Merry Christmas

I have plans to snuggle in this week, as the weather has finally turned cold enough to use blankets, and work our way through the holiday book basket. I am going to be taking an internet break to do some of my own personal reading and reflecting. I will be back in this little spot on the 31st! May the Lord bless each of you!

Our Conspiracy Plan

I have mentioned briefly before my struggle with the holidays. I want to slow down once the holidays begin to come around. My desire is to savor this time with family and friends. I want to reflect on the gifts given to me. I have a yearning to simplify, dwell on those things beyond the everyday and give out of the gratitude that wells up in my heart. Every year, no matter how hard I try to beat back the onslaught of important "have-tos", "shoulds", and "expecteds", I get caught up in the crazy frenzy and miss what I so deeply desire. This year will be different. We are going to be very intentional in the giving of our time and resources. We will also be intentional about our receiving,too! The kiddos and I have often pored over this catalog. As we were making the most important birthday list we make all year, ideas for gifts from it kept coming up. After exploring this movement that is taking place, studying Year 5 from Sonlight this year and our deep desire to give, we came up with our plan. All the handmade goodies Mom makes we could sell and then use that money to buy the gifts we want to give to Jesus this year. I will be setting up a table at the Pinewood Christian Academy's Annual Craft & Book Fair (THIS RUNS DEC.10TH -15TH). We will take 50% of the sales made there to purchase our gifts. I had also wanted to set up an online store, that would be open the entire month of December and have 80% of the sales made there to go towards purchasing more gifts. BUT . . . my list was larger than my capability capacity this year. So, if you are local (or will be in the area) stop by and have a look-see at our humble offerings. The kids have a new bike(just like kids,huh?) in mind first,one daughter can not imagine anyone going without a fresh drink, and a piglet would be pure fun after reading about how important they are to some cultures. I will be posting some sneak peeks at the beginning of next week. There is a lot of whispering going on around here! I think more plans are being made.

Want to Join Us?

Yikes! Someone kindly pointed out to me that when you linked through to the video I had, it also took you to some inappropriate stuff. Sorry about that. I am still trying to figure out this whole video embedding thing. So here is a link to the user's page who made the videos for the Advent Conspiracy. There is nothing scary on his page but when you click through the videos on his site, you will be in You Tube land. Please, be wise and view You Tube with great discretion!Once again, sorry about that.

ADVENT CONSPIRACY

Introducing Jane/June

I would like to take a moment to introduce you to Jane and June.



This is June. We find her, on a fine fall day (November 1st to be exact) reviewing her holiday list. June has finished all she has planned -cookies are baked & in the freezer,all presents are purchased & wrapped, Thanksgiving menu planned, Christmas cards addressed, stamped & signed!!! Yes, June is a marvel. She even had time to whip up a festive apron. Now what shall we do for New Year's???



I would like to introduce you to Jane. Poor, poor Jane, she thought it would be festive to home dye her hair red & green. As you can see it did not turn out so well. On the 23rd of December, around midnight, she realized her scheme of making matching pj's for the kiddos was not going to happen. In despair, she tossed the scissors and is retreating to her room with a cup of joe and chocolate until mid-January.



This Topsy-turvy doll is my entry for the 2007 Holiday Softie Awards. (Please, stop by and browse through all the amazing entries) I am not a big holiday gal. There are multiple reasons for this,of which none I am going to go into. Too much navel-gazing for me, thank you very much! This little gal was great therapy. Everyone in my house has decided I need to place her on the table and use her as a way to give everyone a heads up as to my state of being! I am thinking maybe it is not such a bad idea!



The thing is though, now I am getting a little weirded out about having her up there for the "world" to see. Does anyone else get this knots in their stomach feeling when showing your work to other folks?