This Christmas...

5 days till Christmas!  Wow!  Where has the time gone?  Where has the year gone?

My Holiday tree that is kept up year round in my dining room is decorated with cookie cutters, homespun, a few fabric hearts and a Christmas present from my dear friend, Donna-- the adorable Gooseberry Patch Cookbook ornament!  I LOVE it!  It's so cute!  Thank you Donna!

A few things sitting on my husband's grandmother's hutch.  I decorated with fresh greenery all over this year and I love the pine smell!

My very favorite Christmas piece was made by my mom in 1986.  She made six of them!  One for each of her children!  Although it would be a decade later before I married, I have treasured it because I know how much love and time was put into this beautiful village!

I am so very thankful for this Christmas compared to last Christmas. Last year I had to work more days at my part-time job. I was working four days a week. This year I am only working two days a week. It has been so wonderful to accomplish so many things I wasn't able to last year because of time restraints. Even though my job is part-time, working retail at Hobby Lobby is hard work! Most especially at Christmas time and the month following it! I work in the Seasonal department and it is ever evolving! Constant change is going on. Right now we are in the process of setting out garden and spring items. Valentine's has arrived also! As much as I despise pink (sorry for all you pink lovers!), I am always so delighted to see some pink after all that red and green!

Anyway, it has been a most enjoyable Christmas for me this year. I have been able to focus more on Christ and share more of Him this year. That is always such a thrill for me! My most favorite thing about Christmas is spending time with family and friends. I had a wonderful weekend full of these! Some of my girlfriends and I had a cookie swap Friday night hosted at my home. We had a most enjoyable time... staying up till 1:35 AM catching up on each other's lives! We finally divvied up the cookies at 1 AM! Haha! It was fun and such sweet fellowship. Saturday night, we hosted the main course of a progressive Christmas dinner for our church youth. It was a house full! I was worried about 50+ people having room to sit down and eat dinner, but it worked out. Good times for sure!

After a week of baking and partying, I am ready to focus on a week of my kids being home on Christmas break. Together, we are going to build a gingerbread house (that was actually bought last year, but we never had time to put it together), make jelly and mini bread loaves to share with our family, wrap presents, watch Christmas shows snuggled up on the couch eating popcorn and nestle by the fire drinking hot cocoa. Now that is a Christmas I can enjoy instead of being wore out from working so hard!

Thank you Lord! I am most grateful for the joy in my heart this Christmas!

Wishing you and your family a most warm and blessed Christmas surrounded by lots of love!