to Him Who is able

The time of year in which red and green, jingle-bell songs, star-shaped sugar cookies covered in sprinkles, pine scent throughout the house, wrapping paper cuts, shopping frenzies, holiday cards, gingerbread houses, tacky sweater parties, anticipation, lists, stress, online shopping, hoping it arrives in time-ing, peppermints, hot chocolate....it's everywhere. You can't turn on the TV without seeing a cheesy Hallmark Christmas movie. Every radio station is playing Christmas music...both the annoying ones and your favorites. All the stores have their shelves and walls and even ceilings weighed down with crazy decorations. Driving through your neighborhood means a mini light show. Late night snacks end up being leftover sugar cookie dough. {which is the best} Christmas hymns are sung at church. Little brothers count down the days to the glorious morning of Christmas. It's December, y'all, and that means Christmas time. It means braving the mall and sh...

Christmas was {almost} everything Christmas should be. It didn't snow, but freezing rain is close enough, right? The babies were sick, and didn't get as excited as we had hoped, but they were sweet and cuddly and ate a lot of candy. Overall, it was Christmas. And, for the most part, Christmas is always good. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It's true, our 2 littlest were too sick to fully enjoy the craziness of waking up early, eating sticky cinnamon rolls, and making a huge mess unwrapping gifts. All Blessing wanted to do was sit on my lap and watch. Creed opened his presents like "Hulk would", but instead of being like his older brothers and freaking out, he neatly put each of his things in a pile and said sweet "Thank you's"  and then sat back down and looked like he was about to fall asleep. <3 I know every family does things differently. {We definitely do a lot of things way different from everyone else. ;)}...

It's almost Christmas y'all! Almost, as in, a day and a half. It hasn't snowed. At all. The temperatures have been very inconsistent...one day it might be 65...the next it's 43....then 56....then 32. But still, no snow. I love snow, and it kinda just makes the whole world look prettier. Whiteness, covering everything. {That is, it's all pretty till we drive around and turn over the dirt and make it go from a beautiful picture to a nasty one.} I'm making new traditions every year. Once again, I have to go out on Christmas Eve to finish my shopping.  I have been out helping to finish Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve for the last 3 or 4 years. I guess it wouldn't feel quite like Christmas without the last minute rushing around, right? Oh yeah. The awful flu has made it's self comfortable in our humble abode. It's gotten to know each and every one of us pretty well... I'm hoping we're not all so-miserable-we-have-to-stay-in-bed sick on Tue...