the stuffing

although it’s already the 10th…i finally feel like i may have caught my groove. i wish i could say it’s the 1st of december and that all things christmas are just beginning…but i can’t. and that’s ok.

our home school co-op had it’s last day for the semester this past thursday…polar express day for my preschool/kindergarteners…thank you very much.

we read the littlest angel…wore our pj’s…

and downed hot chocolate, marshmallows, and candy canes like our lives depended on it while we watched the magic of the polar express on a computer screen because the dvd player decided that this would be the perfect time to quit working.

and kids drifted off, one by one…into sugar induced comas.

and after you remove a big portion of teaching pre-school from my plate…(similar to finishing the flavorful but filling, gravy covered mashed potatoes that takes up so much of my platter)…i now have time for the stuffing.

and the stuffing often gets pushed to the side…waiting to be appreciated like the potatoes because the stuffing is what the meal is actually centered around.

the stuffing thursday evening was making homemade christmas cards for honey.

after chase and aiden were at school on friday…i packed colt and aj in the car…along with their pictures and christmas wishes…and to grandmother’s house we went.

we dug out her treasured nativity from the garage and set it up properly in the center of her small home.

as luck would have it…i stumbled across a box full of outdoor lights. and it’s not like i could let those things go untouched…

so we put those suckers up…and stopped to smell the flowers for a bit.

saturday, we waited for chad to return from honduras by crashing granna and grandaddy’s tree decorating.

and my faith in my children’s ability to find the magic in the transforming of a simple tree into a splendor of twinkly lights and meaningful decorations was restored.

everything in my mother and father’s house is…

simply…

wonderous. it takes me right back to childhood…where my littel brother and i would be trying our darndest to see up the chimney on christmas eve, wearing our matching red and white striped pajamas.

right down to the matching aprons, hanging in her kitchen…waiting for her little elf bakers to make their way over during a christmas cookie baking marathon.

my very favorite nativity from childhood is set up in the dining room. this is the one that my brother and i would use to tell the story of Jesus’ birth every christmas eve to a room full of spell-bound family members.

and this one was honey’s that has been passed along.

all of them beautifully crafted to take you to that place in bethlehem when the babe was born. ok…so maybe the camels and wise men weren’t actually there that night…but the shepherds were. and i imagine those shepherds appreciate that they have miniature statues that commemorate the most important night of their lives…and chronicle the fact that they were, indeed invited to the Christ child’s birth.

and what would make this a better day, you ask?

the cowboy santa.

that’s what.

things like this add the element of childhood fun. they can touch something and not worry about breaking it.

they can dance to have a holly jolly christmas and wiggle their booties with a cowbow boot and hat wearing santa.

and maybe even steal a kiss.

and without complaining…or fighting…or breaking anything…

they did it. they transformed that tree.

we shared christmas tea…a tradition that was started by my mother back in 1997…the year i left for clemson. we read the story (a cup of christmas tea)…a beautifully written story about a young boy who didn’t want to take the time to accept the invitation to his great aunt’s home for tea. it’s well worth the read if you need any inspiration to slow down and focus on what is really important. people.