Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

I l-o-v-e-d Christmas this year. I mostly enjoy the sweet family-time we get. It's highly unusual for Jessica and me to be in our parents' house together, so it is such a treat. I wasn't exactly sure how this year would go. I was coming home for a whole week...yes, I'm so grateful to be out of the office for a freakin weekend baby (two really)! Anna-Jane was the only one getting any real presents. And, the brother and his wife were not heard from in awhile. 

The Christmas tree ended up being pretty dang full for the "crisis" we were supposed to be in individually. My favorite part was watching mom open her "designer jeans" I got her, and knowing that I was able to bless her with several articles of clothing. She's gonna look hoottttt.

My dad wrote me SUCH a good letter. He's notorious for writing letters...and normally we make fun of him for it...but it really is how he gets all of his thought out, and this letter was PRICEless. Seriously! I could've cried for days...and, I probably will when I dare to open it again. 

To top it off, we had the sweetest family prayer I think we've ever had. I can't remember the last time we had a tear-jerking, get on your knees, I need some LARGE help from Jesus prayer. I always cry when I pray....I guess I mess up some much, and when I get on my achy knees before the Lord, I am reminded of His never-ending grace, and his amazing faithfulness. It was truly a sweet moment with our Provider. I'm believing he WILL provide. Amen.

I pray that Jesus is your focus today, and every day. Really. It's hard in our hustley-bustley lives that we walk in. It's DEFINITELY hard during this present-centered holiday that we create. It's hard period. But he is worth our attention. He deserves it. And if we turn our focus a little bit each day, we won't have to work so hard during Christmas, to remember the reason for the season. Like Pastor Livingston said, it's hard to just talk about the Christmas story- Jesus' birth, when that is only a small piece of the puzzle. Jesus dying perfectly, to save our sorry butts and His Grace should also be talked about and remembered. Without that full picture, we aren't gaining the whole aspect of what we should be thankful for. 

Christmas Spirit...thanks for coming

I am FINALLY in the Christmas spirit, officially.

Last night I decided to dig through my guest bedroom closet to find my medium sized fake Christmas tree. Fake, you ask? Yes. I know...it's not the same...you're right. But, when you work 12 hours a day, and are hardly home on the weekends, plus home for a week for Christmas, you would agree that a fake tree is better than a burnt-down home. I still need to find the ornaments and other decorations to hand. I also put a small, already-lit tree on my bar overlooking my kitchen and den. It's perfect!

Today at work, we took an hour out to build some christmas themed bookshelves for kids in need. This week we've built over 3000! It was so fun....the room smelled like Christmas. It was decorated with a tree and light and lots of other holiday decor. Then, in the (loud) background we had some fun Christmas music playing.

We also had our IPR (Inventory Planning & Replenishment) department Christmas party today. It's a bit early, and lame to have it during the day if you ask me...but that's Home Depot for you. I'm used to going to someone's house or to a nice restaurant with the team, and exchanging real presents. Not so here. I'll deal. BUT, we did eat really yummy (thanksgiving-ish) food for lunch, which later almost put me in a coma at work. And we had an elephant gift exchange. At the end, they asked us to look under our chair for numbers. I had one! Although i was last, number 18, I was able to pick from the blow-up, LED lit, christmas decorations. I was kinda bummed, because being last there was nothing left. Now, after a few hours, my treats have grown on me. I got an LED gingerbread woman, which is now hanging on the side of my cube with an orange Home Depot apron. And I also got a tipsy, topsy, Dr-Suess-looking lit set of boxes. It's actually super cute.

I'm so truly happy toady. No, joyous. That's what the Christmas holiday brings for me. Joy. I really contemplate often how thankful I am for my circumstances, friends, job, family etc. And I'm thankful that everyone else is thankful and normally in a sweet mood (except for at a mall, lol).

Merry Christmas! It's not too far away anymore.