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

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

"You may ask, 'How did this tradition get started?' and I will tell you---I don't know!"

♫"Tradition, Tradition!"♪

;) Though I'm not quite as caught up in traditions (especially in that way) as this character, Tevye and I certainly have something in common. :) If you ask anybody in my family, who is the most die-hard traditionalist in our family, I'm sure they'd answer, "Sarah, of course!". ;) I do have to say that I enjoy our simple, but sweet memories of family traditions like:

Flying plastic bag kites in the fall,

Mom reading aloud classic books such as the Railway Children,

The way we celebrate birthdays,

Picking berries in the heat of the summer while getting eaten alive by bugs, but coming home with a full belly, a big smile, and a berry-covered face

Sitting on the sidewalk in the cool fall breeze, carving pumpkins,

and laying down in the "soft patch" of grass on the hill behind our yard. :)

And there are many more small, subtle "traditions" that go on in our family on a regular basis.:)

Do you any of you all have that "traditionalist" bone in your body? ;)

(After taking up an entire post on this subject, I know you must admit I do!)

~Sarah

"Jingle-Bell Time is a Swell Time..." :)

Hi guys! I'm sorry for lack of posting, but this Christmas season is super busy for us all, but especially Mama! And since I am the oldest girl, of course that makes me busy too! :) I have been trying to do a post with pictures for several days, but Blogger won't let me upload them! It shows me a little code that says "javascript (0)" or something, and anyhow, it doesn't work! :)

It has been a funny sort of Christmas season for us, and it took me *way* too long, but finally, I'm getting in the Christmas spirit! :) Wanna know some of the things that got me going? (Besides the knowledge that Jesus' birthday is soon, and hearing the whole stunning story again!)

• Hearing any Burl Ives, Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, (etc.) Christmas song. It's gotta be from back then to give me warm-fuzzies! ;)
• Watching "Eloise At Christmastime"
• Wrapping my presents and sticking them under the tree
• Being let in on a Christmas secret, and firmly believing it is the most serious thing that must be kept on pain of death, but devising all sorts of dangerous clues in the meantime! :)
• Doing Advent as a family
• reading "Shepherds Abiding" by Jan Karon
• working late to finish a present or two
  
• Sitting late at night and feeling my eyes grow droopy as I gaze at our Christmas tree (though I find this works best the years we use colored lights)
• Wearing red
• Seeing and eating one of Sarah's *adorable* gingerbread men
  
• dancing to "Jingle Bell Rock" and "All I Want For Christmas Is You" to make the younger kids shocked ;) (They actually crack up laughing at my antics, it's so not me! :)

So now there is only one thing missing to make my Gearing-Up-For-Christmas complete! :) And that would be going Christmas Shopping with Daniel!!!! That will fully put me over the edge into Christmas-dom! :) You might remember my Christmas-Shopping-With-Daniel post last year... :) I just re-read it, and it made me laugh! All of my shopping is done except Dad and Mama's gifts...I need to get thinking! But since they love anything we give them, that shouldn't be too hard! :)