{{The Christmas Gospel}}

 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

unto YOU.

to you, personally.

 even if you were the only soul on earth.

regardless of your sin, your selfishness and your pride.

to save you from all the disaster, peril and devastation that you were born into.

HE came as a baby so that you could live forever.

GOD loved you enough to send HIS perfect, holy Child to die in your place.

 today marks a big stage of the Lord's rescue mission.

how amazing is that?

JESUS,

WELCOME TO OUR WORLD

 

Decembrrrrrr......

Perhaps it's because of our busy schedule.
Maybe, blogging hasn't been a top priority these days.
It could be due to the fact that life has been SO Downton-Abbey-esque that we can't even stand fictional drama right now.

 

Just maybe, life has been absolutely full and bursting to the seams with a wide array of excitements, sorrows, fun, struggle and grace that to sit down and catch you all up is quite frankly, overwhelming.
Any way you look at it, this blog deserves a bit of attention, and today I'm planning on doing just that.

 

These past weeks have flown by like no one's business! It seems like a few days ago we were placing pumpkins and scarecrows on every shelf, and now we've decked the halls with boughs of holly! ;)

Not too long ago we were enjoying the first crisp autumn breezes, and now I'm anticipating that first magical snowfall. 

 

 We are well into the holiday season, and I had fun making you all a Christmas Checklist.

To Read: Ann Voskamp's The Greatest Gift. (I bought this book for Mom and it is one of the best Advent books we've come across. Pretty much a must-read.)

To Watch: Louie Giglio's The Twelve Words of Christmas (DVD or online here) and all of those holiday classics (Christmas in Connecticut, White Christmas, The Christmas Child, Eloise at Christmastime, etc ;)

To Hear: Lady Antebellum's On This Winter's Night album, Disney's Frozen Soundtrack, and Anthem Light's Simple Little Christmas album. 

To Drink: Caramel Brulee Latte from Starbuck's. 

To Do: Get together a group of your bestest friends and ice-skate. It's one of our favorite activities to do this time of year. :)

To Make: This caramel sauce. Put it on your icecream, garnish desserts, or my favorite---make caramel lattes! 

To Sing: Obviously, this category is enormous. Go around the house singing your favorite carol, if you don't sing, hum or whistle, and make everyone around you smile. (or if you're like Anna and I...be crazy and do this)

To Decorate: These cute fellows and any nook or cranny you can fit holiday cheer! Spruce up your desk or office with white lights. (snowmen are good too. Especially ones named Olaf. ;) 

Cheers,

Sarah

In which Sarah gives her readers a double dose of the holiday spirit.

December's blown by so fast for our family, as I'm sure it has for some of you as well. 

The thing is, Rach and I can't get it in our little noggins that Christmas Day is only 6 days away!!!!

**mind blown**

Really. I guess we're getting old or something. 

Either way, we realized this little corner of blogosphere has been sadly lacking in boughs of holly.

So it's my job to deck it out. 

beautiful lights at Christmas Town in Busch Gardens at the beginning of the month. We're actually planning on going back on Friday!

We haven't done as much holiday baking as I'd hoped to (pinterest inspires me, okay?) but we did manage to do gingerbread men, and tonight we'll be making/decorating our traditional Christmas sugar cookies. :)

And despite our foggy brains, the house has been in a wonderful array of lights, sparkle, greenery, and looks like Christmas. :) 

the boys room all lit up

Yesterday I donned my red cowl-neck sweater and a black belt, feeling very Santa Clausy, and headed out with the girls to do *all* of our shopping in Greenbriar. :) Though we weren't half as liberal, we all felt like Eloise when she shops in NYC. :)

I have to say, I was very proud of ourselves. We left with no presents bought, or even planned and each of us came back with gifts for about 16 people! It was quite a fun excursion, and good sister time as well. :)

Levi has been so sweet to watch this Christmas. :D He's in love with the lights, candy canes, sparkle, stars, Santa Claus, and The Twelve Days of Christmas! It's so adorable to see him get excited, and sparks the same childish joy in me. 

I've been checking off my Christmas movies-to-watch list, and right now, the only ones left are Frosty, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, the Christmas Carol, and The Nativity. If we have extra margin, I'm hoping to watch the cartoon Grinch, the Christmas Story, and White Christmas. :)

Oh! Before I forget----The other night a friend showed me one of the funniest videos Rhett and Link have done so far, and seeing that it's Christmasy, I'll share it here.

Haha! That makes me laugh every time I see it. :) Oh, and if you're up for it, they did an awesome Christmas special, but it's much longer, so here's the link: 

Well, I'm really counting on that boosting all of our Holiday spirits! 

And to close, a sweet little boy decorating the tree......

Our Christmas Bookshelf

As it is almost December, I thought it'd be entertaining to share some of the Christmas books that have been in our family and now have special places in our hearts for years. :) 

So without further ado.....

(a very old ['93] Family Circle Christmas magazine)

What are some of your family's favorite Christmas books?

Christmas Day!

Merry Christmas. I pray that all of you are having as blessed of a day as I've had so far. ;) And I hope that this year you really and deeply understand the awesome Gift that was given to you by your Papa. :)  Please take some time out of your day to think on these words....

"O, Holy Night"

O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Saviour's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, the night when Christ was born;
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!

 Luke 2: 10-14

 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. ¹¹ For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹² And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”
¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
       ¹⁴ “ Glory to God in the highest,
      And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

Matthew 1: 23

 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,”which is translated,  

“God with us.” 

Isaiah 9:6

"For unto us a Child is born,
      Unto us a Son is given;
      And the government will be upon His shoulder.
      And His name will be called
      Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
      Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

We both wish you a *very* blessed Christmas!!!

 ~Sarah and Rachel

"Fashionably Late, as usual."

It is a tradition for our family to be late. 

Not by choice, per se, nor by design, but by Natural Talent. It's a gift, really, ;) By late, I don't always mean too late, nor do I mean terribly late. Haven't you all ever heard of a dear little habit called fashionably late?

The sort of late that causes you to come through the door into a party after everyone else has arrived so that you are immediately the center of attention. The kind of late that gives you a breathless, wind-blown, "Oh haven't I been having fun!" sort of color in your cheeks. The sort of late that is no one can blame you for and no one can criticize. ;) 
I am in jest. But sometimes I do like being just the teensiest bit late for beginning things. Christmas shopping for instance. It is a Holiday Law for Daniel to do his shopping no earlier than three days before Christmas, and it is an equally important Holiday Law that I go with him to be his conscience.

Daniel: "Do you really think I should get this?"
 Me: "Get it."
Daniel: "But will she like it?"
Me: "Of course."
Daniel: "But is it too expensive?"
Me: "Are you kidding? It's the best price I've seen all season!" etc.

 We have rather a lot of fun, my gentleman and I, and it would not be at all the same to go out, say, December 6th. There would be no jolly rush, no peppermint-chocolate-and-sparkles feel to the air, no half-jesting fear that the shopping won't get done. No. One must be late for this sort of excursion.
There is also invariably a little dilemma known by some as a Simple Matter of Mathematics. It goes thus:
"Susie, how is fifteen dollars to be divided between gifts for four people without any sacrifice of quality or taste?"
Ahem. I may not be at all bright when it comes to General Math, but I am quite proficient in this art. The solution is solved in this fashion:

You are determined. You winkle your way through your wallet counting and counting and counting your money (including pennies) to be sure it was Fifteen and not Fifty instead, which would solve everything immediately. Having assured yourself that it was Fifteen after all, you begin to scour your memory as to how much of certain gift-cards you have already spent. If there is a spare 3 dollars and change on a gift-card,that store is immediately your destination, as even that paltry amount would nearly double (for one person at least) the current balance. You get in the store and debate over various items, find a long-forgotten coupon which happens to still be good, buy the item for much less than you had hoped, previously, and suddenly one person is checked off the list.

 Repeat as many times as desired until your shopping is done.

Yes. I am rather a mathematician. 

~Rachel

Spreading Oodles of Holiday Cheer :)

I woke up this morning to the ground covered in a thick, white, layer of....

Frost. :)

We are timidly remembering that by this time last year we had had one very large snowstorm and another one coming up right on Christmas....this year? Let's just say it was almost 70 degrees till a week ago. Truly, I can sing with a boy I used to know:

 "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas....just like the ones we never have!!!" ;)

So what's a girl to do when the weather outside is positively sweaty, yet Christmas is bloomin' in her heart? Let me name just a few things...

We can bake gingerbread men by the dozen and sigh over how darned cute they are...

We can drink gobs of hot chocolate and fish the last chunks of marshmallows out with our fingers... :)

We can sing "Jingle-Bell Rock" at the top of our lungs and dance around the living room in a manner that would astonish and delight you. ;)

We can wrap Christmas presents and pile them under the tree yelling, "Don't squeeze yours!!!" at the top of our lungs to anyone in hearing.

We can walk in and out of the front door just to smell the greenery...

We can lick our candy-canes into sharp points and have mock duels with them until they break and we have to eat them...

We can all wear Santa-hats and run around the house yelling "Mewwy Cwissmas!" at gale-force volume...

(crazy girl!)

We can wear diminutive wreaths on our head and wander around the house looking angelic and saintly and altogether useless. ;)

 

We can re-read A Christmas Carol and scare ourselves deliciously, knowing there's a smashingly happy ending by the last page...

We can sip egg-nog and try to like it...

We can stand outside on the frostiest of nights when the stars are just pin-pricks and our breath hangs white on the air, and hum "Carol of the Bells" to nobody in particular.

We can mull cider and try not to swallow the cloves as we drink it...

We can fling Christmas Cheer to everyone we meet, even if that everyone is limited to our cat...

We can watch Eloise at Christmastime and half-way wish were 6 years old and living at the Plaza Hotel...

Did I mention that my sister, Gracie *is* Eloise? I mean, a real Eloise. :)

Yes. All these things and lots more are do-able, even if there isn't any snow on the ground. After all, we Virginians are well-versed in combined New England Christmas charm with Floridian temperatures. :P

~Rachel