O Christmas Tree

Last week I had the spontaneous notion to get all our Christmas stuff out and slather it all about our home in anticipation of weekend houseguests (my in-laws). What good is slathering, though, without a tree? So-off we trod to a tree farm. Naturally, we picked the day that had 45 mile an hour winds. Brrrrrrrrrrrr.

They even had REINDEER there!

That was pretty cool.

Don't mind that tear. That lingering bit of wet is his constant companion. Just a single tear, happy or sad, He'll never be rid of it.

Tree decorating dinner

In case you can't tell what it was... those are Christmas trees. Snow covered, to be exact. And boy was that snow GOOD! ;-)

It's time!

After shoving our faces full of trees, I got up and immediately started in on the snacks. Brought out the pretzels. Made some cheddar popcorn. Blared the Christmas music. Dove right in!

Oh, how I love Christmas lights! Especially when twinkling in a childs eye.

Little Mimic

Newman Four

The Littles

The Not-So-Littles

Grand Finale

The Panda, being the youngest this year~gets to put the angel on the tree.

It's a glorious sight.

Many more decorating photos to come, of THAT you can be sure!

I just LOVE the sparkle of Christmas!

Bridal Brunch

I am sure you are all just DYING to know about the Bridal Brunch I hosted this weekend. I couldn't let you down so I got quite a few pictures to share!

The lowdown

Folded napkins can make even Chinet look elegant. You'd be amazed how much beauty a stack of $2.00 napkins can add to a party!

It's the little things that make the most impact.

I avoid the balloons and crepe paper look when decorating for a shower. Even those disposable decoration costs add up! Rather, I look for things from my own home to use for decorating.

The bride chose the colors Royal blue and silver for her wedding. Coincidentally, my kitchen is decorated in Delpht Blue and White and I have a LOVELY collection of blue glass on my windowsill. I brought it all along and had just enough for groupings of two flowers and one candle holder for three tables. Since there were five eating tables-the extra two had groupings of three simple bud vases tied with blue ribbon and surrounded by simple clear glass votive holders with blue candles.

The Holiday season also makes decorating a cinch, since there is so much beauty and sparkle around!

My home decorating colors are burgendy and gold. Silver is not something that is abundant in my home so I went to the dollar store and bought these two silver tree toppers and a package of silver balls. The tree toppers are quite pompous perched in their candlestick thrones. I added the balls with some antique ornaments given to me last year. They aren't royal blue-more powder blue but it didn't lessen the impact. You needn't have the EXACT same color all of the place...variety is the spice of life, after all! ;-)

With the flowers, I made sure there was one TALL vase and one small vase. But I varied the flowers used. The photo at the top of this post has the head of a bud rose in a teeny little vase with daisies in the tall vase. This photo has a long and elegant single rose with a small bouquet of daisies and such below.

The candelabra on the eating table is also mine...I received it as a birthday gift from my sister. As you can tell, Elizabeth, that thing has made its way around quite a few showers this past year! Such a FABULOUS decorating piece, for at home and ABROAD! :-) Whereever it goes, it gets all sorts of compliments! It's the gift that keeps on giving!

The church gave me $20.00 to spend on flowers.

I spent three dollars at the dollar store for those silver things.
Two dollars on napkins.

Everything else I brought from home, so the grand total was $5.00 out of my pocket!

Now, some of the showers I have hosted ended up costing me over $100.00 to orchestrate-because I also had to buy plates, cups, silverwear, etc. I was tremendously happy to hear that the church where the shower was held (it was a dual-church shower) had all the eating supplies covered, had tablecloths, etc. What a RELIEF for my pocketbook!

This is Anne. She was the organizer of the party and I was the decorator. She and I had such fun working together. She is my favorite kind of person...every inch sweet but has a streak of spitfire too. We got along great!

Victuals

The most beautiful part of the party, though, was the food! It was lovingly prepared with that extra ounce of specialness to make a drop-dead gorgeous (and delicious!) display for such a special day.

Mine

This is one of my contributions. You just can't make sausage cheese bites beautiful-so I added Holly to a mason jar and filled it with water then added a candle and a ribbon.

Meanwhile, back at the Ranch...

The men were working hard on a certain little girlie girl project!

I got home from the shower utterly exhausted, and after unloading the car promptly passed out in front of the computer and checked my blogs like a zombie. (I can't nap during the day without getting a headache so my only 'rest' from exhaustion is to bloghop. Or maybe that is just how I rationalize it...I must get exhausted A LOT! hehehe)

When I woke from my stupor, Matt and Gary were all done working for the day and beginning to pack up. Aw SHUCKS! I wanted to get some pictures of them working together.

So, they grabbed some beers and staged some 'work'.

So NO. We do NOT advocate working a tablesaw with one hand on a beer.

Nor do we advocate mixing power tools with alchohol.

And no-Matt doesn't EVER wear his cap backwards like that.

I assure you, no digits were compromised during the production of these photos.

Contemplations

Family Devotions is something that we can struggle with, but we have been making special efforts lately to get back to where we should be in that area. I find it tremendously encouraging that each and every time we read and discuss scripture together, the following week in church that very topic is addressed.

Several weeks ago around the dinner table, we were discussing the ten commandments and helping Corynn to memorize Mt. Sinai and who the name of the man who delivered the commandments to the people. That very Sunday, our Pastor began his sermon in Exodus. When Corynn heard the Pastor speak the name Moses, and tell of him going on the Mountain...she leaned over and whispered excitedly into our ears "That's OUR Moses. That's Mount SINAI!"

Fast forward a couple of weeks, Papa read about the people of Israel worshipping a golden calf. She asked what the verse "Eyes who don't see, ears that don't hear, and mouths that don't speak" meant and Papa told her that it referred to idols. Sure enough~the Sabbath message was one of serving idols. And sure enough, once again, excitedly she whispered the connections to us as the Pastor spoke on.

Listening to Corynn make those connections and have those things firmly reestablished in her mind warms my heart. I am certain it is not coincidence. In fact, I feel as though it is God blessing us by way of encouraging us in our pursuits.

In Luke:

Luke 1: 48.49 ~ ..."For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed. For the Mighty One has done great things for me; And Holy is His name."

Reading the account of the angel Gabriel coming to Mary to bear to GREAT news of the coming Saviour and of her reaction TO this news was a great blessing for me this week.

She said to her cousin Elizabeth, "All Generations will count me blessed! The Mighty one has done GREAT things for me!" I think this is quite profound a response from her. Here she is, now suddenly and mysteriously pregnant. Out of wedlock! People don't exactly nod their heads with approval at situations like that!

Mary was in a precarious situation. Being pregnant out of wedlock was a shame! A disgrace! She would certainly be the topic of many tongue waggings. Her situation might even have put her at risk to lose the man she was betrothed to! Yet, she thought not of what others thought or believed, in their ignorance.

Her heart saw things long term. From this time on ALL generations will count me blessed. What happened in the future was more important than the tongue's that would wag that day. It was all for a greater purpose.

I need to fix my eyes on the future. I need to focus on how the Lord is using me LONG TERM. Each little squabble resolved, each lesson learned, each question answered, each bit of discipline given-these are not for the good of the day. They are for the good of the future.

In the same way, I mustn't worry about the people who thwart my efforts with their discouraging comments, tongue's wagging or direct opposition to that which I feel is right. My actions are for a greater GOOD.

In Jeremiah:

God told Jeremiah to do some ridiculous things! He told him to buy a new waistbelt and then take that perfectly good, brand new waistbelt and hide it under a rock for a few weeks. WHY would he want to ruin a perfectly good waistbelt?!? One that he just spent money on?!? Yet, we find out, there is a good reason for His request as He wanted to convey a message that He would and could ruin the people of Judah just as the waistband had been ruined.

He told him to go to a Potter's house and said, "Don't worry. Once you are there, I will announce my words to you." Not only did he go there, but he stayed there while the Potter fashioned something from clay, found it flawed, scrapped it, and made another vessel that was more pleasing. All of this happened BEFORE God revealed what it was that Jeremiah was to say!

The obedience of Jeremiah strikes me because His obedience was not conditional. It didn't depend on his understanding. (For how did ruining a brand new waistbelt make any sense?!?) It didn't allow him to stay in his comfort zone. (It had to have been uncomfortable for him to go to someone's house having no idea WHY He was there, WHAT he was to say, or WHEN He was to say it.)

It is easy to be obedient when you know and understand and agree with all that needs to happen. The same is true with submission. It is NOT easy to submit and obey when it doesn't make sense to you. It isn't true obedience if you were going to do it anyway.

Just a few thoughts from this week...

PS. I wanted to share with you my Bible cover. It was lovingly made for me by my husband a few years ago. I love it so. A treasure to hold another treasure.