Monday, December 23, 2013

'Twas the Monday before Christmas

About this time every year is when I fall off the blog wagon. There is just too much life happening to spend hours writing about it, but by the time the Christmas dust settles the idea of catching up feels overwhelming.  It's a Christmas conundrum.

So while I'm waiting for daughter2 to rise and shine (no worries, there's plenty of time) I thought I'd share some Friday Fragments. On a Monday I know, but see paragraph above.


Christmas is coming!

Just thought we'd get the big one out of the way right off the bat. And that picture was taken last week when we were blanketed by a most beautiful snow. We've been in the 60's all weekend, but it's supposed to drop about 30 degrees before tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow...I  have my whole family coming and I can't wait. Just have a few
hundredthings to do before the first wave arrives on Christmas Eve, yet somehow I know it will all get done.

The magic of Christmas.

More like a mom armed with lists and fueled by coffee, with a grown up daughter in tow to bake cookies and cheer her on, but that's kind of magical too.


Daughter2 flew in from South Carolina on Friday night. She's a teacher and will be home for a nice long break, which makes her sister only a teensy bit envious. She's also tired, because third graders the month before Christmas...self explanatory, right?


Saturday we stayed in and she baked while I wrapped and hubs dealt with the never ending Christmas light drama. Outdoor lights on Saturday, indoor on Sunday. Our outdoor lights tend to go out when there is a lot of wet weather due to some pesky fuse design, but I think hubs finally got that sorted.  They were working last night so I suggested we all take a picture in our head just in case the fix isn't permanent.

Sometime after dinner on Saturday I noticed the tree lights were out. Well, not all of them, because the very bottom of the tree was lit, but the rest had gone dark. Bother. 

My mantra this Christmas is not to let anything steal my joy, including a partially lit Christmas tree, but that was put to the test when hubs said we'd have to take everything off the tree to find which strand was bad. FYI-undecorating a perfectly decorated tree four days before Christmas was not on my to-do list. Sigh.

Daughter 2 suggested I take pictures so we could get the ornaments back in place pretty quickly, and fortunately we didn't have to un-do everything. We started at the bottom and discovered the first strand was the bad one so whoohoo!  Course that meant hubs had to go to Walmart, which is not his favorite thing to do anytime let alone the week before Christmas, but he dug down deep for his Christmas spirit and got 'er done.


Sunday evening we attended a Christmas cantata, and all was right with the world once more. Absolutely beautiful!  We all loved the music so much, and it just reminded me how important it is to have more 'Christmas'-less Walmart in this very special week and in my life year round.

I leave you with a link to one of the songs we heard last night...it wasn't Kari Jobe singing, but wow! the woman in our church did such an amazing job with this song.

"...and redemption begins with a stable in Bethlehem..." 



Wishing you a happy Christmas from this side of the pond!

15 comments:

  1. We have the same post title today :)
    I'm glad you took a moment to give a brief glimpse into your pre-Christmas activities, even though it's a busy time!
    Lights out on the tree...four days before Christmas...oh, my! What a test of your Christmas Spirit :)
    Merry Christmas to you and your family!

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  2. Merry Christmas, Joyce. I pray you and your family have a blessed holiday.
    Your tree is beautiful. Those are the little trials we often face. I'm glad it's not stealing your joy. You are blessed. Just look at your beautiful daughters and a hubby with "nerves of steel". (right???)
    What a beautiful song!

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  3. Have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I'm glad you found the bad lights right off because un-decorating a tree before Christmas really is terrible.

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  4. Everything sounds good, except for the part about undecorating the tree...I think I would have been tempted to just pretend I didn't notice, haha. SUCH dedication.. LOVE that song! Merry Christmas to you and yours! Blessings, Debbie

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  5. Oh, my, your Hubby is a good, good man! Lights on a Christmas tree and my Hubby do not get along well at ALL!

    What good looking cookies and such a cute baker!

    I can feel that fun that's about to happen at your house this week. Enjoy!

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  6. Joyce,
    A delightful blog post. You make even the hard things seem not so bad. I love the way you strike out words that really explain how you feel. It communicates the idea so well.

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  7. Have a wonderful time with your family tomorrow and Merry Christmas!
    So sorry about the lights on the tree, I know how frustrating that must have been.

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  8. Merry christmas to you and your wonderful family. a delightful post!

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    Replies
    1. Searching for beauty and find hope
        Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2014! Hugs from Spain. Leovi.

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  9. Merry Christmas to you and your family! Have a wonderful time with your girls home!

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  10. I dropped out too, and am enjoying catching up with everyone's pre and post Christmas blogs! I enjoyed this post!!

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  11. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas - sounds like you were well on your way here.

    Happy New Year.

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