It's beginning to look...

a lot like Christmas around here. We finished putting up our wreaths on Thursday. And with that, the house was decorated inside and out. I love the way the Christmas tree and the outdoor lights illuminate the family room, especially when we are using the fireplace. Besides the fun decorating, we have had many Christmas celebrations already. Last week we were very excited to start our Advent devotions and crafts.
We were supposed to tour the "Walk Through Bethlehem" up the road last Friday. But we realized we were a day early, so we opted to drive around and look at lights and eat these:

My friend and I were in charge of decorations for our Women's Ministry Christmas event on Saturday. We decided to go with a simple, traditional theme and used phrases from carols propped on sprigs of holly as place tags, along with simple floral arrangements and polka-dotted fabric for the center pieces. After this party we headed to Birmingham for our first family party. We have a beautiful family. This is our second Christmas without Grandmom and Granddad, and it's still hard to get used to because they LOVED Christmas, but it was a good time together!

And today we went to the Nutcracker ballet with our homeschool group. It was a wonderful performance, followed by a long lunch with our friends. I feel incredibly blessed with this full life of ours. I am committed to not allowing myself to feel unappreciative of our bursting-at-the-seams-calendar. My desire is to focus on this beautiful season, probably our last one here in Georgia, with our amazing friends and family. I hope my mind will be fully atuned to my surroundings, and my heart fully focused on the life of Jesus. I want to really, truly enjoy!!

"He brought peace on earth and wants to bring it also into your soul-that peace which the world cannot give. He is the One who would save His people from their sins."~Corrie ten Boom