace right here
To end this crazy day with a silent night.

This Is Your Last Day To Be Thankful

I'm kidding, of course.  It is the last day of November, but I hope we are all thankful every day.  I know it's an area where I could improve.

The last half of our thankful wall included:

16. Noah  (the world's most adorable nephew)
17. friends
18. drinks  (This one was the boy's, and it makes him seem like an alcoholic.  I think he meant drinks like Root Beer and iced tea.  I hope.)
19. freedom
20. God
21. love
22. Subway  (Our cat, not the restaurant... although I do love a spicy Italian sub.)
23. pj's
24. friends  (Yes, it's on the list twice.  Obviously someone wasn't paying attention.)
25. funny things
26. Jesus
27. The Holy Spirit  (We got all religious-y here at the end, didn't we?)
28. Autumn  (Dan/Daddy wrote this one, and I assume he meant he was thankful for me, not the season.)
29. Elijah  (OK... who didn't read Day #4?  Come on, people.)
30. April & Daniel  (I have the best brother and sis-in-law ever.)

In honor of being thankful, we traversed across the Southeast to eat a ridiculous amount of food and to spend time with all these folks we are thankful for.

In Alabama, we gathered with Dan/Daddy's family...

 

 

There were 20 of us there, but somehow I only have pictures of football and grandmothers.  How does this happen?

 

In South Carolina, there was more football, more food, and another grandmother...

 

Apparently, in this family, we love food, football, and grandmothers.  I think I need to get more aggressive with the picture taking.
I pray your Thanksgiving was full of people and things to be thankful for.

Reign In The Elves, I'm Trying To Be Thankful

Ready or not, the holiday season is upon us.
I was in a store last week, and the Christmas carols were blaring. I am a lover of all things Christmas, and I never feel like it gets here too fast. But OHMYWORD. Can we just put the brakes on a little?
One of my neighbors has a tree up and lights on her house. Meanwhile, at our porch, there's a drippy pumpkin.

I've been enjoying reading all the Facebook posts and blogs about what people are thankful for.
We have a chalkboard wall in the kitchen, and every November, we list our 30 Day of Thankful.

We all take turns writing, and it's fun to look down the wall and see who's thankful for what.
So far, we are thankful for:
1. food

2. grace

3. churchy answers... This is the boy's.  He wrote it in response to me telling him to stop giving me "churchy answers" when I ask him what he studied in Sunday School or Youth Group.  I say,
"What did y'all talk about?" 
He says,
"God, Jesus, and The Holy Spirit."
He's a bit of a smarty pants, and I have no idea where he gets it from.

4. Elijah... That's mine.  I had to remind myself to be thankful for the smarty pants.

5. soccer

6. Democracy

7. technology

8. Jack Bauer... We're still deep in the throes of "24," and the world needs a Jack Bauer.  Or two.

9. lacrosse

10. family

11. Baba & Papa

12. Nana & Pops

13. Alabama football... Despite that sad sad loss to Texas A&M.

14. Krispy Kreme... Amen.

15.

I don't even know where to start on this.  On my turn - the next day - I added

16.

I'm going to need lots of it, apparently.

The November Post Where I Force You To Look At Beach Pictures

Fall is zooming on by.  I read a blog earlier today, and the blogger said she hates the word "busy."  I agree.  Everyone is busy, so I don't feel like it's fair to complain about it. 
My new word is "chaotic."  Life - for us - in the last 4 weeks has been "chaotic."  Full to the brim with running here and there and doing this and that. 
I have to scroll through my camera to actually remember what's happened.


We went to the beach with Dan/Daddy's parents for the boy's Fall Break.  The weather couldn't have been more beautiful.
The boy and I were photo-bombed...

I stepped on this...

 And I took lots of pictures of this face.  Even if it bugged him.

We took a weekend trip to see my brother, sis-in-law, and nephew... who treated us to the most exciting 4 year-old soccer game I have ever seen.
In the words of my nephew, he was "on FIRE."

 

 

In our "spare time," the boy finished a huge research project for one of his classes...

 

He presented his project wearing a swimsuit, goggles, and flippers.  Good thing we hadn't packed up the swimwear and accessories yet.

 

 

I would like to think life is going to slow down a little, but I realize I'm only lying to myself.  In case you haven't noticed, it's almost the middle of November. 

Happy Veteran's Day... and Football

Our favorite veteran is home today, and he has the day off.
I haven't seen him or the boy in a few hours... they headed out to play some soccer and football, so it's nice and quiet around the house.
Speaking of football, we spent most of the weekend in mourning over the Alabama football game.  College football is my favorite, and Saturday's game was no exception.  Except I wish Alabama had played better.
Congrats to Texas A&M... you guys were great.

Are you part of a big football rivalry?  What's your opinion of the "trash-talking" that goes on?
I grew up in a "football town," and my family has always been fans of a team that's part of a big rivalry. Is it just me, or do some people take it waaaaaay too seriously?  I love my favorite teams, but I do not love the nastiness.  On any side.

What happened to the love for the game?  When did it turn into
"I'm only happy when ________ loses!"

I have a friend who posted this to her Facebook page:

"Support what you love; don't bash what you don't."

Amen, sister. She's a fan of a rival team, by the way.  As a matter of fact, some of my favorite people are fans of the "other" teams. 

I'll get down from my soapbox, now.
Happy Veteran's Day to all those who have served bravely.  I am honored to call some of you my friends.
I hope your team won this weekend, and I hope you have a day off, too.

Decision Day Doughnuts and Bully Scientists

A day of no school makes me so happy.
Sadly, my bladder woke up at the normal time of 5:45 am, but I crawled right back under the covers and thanked Mitt and Obama for the extra sleep.

I tried to bribe the boy into going with me to vote by offering to stop for doughnuts.  It didn't work.  He was lounging around in his pjs and finishing up a big research project for school.

He's been working on this project for a while, and the scientist he's studying is Robert Ballard.  Mr. Ballard discovered the wreck of the Titanic in 1985.  He's a very accomplished man.  His awards and discoveries are plentiful, and this morning, the boy was listing them.  That's when I heard him yell,

"AGH!  Robert Ballard discovered EVERYTHING!  He is a bully scientist.  Hi... My name is Robert Ballard and I left nothing for anyone else to discover!"

I'm glad this project is due tomorrow. If Robert Ballard were running for President, the boy would probably not vote for him.  He's fascinated by his work, but he thinks Mr. Ballard is a genius bully.

So get out there and vote today, friends.





 

 

I did, and I noticed the stickers were very tiny.  Downright dinky. Whoever runs in 2016 needs to campaign for bigger stickers. 

I also ended up stopping for doughnuts anyway.  I may or may not have eaten 2 on the way home.