Forgiveness

a sunny morning

It is a nice morning in my house. Quiet, and a sunny day for a change! I have at least sixteen things on my To Do list on any given day, but the morning light always captivates me, so I stopped to take a few photos.

If I could paint, I would do things like this. I like how the light and shadow make for kind of a joyful stillness.

 Malaika left these on the ledge outside and forgot about them. They came back to life nicely with a little trim and some water.

 

These pictures of Malaika and Ben were taken about two years ago. I really am blessed with good kids.

Here is my grandson before he got to be all grown up. (He is three now. I am attempting to get out to Michigan to visit them, but the airfares! yow~)

 

Colors just look better in the cool light. Fresher, somehow.  The afternoon has a warmer tone.

I am excited to plant something in the planter out front. I am waiting for the nights to quit getting so cold! The hyacinths out back are still plugging along, they are in a pretty sheltered spot. I even thought I smelled them a little earlier when I was out there! I can see that one is purple. So exciting! I am easily amused. I make the whole family go and look whenever anything blooms out there. I also see the mint popping back up. We can have mint tea this summer...if I were a little more adventurous, I would try mojitos.They are too expensive to buy. I guess I could watch a you tube video to see how to make one...you know you can find a you tube for just about anything, right? Bob fixed our garbage disposal that way. I also saw one for how to get Sarah Palin's hairdo.

Well, I know this was a tad rambly. But I find these kinds of moments are gifts from God, that help still and settle me, and remind me of all the good in my life, and I can give Him thanks.

stress? hang on--He is on His way!

Here is a glimpse of what our week was like. Melissa and Rachael getting ready to graduate from their respective schools, and applying to four year colleges. Ben in 10th grade, and Malaika in 5th. Seems like they got quite a load dumped on them this year!

 Melissa working on a huge paper that caused her a lot of stress and for which I think I even sprouted a few extra white hairs. I am blessed with conscientious students. But sometimes they suffer from too much stress.

Rachael has her usual end of semester load, too.




But at least they came home to a decorated house that day!

a blurry, but interesting shot of my little Christmas village.

  Our dollar store nativity. I think they're pretty awesome. You just have to give them a setting.

 

Ben gave me this several Christmases ago. It plays Silent Night :) A great addition to my collection!

this Nativity is from my childhood. It is cracking and falling apart, but it was under the tree every Christmas growing up. Notice none of the creches have the infant Jesus there yet :) a tradition. The youngest kid will place Him there on Christmas Eve night after midnight mass.

Malaika made this in I think third grade at school. I love it.

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this was from my friend Jill.
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^This was a gift from my dearest friend Marie ♥

                                                                                                                 shelf angel

                                                                

Malaika found this last week, I couldn't resist :)

This is my collage of images of the holy family in various forms. I save the ones I especially like from each years Christmas cards.

The next two days after this I knocked out 90% of our shopping. Considering the number of people, it was a feat. Now I can do the fun stuff at home! Wrapping, baking, mailing packages. Yes I know it isn't all about the stuff. But the traditions are joyful in themselves, and we all get a break from the every day stuff. Jesus came to bring us out of our ruts!  At this time of year, one of His gifts is to allow us to enjoy our individual traditions and the larger Tradition of the Church, together with Christians all over the world.

Wishing you and all your loved ones a Happy, Holy, and Joyful Christmas!

Just try to hang in there for all the prep.