Random

CHRISTMAS CARDS Canon T3 12.2MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II Lens - (Google Affiliate Ad)
So...I've been working on Christmas cards. Why do I always feel like I have to do these on my own and do them handmade? Oh my. I have spent hours today, just me and the Cricut and the paper cutter, and I'm not even a quarter of the way done. Regretting not going the Shutterfly route! Oh well...if you get a card from us, please appreciate it!! :)

DISNEY
A week from Monday, we head to Disney! So excited!! We are surprising the kids. I want to have a bunch of little "hints" wrapped up to give to them every hour or so ( a Mickey coloring book, a new Disney movie, a t-shirt, etc) but my husband just wants them to see the entrance when we drive in. What do you suggest??

 
 I am seriously like a kid when it comes to Disney. I am sooo excited!!! This is where we are staying:

Can.Not.Wait!!! I have heard the animals will just walk up to our balcony. AHHH!!!!

 If you have any tips or advice for me, please share!!

ELF ON THE SHELF

This morning, my daughter came running in to my room declaring she couldn't brush her teeth because Eff had her toothpaste!! Good try, sister!

And here's what ol' Eff is up to tonight:

Silly Elf!!

MY BABIES

They are getting so big!! I had my sweet photographer friend take some pictures of them by themselves when we took Christmas card pics. Thought I'd share some with ya....

Sam, 7 years old

Meri Hobbs, 5 years old

Eli, 3

Noah, 2

I am SO blessed!!!

Just Call Me Scrooge

Y'all, I love Christmas. I do. It is a wonderful time of year and I love the spirit and excitement and wonder. I love talking to my children about the birth of Jesus and how much He loves us. I love drinking hot chocolate and watching Christmas movies snuggled up on the couch. I love looking at all the lights and decorations. I love hearing the Salvation Army bells being rung at the stores. I love buying Christmas presents. I love getting Christmas presents. It is an awesome time of year.

But this year...I have not wanted to decorate. GASP! I know. It's terrible. I want my house to look pretty. I LOVE the way it looked last Christmas. (If you didn't see it, you can see it here.) But every time I decide to climb up in the attic to pull the decorations down, my next thought is, "Eh..." How terrible is that? My children keep asking when we are getting a tree. But I have no desire. I don't want to spend several days putting it all up. And I SURE don't want to spend several days taking it all down. We will be gone out of town twice between now and Christmas. So we wouldn't even get to fully enjoy it. Am I the worst mom ever if I don't decorate? Can we just buy a tree and put it up undecorated? I need some serious motivation here!

I am also stalled out on my Christmas cards. I bought the supplies. We had the picture taken. I even made the list. But that's where I stopped. I have a serious case of the lazies this year!

On the other hand....I am still rocking out the Elf on the Shelf! Here are our last two nights....

The Magic Continues

So, as you know (because of my bragging on myself), Eff came back last night. If you don't know, read this post. And keep up, next time!

As expected, my kids were really excited. And asked way too many questions. I had to threaten to send him back to the big guy if they kept asking me questions about him.

• Why doesn't he close his eyes?
• Why does he like to keep his arms crossed?
• Can he talk to Santa?
• Does he lose his magic if adults touch him?
• How does he know my name?
• How does Santa know his name if we named him?
• How does he get back and forth from the North Pole?

Man...I said the word magic more times today than I did in my previous 34 years combined.

So, before bedtime tonight, we planted the magic seeds to see what would happen. Only half of my kids participated in this....my oldest is spending the night with a friend, and my youngest went up to his Daddy when we were about to start this project, held his arms up and said "night, night Daddy." So we took that hint and put him to bed!

But here are the 3 & 5 year old enjoying planting the seeds...

And here's what they will find when they wake up in the morning......

If you have any great elf ideas for me to do, leave me a comment and let me know!!!

Return of the Elf

So, I have a confession. We have had an elf on the shelf for probably 5 years. I have been a bad elf owner. First of all, his name is Eff. Eff the Elf. Horrible, right? In my defense, my then 3 year old named him. But it still just puts a bad vibe out there for the elf.

Also, our elf has never seemed to move around a lot. He kinda likes to get in one good spot and stay there. When my kids question this, I tell them it's because they have been so good that he doesn't have much to report back to Santa.

And he has NEVER done anything fun like I see on Pinterest. He just sits. And watches. It's kinda creepy, really.

This is the year that all changes, folks! I am about to be THAT mom! Yes-siree, I am. I will over-achieve with my Elf on the Shelf this year. And I will take pictures of it. And I will put it on facebook. And I will blog about it. And I will ignore the eye rolls and snickers I get from you whilst I'm doing it. (I won't, however, ignore Snickers, capital S, that I get from you. Those, I love.)

So, tonight's the night Eff comes to our home. And he comes bearing gifts. I shamelessy copied word for word and idea for idea from this creative mom right down to the free stationary she used from here. But no matter, it's the thought, right?

Drumrolllllll please.......

Here is Eff with his goodies from the North Pole

Here is the letter he brought with instructions from Santa.

He brought us some snow from the North Pole. (It's actually flour...shhhh)

And our magic seeds. I meant to buy Christmas tree sprinkles, but forgot. Guess I'm an under-over-achiever! 

I know my kids will be SO excited to find this in the morning! And I'm thankful for all those moms who come up with these ideas that I can borrow!! I love watching the wonder and excitement of the season in the faces of my babies.

Stay tuned for more elf awesomeness!!!
 (SPOILER ALERT...After they plant the seeds, it will grow into Christmas cookies)

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas!

So there were several Christmas decorating link ups I wanted to participate in, but I just wasn't done decorating in time.

I had a Christmas Open House for our sweet church members, so I was finally able to take some pictures of my house. These are my decorations and pictures from the party.

It was lots of fun and I hope it was a first annual. My husband may not agree to that, though...I got a little singularly focused and a teensy bit stressed! :) BUT, after this year, I won't have to be finishing unpacking my boxes from moving in again the week before the party!! Thank goodness, that is done...well, besides the 2 boxes I hid in my closet for the party! heehee

And now I know...I really don't NEED to cook 387 cookies. That was a bit overkill.

Wreath on Front door

Present topiary I made...thank you, pinterest!

Idea for topiary came from here. I should not have used sheer ribbon. I should have used double sided tape. I should have read the instructions before I made it so I would have cut the boxes before I wrapped them. But I still think it turned out really cute!

My Christmas Story tree - It has 8 ornaments, each with a verse from Luke 2, which together tell the story of the birth of Jesus. My FAVORITE part of our decorations!

A close(r) up of a few of the ornaments

The whole table...this is in the foyer....It has the Bible open to Luke 2, our nativity scene, and the Christmas Story tree.  Plus the garland with ornaments above the mirror.

The Mantle

Coffee Table

Christmas Tree

Island

Appliance garage corner

Snowmen table

Then we just added touches of magnolia and berries in random places

Now to the Open House.....

Thanks to my friend/our student pastor's wife, Lindsay, for helping me decorate cookies!! A great tutorial with recipes and step by step instructions is here on Laura's blog. I followed her instructions, and the cookies turned out great!! I also did presents, but I guess I didn't take a picture of them. Oops!

The other cookies, Red Velvet/White chocolate chip cookies...AKA my hubby's new favorite cookie. (What? You thought I should have taken the plastic wrap off to take the picture?!? I wouldn't know why) The recipe for this delicious cookie is found here.  And also candy cane blossoms. So fun!! That recipe is found here.   

Hot Chocolate Bar

 

Marshmallows dipped in white chocolate and crushed peppermint

**I also found this idea on pinterest, but I cannot for the life of me find where. If you know where, let me know and I'll add a link**

The other "toppings" - candy canes, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, mini marshmallows, mini peppermint marshmallows, candy cane Hershey's kisses....

chocolate dipped spoons and M&M's

The coffee/water/hot chocolate table...and also more cookies...chocolate chip & sugar

The Spread

There it is! Now you can see what I've been up to and why I haven't blogged in so long!!

The Busiest Time of the Year...

Let me give you a little sampler of my December....

Th Dec 1
Fr Dec 2 - Girls Night at my house
Sa Dec 3 - Christmas parade; Feed Little Lambs (prison ministry); Neighborhood blitz to invite people in
                   town to our Christmas program
Su Dec 4 - church; Associational Christmas music program
Mo Dec 5
Tu Dec 6 - Christmas party
We Dec 7 - church
Th Dec 8 - Garden Club Christmas lunch; Date Night to celebrate anniversary
Fr Dec 9 - Christmas brunch/ornament exchange; Christmas party
Sa Dec 10 - Choir practice for Christmas musical; Christmas party
Su Dec 11 - {Eddie & my 12th anniversary}; church; Christmas party; baby shower (hostess);  Christmas
                        musical
Mo Dec 12 - Christmas party (Karaoke with the senior adults...HA!); Young Ladies Share Group
Tu Dec 13 - Christmas party
We Dec 14 - church
Th Dec 15 - Christmas Dinner Theater (I am hosting a table AND singing in the choir)
Fr Dec 16 - Christmas Dinner Theater Night #2; Rehearsal/rehearsal dinner for a wedding Eddie is           
                     officiating
Sa Dec 17 - wedding; Christmas party
Su Dec 18 - church; PM service - speak about my mission trip
Mo Dec 19
Tu Dec 20 - {Sam's 7th birthday}; Open House we are hosting for church members
We Dec 21 - Youth Christmas progressive dinner
Th Dec 22 - Sam's birthday party
Fr Dec 23
Sa Dec 24 - candelight Christmas Eve service
Su Dec 25 - Christmas!; church
Mo Dec 26
Tu Dec 27
We Dec 28
Th Dec 29
Fr Dec 30
Sa Dec 31


Soooo, as you see, I have 4 days available between December 1 and Christmas! Crazy much?! It's SO much fun to get to go to all the church Christmas parties, and we wouldn't miss them for anything. But boy, am I ready for December 26th!! And this isn't even all the Christmas parties. Eddie's secretary usually emails us the dates as they come. So I'm sure I'll be adding more to the list!

Being a ministry wife can be like this sometimes. I feel sorry for the ones that are naturally introverted. I bet December is a struggle for them.

Not to mention what this schedule does for my kids. We are so blessed that the church nursery is open for the majority of these events, but that usually means my kids aren't getting in bed until after 9 most nights. And 2 of them are still having to get up for school every morning. And one of them is having to rush to finish his homework between after school and when we have to load up to go. But thankfully, they roll with it for the most part.

Oh, and guess how many Christmas presents I have bought so far?? NONE!! EEEEKKKKK!!!! Looks like I have the 19th or the 23rd available for that!! But the 19th will be spent cleaning and cooking to get ready for the Open House! HA! Online shopping may be the ticket this year.

I am trying not to get caught up in the busy-ness of it all that I neglect to reflect and focus on the true meaning of the season.

Luke 2:8-17

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

 ⁸ In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; ¹¹ for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” ¹³ And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
 ¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”
 ¹⁵ When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, “Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.” ¹⁶ So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger. ¹⁷ When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child

Dear Santa...

I am linking up with Aly and Becky for their "Show Me Christmas" link-up!

Local peeps, please feel free to print this list out and give to Eddie! :)

1.  Coach purse
 (Eddie...if you're searching for it, it is the Madison metallic leather Abigail shoulder bag. You're welcome for the assistance)

2.  Cricut
 For my love of all things crafty!

3. Digital Camera

4. Wireless printer

5. New pots and pans
(Eddie...this is the Rachel Ray set. In lime green. Yes, please)

6. Trunk for a coffee table

7. An awesome back patio

Now......GO.....

If you want to join  the fun, check out the link-up schedule....

What do YOU want for Christmas?