Perspective

I plan ahead every year. I aim to get shopping and baking and wrapping done early so I can enjoy this season to its fullest. I start making Christmas cards before Thanksgiving, yet I'm still writing notes and addressing them well into December! Some years I do better than others. Other years life gets in the way and I struggle to stay centered on what this season is all about. This year, God has blessed me with so many reminders of His love and ways to prepare my heart for the coming Messiah, the long awaited Savior, the One who came and will come again.

I may still have a few more cards to write and presents to wrap, but I am reminded of all that He has shown me this Advent season about joy, love, and hope - to regain my perspective when life gets in the way.

I witnessed the miracle of Christmas as only the innocence of childhood can portray. We are blessed with many children in our life....through friends and family, it has been a year full of childhood joy. From the bright-eyed beautiful pictures of all the new babies at Christmas, a friend sending me a video of her 1-year-old daughter baking Christmas cookies for the first time, or watching my mom read a Christmas story to my little cousins, there is something undeniable about witnessing Christmas through a child's joy-filled eyes. When I struggle with the day to day of life and everything seems to get in the way, I am blessed to be reminded of that pure joy.

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Phil 4:4

I witnessed the lifetime of love between a friendship that has spanned more than 40 years when my mother's college roommate and her husband invited us to lunch while we were in Chicago seeing my grandmother. From the care she took in preparing the meal (she was worried about impressing the "chef"), the menu cards at each place setting, the special gift she had for each of us, and the fellowship of good friends around the table, we knew it was a moment to be remembered. It was a simple act of love in a moment when we needed it most and yet a most profound expression of God's love for us in a sometimes painful world.

How deep the Father's love for us. How vast beyond all measure. That He should give His only Son, to make a wretch His treasure. Stuart Townend

I witnessed the peace with which we could say goodbye to my grandmother because of the hope we have in life everlasting. After 84 years lived in service to her King, she was called home and welcomed into His arms. She is whole, she is reunited with her husband and her daughter, and she is with her Savior. As my best friend put it, she is having the best Christmas ever with Jesus this year! Indeed.

And again, Isaiah says, “The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; the Gentiles will hope in him." May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:12-13

Christmas Traditions: The 12 Days of Giving

This year, we decided to start a new tradition: The 12 Days of Giving. There are so many ways we can give during the holidays and any time for that matter, but I wanted to do something purposeful. In years past, I baked for several friends and family. I still do, but I scaled it way back this year and instead of sending sweets, we are honoring our loved ones on each of the 12 days of Christmas by donating to charities in their honor. (Many of you will be getting Christmas cards this week, so I wanted to give a bit more of an explanation than would fit on the card : )

Each of the days of Christmas is represented by a friend or family member and we included a short note in our Christmas card telling them where we donated. For many of our fellow animal lovers, we donated to the ASPCA. Others have been touched by cancer so we donated to the American Cancer Society or March of Dimes for all the special babies we know and love. Other charities were the Mecklenburg Special Olympics and Compassion, a Christian child advocacy ministry. Know that we feel blessed to have you all in our life and wanted to do something special in your name!

Continuing with our month of Christmas fun in December, we kicked off this weekend with Jason's office Christmas party. It was at a new restaurant we haven't tried and one of our good friends is now on Jason's team, so his wife and I had each other to make the night even more fun. Not that I mind chatting with his other co-workers, but engineers are not always known for their personalities : ) Many are from other countries, which simply adds another wrinkle in the social skill set : ) Dinner was great and the service was outstanding!

On Saturday, we went to work on our master closet project (which was on a semi-permanent hiatus) during the busy fall. The ceilings are patched, walls painted, trim painted, and today we finished installing the shelving and painting the ceilings. Woot! It's getting late, but I'll post pictures soon.

We originally planned to go see Handel's Messiah performed at BJU last night, but were so busy working, that we just kept going. Next weekend we are going to the holiday concert at the Peace Center, so there's no shortage of music this season.

I love this time of year!

Christmas Traditions

I'm a bit behind on our Christmas fun this year, but will start with our tree! We almost always get our tree early in December (never on Thanksgiving!) Although, this year I would have entertained the weekend after Thanksgiving if we were home. Instead, we headed out last weekend on Sunday to our favorite tree lot (maybe we'll find a cut your own place one of these years) and brought home a beauty. I love that Jason gets it and wants to spend the time looking at dozens of trees before picking just the right one. We like ours to be as tall as possible (8 feet in our house : ) and more slender than fat and chubby. Nothing wrong with a chubby tree, but with our tiny living room, narrow is better for the space!

From years at Callahan's Christmas Shop, there are never enough lights! A rule of thumb for me is one 100-light strand per foot of tree, at least! So yep, we have 8 strands on our tree. Jason always helps me get the tree into the house, in the stand, and level, but then I always light it. I make sure to take the lights in and out of every branch so the tree has depth and well, the lights are where the magic is!

Here she is in all her lighted glory!

I bought some gold and silver ribbon years ago for my first tree out of college and since then have added more ribbon to make our tree topper.

I loved Ginger's tour of ornaments, so I thought I would do one, too : )

Yes, we have Christmas pickle! (Not sure why the string is still attached, anyhoo...)

I have a set of 10 of these stars from 10,000 Villages and just love them. They are small, but so cute scattered around the tree.

We have plenty of keepsake ornaments including this one commemorating our first home together.

And these two from our alma maters. Amy found them at a craft show for us the year we got engaged and I love them!

The "original" Stone Lotus Pottery ornaments, long before we ever had a business! Mama gave me a set of 3 star ornaments a few years ago.

I love all the glass ball ornaments and have dozens in cream, gold, silver, crimson, and purple. And then a few of these with a little extra sparkle.

And just last year, I found a dozen vintage glass ornaments on Etsy...some gold, silver, and a few retro colors like tangerine, blue, and pink. I don't normally do those colors, but a little funk isn't a bad thing.

I also have several blown glass ornaments from Christopher Radko. I fell in love while working at the Christmas shop.

a cute elf
a circus elephant
Santa in the tub : )

I have another santa, a mouse, and a penguin skiing, but they are smaller and a bit more elusive on the tree apparently : )

Again, I don't decorate with blue at Christmas, but we have a set of 3 porcelain ornaments in blue and white from our trip to Biltmore in 2007.

Several wedding ornaments. These glass ornaments are Old World Christmas, similar to Christopher Radko but a bit more budget friendly : )


Amanda gaves me these fun ornaments at my bachelorette party and I love them!
For texture, we added green and purple hydrangea stems throughout.

Jason's parents bring us ornaments each time they visit Disney. This was our first Christmas together and we got another one this year, but I somehow forgot to grab a picture!

Gold and red berries for more textureA Christmas pig in honor of my year at American Grocery Restaurant : )

I've added a coy fish and cherries from the Old World collection, too.

And of course, stockings hung from the mantle.


And one hung lower for Jake!

Grandma

Marjorie Mae Warner

born into this life August 5, 1925
born into eternal life December 12, 2009

Home

Home from Chicago and walked into a house with no dirty dishes and no dirty laundry and Jason home for dinner. Somebody loves me.

Nothing could be better.

New Casserole Dishes

Update: All four on Etsy just sold this morning, but I have one more small green one shown below on the front of the table and can list it later tonight!

These casserole or baking dishes were a big hit at the craft shows this fall, so we're happy to have a few in the Etsy shop just in time for Christmas! We have one in each of our four popular colors and they are all oven safe and ready for baking. Each is hand carved with a "pineapple" pattern along the outside and are deceptively large inside. The large blue one should easily hold a side dish that would serve 8 and the medium ones would hold 6 servings. Of course, they are great for hot dips, baked brie, and other small appetizers and sides.

A PC Christmas?

I turned on the XM station on our TV on Sunday to listen to Christmas music while we decorated the tree and the house. After working at the Christmas shop at Callahan's on all my college breaks, I'm more than familiar with just about any Christmas song they could play. Walking in a Winter Wonderland came on and the last verse should be:

When it snows, ain't it thrilling
Though your nose gets a chilling
We'll frolic and play, the Eskimo way
Walking in a winter wonderland

Anyone see where this is going? They changed the third line to "We'll frolic and play, the Siberian way." Seriously? How do Siberians frolic anyway?!?!?

Trunk Show

A few pictures from our Trunk Show with Fostering Creativity. We will be adding more items to the shop this week, but Amy has a few things listed on her blog as well. Thanks to all who came out!

Things I Learned...

...at my first South Carolina Clemson game (a little late : )

In the almost 8 years I've known Jason, this year was my first official South Carolina Clemson game. I've been to tailgate a few years without a ticket and we've watched all the away game years on TV, but this was my first one in proper attendance! Here are my top 3...

1. It is necessary to lose at least some of your self-respect in terms of gameday wardrobe when you become a Clemson fan. I saw orange overalls, purple suspenders, fur tiger tails hanging from pants, and orange camo. Even the girls who dress "cute" have to work hard to make orange and purple look good together!

2. If you are a fan of the away team and choose to sit in the student section, use some common sense and recognize you will be harassed. And especially if you think CJ Spiller should win the Heisman and Clemson's ACC schedule is comparable to an SEC schedule!

3. Even an early kickoff at noon can not keep the crazies (or the bourbon) at bay.

With a win this year, it was a great day to be in Columbia! It may not have been the most stellar season overall, but a win over Clemson gets you a long way!

Comfort Food

It's cold and rainy here today and the perfect day for comfort food. Most of the time, meatloaf is never the same twice around here....I just use what we have, but when I made it for friends who just had a baby, she asked for the recipe and this is what I came up with. I tend to fly by the seat of my pants and just go with what "looks right" most times, but this is a good start. You may need more liquid or oatmeal depending on the consistency.

1 to 1.5 lbs. ground beef (the package sizes are never the same : )
1/2 cup diced onion (a small onion or half a large)
1 stalk celery, diced
1/3 to 1/2 cup oatmeal
1/3 to 1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 eggs
2 TBS worcestershire sauce
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

I saute the onion and celery in a little olive oil or butter first before adding to the rest of the ingredients. Just for 5 minutes or so until they are soft. Combine all ingredients and form into a loaf and place in a 9x13 baking dish to bake. Here is where you can decide to add more breadcrumbs/oatmeal or ketchup/worcestershire if it doesn't quite come together. Top the meatloaf with a mixture of 1/3 cup ketchup, 1 TBS mustard, and 2 TBS brown sugar. Bake at 350 for an hour or until a thermometer registers 155 F.

Four Thanksgivings and a Football Game

We had a full week of celebrations starting with the Sunday before Thanksgiving. Our Sunday School class reserved one of the dining rooms at our church for a fun potluck after the service. About 30 of us were able to come and we all brought delicious sides to go with turkey from the Fresh Market. The room was bustling with lots of little ones in smocked dresses and monogrammed outfits so we had plenty of excitement. It was the first Thanksgiving for many of the babies this year!

Then on Wednesday, we left for the beach to have Thanksgiving with my family.

Trust me when I say this is a 24 lb. bird! Dad did a great job with it and we had a great time with family and friends.

Nanny and me

Jason and his Mama (yes, she's sitting down...she's taller than that....I'm not, but she is : )

Jason and me

Mama and Daddy

Mike and Ann

Mama and Omar

Estela

Celeste

Isabel and me

Ready for seconds...

On Friday, we packed up the car with pottery (for the show this weekend!) and Dad sent us off with turkey sandwiches for the road. Our next stop was dinner at Jason's parent's house. They drove all the way down to the beach to eat with us and then still cooked a great meal on Friday. Ann officially makes the best pecan pie and homemade mac and cheese : )

We spent the night with his parents, but woke up super early on Saturday to head down to Columbia for the South Carolina Clemson game. It was a beautiful day and a great win, so we were happy to hang out in town for dinner and to stay over. It was nice to relax and have nowhere to go for just the night.

Sunday we came home and cooked Thanksgiving #4 at our house for my cousin Jonathan. We roasted a chicken since the turkeys were all too big, but we had the required cornbread dressing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, vegetable casserole, ROLLS!, and gravy. Jonathan made apple crisp for dessert and now Jason and I have to go on diets!

We ate ourselves silly for a week and that's part of the holidays, but it feels good to be home and back to our regular routines.

And because Jake didn't get to come to the beach (he was well taken care of by our neighbor and Jonathan)....here is how he spent all of last night before curling up in bed with us.

Somebody missed us!