'Twas the week after Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse!!

I'm sitting in my living room alone, only the faint sound of music in the background. Shaun's at work, Jessie and Riley are tootling around town, Andrew's at his new job (cleaning horse stables), and Ashlee and Daniel flew back to Florida late last night. Real late last night! 

I have a party to go to tonight (as if I haven't partied enough lately!). So I'm also whipping up some cherry cheesecake, chips and dip, and crackers with a fancy cheese dip. Yummy!

I've been able to sneak in a little bit of picture editing this morning, so I thought I'd share what I have so far. I'll commentate as we go along. As usual. Because I can't seem to not talk ....

Gracelyn (my niece) has decided she likes to see the baby in the camera. So now she likes her picture taken, as long as I show her "me" on the screen afterward. :))

 

Jessie, and the new earrings I bought her for Christmas. Nice of her to wear a matching shirt for the day. Heehee.

Ashlee, doing dishes for me Christmas day. We made her venison (compliments of Andrew) and pancakes for lunch (her fave!), and then we had a large ham, pork roast, and all the fixin's to go with it for supper.

The happy newlyweds, just before they took off last night. Sniff, sniff ....

Family pic. Love that we are a family of six now! Well, seven if you include the dog.

Daniel gave me a little dancing lesson before they left last night. We like to play the part.

Just Jessie ... looking .... pretty. :)

A roughed up Gracelyn!

I love that she comes and asks to sit on my lap these days. Makes me feel all warm and squishy on the inside!

Peek-a-boo!

Sisters ...

Shaun's mom and sister.

Smokin' her candy cane!!

Shaun and Ashlee, lounging around on Christmas.

That's all for now. More will come later, but I wanted to show off a little just stop in and wish my readers a happy post Christmas week.

Are we ready for 2011??????

Didn't think so. 

crickets, christmas, and mrs. c

For all of you just dying to know what Christmas with Mrs. C (that's me) is like .....

*crickets chirping

Ok, so  nobody's dying to know such information. But Mrs. C (remember- that's me!) is dying to tell. So here's my 2010 Christmas story thus far, in pictures:

Did anyone here know that Andrew is a juggler? He has a part time job with the circus.

Just kidding.

But he IS pretty good at juggling. Even pine cones!

Here's a few goodies I've made along the way. Chocolate covered popcorn, and a cheese spread to put on some delish crackers. Actually, that popcorn is covered with chocolate and peanut butter chips. I had a lot of fun drizzling. In fact, I may have gotten just a little bit carried away when I flung some clear across the kitchen, and hollered out to Andrew "Hey, this drizzling stuff is pretty cool!"

Those little things that look like deer pellets are capers. I didn't know what capers were until I made this recipe. Wait - I still don't know what capers are.

You don't know what deer pellets are?

Well, I don't feel so bad then.

Shaun and I at a Christmas party. No, we did not match on purpose. We're just hip like that.

*more crickets chirping

 Jessie and Riley at the same Christmas party. Funnest night of the season so far, but the season is far from over!

Santa's lil' helper. Cough, cough ...

And yes, those bulbs are actually hanging from her ears. Yikes! 

We decorated Mom before we decorated the tree. Just to see which one would be cuter.

The tree won.

*crickets

Once Ashlee and Daniel get here (Five more days!!!), I'll have a ton of things to show and tell. *claps hands in excitement

Until then, I have toilets to clean, laundry to do, presents to make, presents to buy, and one sick boy to take care of. Here's to hoping the rest of us (and you!) stay healthy and robust through the Holiday.

Merry Christmas to all of you!!!!
 

Christmas!!!

No Mas Christ In Christmas?

I'm taking the time out to remind you (and me!) to slow down enough to keep Christ where He belongs: Right smack in the center of our Christmas.

We're in the hustle and bustle time of the season, where gifts need to be wrapped, Christmas dinner needs to be planned, our houses need to be spiffied, etc, etc. Pressure is high (blood pressure!!), time is limited, and Christ can get bumped to the waiting list, or worse, ushered out of our thoughts all together.

I personally still need to:

Wrap gifts
Clean house (it's a wreck!)
Finish grocery shopping
Make my portion of Christmas dinner
Finish up some secretarial duties
Attend Christmas Eve service

Where is Christ, exactly, in that list that cries "Go, go, go! Faster, faster, faster!"?

Where is Christ in all the Santa talk? In all the commercials we are bombarded with that scream at us to shop, shop, shop, buy, buy, buy!? In all of the programs we must attend, for fear of hurting the feelings of someone we love and care for?

I Corinthians 10:13 says, Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Shop to the glory of God? Prepare food and clean toilets to the glory of God? Give gifts to the glory of God? What does that look like, exactly?

I think it's simply having a heart of service in whatever we do. Service to people, yes. But ultimately service to Christ. He came to serve, and we should strive to serve Him in return.

That means, when you're cleaning the toilet, have a heart of joy, not a heart of inward fussing about how nobody ever helps you with housework.

It means when you shop, don't spend more than you have, and come Christmas morning, give your gift in light of the gift that Christ has given you by coming to this earth, dying for you, and giving you that ultimate gift of eternal life. Your gift to others should be a natural outflowing of your thankfulness of His gift to you.

And it means preferring others above all else. This includes how perfect the food turns out, how picture perfect the house is, and how straight the bow on your gift is.

**Lifts egg nog filled goblet**

So here's to keeping Christ in the forefront of our minds, to welcoming more and more of Christ in our Christmas. And to rejecting the cry of our country and society that says "No Mas Christ in Christmas!"

Let's keep Christ in our Christmas!!!!!

~Brenda

The Joys of Stuff Mart

Have you ever been walking out of Stuff Mart, with three hundred dollars worth of merchandise in your basket, with your head held high, confident of where you parked?

Unfortunately, today I was a tad bit over confident. I was sure (nay, positive!) I parked right outside the south entrance. Problem is, there's really about three aisles that could be considered right outside the south entrance.

So - I picked one. The wrong one.

I only parked about seven parking spots away, of that I was sure. So when I passed the 15th car, you would think I would stop.

Pride does weird things to people.

I finally decided I had no choice but to turn around, all one hundred and eight pounds of me, pushing God only knows how many pounds of groceries.

It became painfully obvious that the Stuff Mart parking lot had a definite uphill slant. And that I am terribly out of shape.

I pushed, I heaved, I smiled at the nice folks giving me the "You're an idiot. I'm so glad I'm not an idiot" look, and started singing "It's the MOST wonderfuullll time of the year."

Not really. But I thought about it.

Just then, a lovely lady popped her head out of her van and said, "Did you lose your car?"

"I did!" I cried, thinking she would help me.

"Oh, you poor thing," she replied. "Don't you have a button you could push that would tell you where it was?"

"No, I'm in my daughter's car, and it's older. So no little button to push. Where do you think we are?! Staples?! You think those stupid easy buttons really do work, punk?"

Ok, those last three sentences never escaped my lips. But again, I thought about it.

Instead, she smiled at me, wished me luck, and I continued up the mountain slightly slanted hill.

Finally, with my heart beating wildly, my nose as red as Rudolph's, and my pride as wounded as could be, I rounded the corner where I could get to another aisle.

"Whew! It's all downhill from here," I thought.

Indeed, it was downhill, and that beat up little Toyota never looked so gorgeous in it's entire 20 year life span.

No matter that it has a bash in the side. No matter that it's faded, and dirty, and old. I fell in love at that moment, for the Toyota was my rescuer. My savior. My heeeeeeeeeroooo!!

'Tis the season to be jolly, folks. I hope you're able to put on your holly jolly Christmas cheer, no matter how hustly and bustly it gets around your place. Remember the Reason for the season, and I'll try and take my own advice!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!!

~Brenda

Patience, Perfection, and Peace

Unfortunately, I've been running a tad low on the three P's: Patience, Perfection, and Peace.

Monday thru Friday of last week consisted of being cooped up in the house with the flu. By Friday, I thought I might land in the nut house if I didn't get out and about, and so I gave in to my impatience and went grocery shopping. You should have seen me. I've never been so excited to go to WalMart in all my life.

I normally loathe WalMart. The crowded aisles, customers scowling at each other, slow check out lanes. You know the drill. But the walls of my house were closing in on me at a rapid pace, and I was quickly heading toward the "pit of despair", as Anne of Green Gables would have put it.

So - off to WalMart I went, in spite of my attention drawing cough. I made good time, saved quite a bit of money with coupons from this site, and had a riotous time. I then made my way to a meeting with our Pastor, and then we were back home.

And that's when I started to reap the consequences of my impatience. We've had extremely cold temps here in the last week, and that, coupled with the dry climate irritated my entire respiratory system ... and I'm back to square one. Ok, maybe not square one, but it was definitely a set back.

The good news?

The good news is that I've learned my lesson and won't be going on any shopping excursions until the cough is g-o-n-e GONE. 'Tis not the season for the inability to shop, but we'll make do.

Did I mention I love the internet?

The other good news is that I've been able to enjoy a lot of what I miss when my life is a hurry scurry mess. I've done more journal writing, I've read more, I've made good progress on my embroidery. My Christmas lists are all made, and some of it has even been ordered and on it's way.

And I found this blog, and am thoroughly enjoying it! I'm even considering some fairly drastic changes to make my life more simple. I have a real nack for making life a lot more complicated than it needs to be.

It's called perfectionism and impatience.

I don't think I was born a perfectionist. But my upbringing has taught me to value it above (almost) everything else. And it's enough to kill a person before their time. If you can be a perfectionist and remain patient and peaceful, then more power to ya'. But I cannot.

My perfectionism leads to impatience, because I tend to bulldoze anyone and everything that stands in my way of it. It's an unhealthy obsession that controls me, and I'm giving it up. I'm going to live simply, and simply live. All for the glory of God.

Well, that's the plan anyway.

What do I hope to gain?

I hope to gain peace, and peace for my family.

Did you know that God does not expect perfection? He knows that we are but dust. Imperfect beings who need His help. That's what we are. We are not perfect servants who will never make a mistake, always have our houses spic and span, and never need assistance.

Is that any excuse for laziness and complacency? No - and I know some will take it as that and run with it. But for those of us who err on the side of perfection, it's a great comfort to know that the Lord knows our weaknesses.

So face it, perfection seekers. There is no such thing as perfection. We live in a fallen world, and things are anything but perfect. Perfection is an impossible path we tread that leads to impatience and peace snatching for all people.

So please - this holiday season - do not let perfectionism and impatience steal your peace and the peace of your loved ones. It's not about having all the world has to offer. It's all about what Jesus has to offer. Stay focused on that. On Him. On those you love.

A peace that surpasses all understanding will waft over you, and settle there if you determine in your heart to keep Him in His proper place all throughout the year, and not merely at Christmas time.

And that, my Lovely Lurkers, is the best Christmas gift of all.

Merry Christmas to all, from your little peace seeking, perfection rejecting, impatience killin' houswife on the Prairie.

~Brenda