Emily made sure we had everything we were looking for this Christmas, she even looked under the wrapping paper. We had plenty of sunshine and peace in our day, no snow for Christmas, but it we had some today, just enough to make us smile. We will have plenty of time for relaxing with Emily, watching fun movies and having lots of hot chocolate this week.
This has been one of those totally unexpected weeks. I didn't expect to get such a good deal on a huge Christmas tree anytime before Christmas, and I did put it off pretty late. Ok, it's not huge but definitely bigger than the little bitty tree I had last year that Emily kept tackling at every opportunity. Now she has to jump up to get the ornaments that entice her. I didn't put any ornmaments on the bottom, didn't really have enough ornaments to cover this tree so my mom gave me some more of her beautiful ornaments that she has made out of old cards, so I thought they would be a good thing to share today. Emily and I will try not to shed too much (stress!) over the holiday busyness and hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!
Luke 2:14
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Emily and I are always thankful for the sunshine, warming our home and our hearts. It's much nicer to take walks too, since we have been having some very cold, wet weather here (minus yesterday, we had thunderstorms and it was in the 50's?) Now it's back to cold and cloudy, good Christmas shopping weather, you just have to hang on to your bags, the wind carries you back to your car, if you plan it right. These photos were taken on a very sunny day, this past weekend, when Emily was enjoying her sunbeam and was making these poses, looking a bit like shadow boxing. Another simple joy of the week was watching Mary sing Christmas songs for her chorus concert. Lots to be thankful for this week!
Psalm 20:4
May he grant you your heart's desire and fulfill all your plans!
Some silly photos from going to see Santa's reindeer last weekend...it was so cold that day, and rained a bit too but it was still fun. It was also a good place to buy a Christmas tree and we saw a few being taken down the path behind Mary, but we had a good laugh when we saw this antler tree, all decorated with glass bottle ornaments. Something we certainly don't see too often. These reindeer (in the last photo) all rubbed their antlers on their tree and looked around for something to chew on, and I think maybe that little fence was there to protect that little tree from getting knocked over by them.
When we got too cold, we went inside their gift shop, which was all decorated for Christmas and that was fun too.
So this past week, I felt like Santa's elf, packing up remote control cars for Santa to deliver for Christmas. We were each given one to take home for our kids too, but I gave mine to another elf, for his kids, and that made my heart sing for Christmas joy.
Visiting Santa's reindeer last weekend lifted my spirit and made me smile. They have such a gentle look in their eyes, although they don't look nearly as graceful walking around as the usual deer we see around here. It was very peaceful walking around their ranch, very cold too, but I think these fingerprints of God are waiting for the snow, which may be falling soon enough.
Psalm 42:1
As the deer pants for water, so my soul pants for you, O God.
Could this be considered too pretty of a veggie to eat? I discovered this yesterday, thought it must be some kind of magical veggie, isn't lettuce usually grown when it's hot? The raindrops must have magic in them, certainly felt cold enough for snow though. If you want to see more macro Monday shots, visit lisaschaos.com.
