I have:

• Traveled to 2 weddings (and subsequently confirmed my superior choices in all things wedding – no judgement, I’m just reminded that I loved our wedding day the most!)
• Missed one family Christmas
• Flown through Minneapolis 3 times
• Eaten sushi twice
• Experienced 3 major historic blizzards in Iowa, Boston, and Minnesota
• Number of extra days spent in Boston due to historic blizzard: 2 1/2
• Spent one week in the Ozarks with co-workers
• Spent one week in St. Louis with co-workers
• Driven to Western Massachusetts to visit old friends (I totally miss all of the traffic on Route 9!)
• Only cooked one time for myself
• Rang in the new year at the Edward Jones dome in STL with 17,000 college student strangers friends at Urbana 09
• Spent a grand total of 13 days at home
• Missed DH more than ever!

It’s good to be home again.

I finished decorating our dining room this weekend.  I only have 5 days left to enjoy it, but it will likely stay up until well past the New Year.  And I’m perfectly fine with that!

Here’s what it used to look like:

Perfectly wonderful and festive, but I wanted a little more.  So, I rummaged through a box of framed pictures that have been waiting to be hung since June *ahem* and wrapped a few in pretty paper, hung a few ornaments, and displayed them all with everything that was already there.

Cute, yes?  I especially love that we have wedding pictures of me and DH, but also from DHs parents wedding, way back in the 70s.  Now I just need a copy of my parents wedding picture, and we’d be all set.

I also printed and framed a little home-made DIY “artwork” – it says, “Jesus is the gift”.  DH and I both are Christian an believe that Christmas is truly about celebrating the birth of Jesus, the greatest gift that God ever gave.  It’s so easy to forget what Christmas is about and think it’s just about presents, or food, or family, or decorating or whatever else.  And sure, each of those things are important and wonderful things to focus on or celebrate.

But the first “Christmas” was simple and poor – a young woman and her husband traveling home with no place to stay, no decorations, no family, just faith that God would provide and be faithful to them.  And God was just that – he provided us (and them) with the gift of Jesus, and there was much rejoicing in heaven over him!

Let’s celebrate Jesus this Christmas, the greatest gift I ever received.

Someone got close with this photo:

I wasn’t shoveling horse manure, but I was on a farm.  So you’re close

I got the chance to work the cows with DHs uncle!

Here’s me spreading some sort of goopy antibiotic gunk on the yearlings – not that I’m supportive of chemical measures with cattle…but whatever.

Even though I will only be at home for less than 14 days out of the entire month of December, I still wanted to decorate.  I wasn’t going to let anything stop me!

A few years ago, I got a bunch of random ornaments and a small fake tree off of Free Cycle (those were the single days) but when DH and I got hitched and moved cross country, I left most of the stuff with my old roommates.

All we had for Christmassy stuff was stuff our parents had given us, which is actually quite a lot!  A couple of years back, my mom gave me a bunch of adorable stuffed Santas and angels (she used to decorate the mantle with TONS of Santas – it got a little out of control at one point, and that’s when I think she decided to give some of them away), her old Christmas tree skirt, a nice wreath, plus a few ornaments I’ve collected over the years as gifts that she was keeping safe for me.  DH also had a few ornaments from his parents.

But most of it was kind of hodge-podge and not totally my style – well, that’s not true.  I think I could do rustic-country if I really tried, but I’m resisting.  :-)

After I found a little inspiration that I posted about yesterday, I decided to head to the store and stock up on some simple round ornaments of varying colors, plus some garland.  Here’s what became of it!

9 ft of (fake)garland for $4, people!  I thought that was quite the steal.  I tied silver, green, and teal ornaments onto the garland with string and hung it from the wooden bench in our foyer.

I also decorated our piano a little

I’m not quite finished yet – I still want to wrap a few frames and put up a few more pictures and hang a few remaining ornaments.

I put a few more ornaments inside our cake dome, which is handy and turns upside down to be a pedestal bowl!

There was a nice white tablecloth with little silvery-gold threads in it, but DH vetoed that, reminding me how much of a messy eater he is and the fact that we actually eat in our dining room.  :-/  Bummer, ‘cuz it looked so pretty!

Last but not least is one of my favorite things.  When DH and I got married, a woman from our church asked if she could give us a special gift to remember New England.  One day at church she showed up with all of these small white boxes.  She explained to me that one of her good friends had passed away several years ago and these always brought her joy around Christmas time….

Yup, a whole car full of Department 56 houses!

They are a set for “New England” – and I love them!  I grew up with my mom setting up similar little displays around the house.  I always loved the glow of the homes at night and just imagining little scenarios where the little people would be caroling or bringing home their sled after a day on the hills.  Such joy as I remember those growing up!  My mom still has a bunch, but she probably won’t part with them for a while, so I was thrilled when this friend gave me her collection!  How generous!

Last year we set them up on the piano, but this year they are making an appearance on a low coffee table in our foyer.  I wish I had a better place and way to display them, but this will have to do!  Here’s our little New England winter village.

I love it!  I can’t wait until there’s actually snow on the ground and we’ll be living in a little midwest village witner wonderland, with a piece of New England right in our foyer!

First, I apologize for the lack of posting in November.  There really wasn’t much going on that was worth posting.  We spent virtually every weekend either raking the gazillion leaves in our yard, or inside fixing something in our house.  Things accomplished:

1. We brought 3 or 4 truckloads of bagged leaves to the city compost.  (Note to self – next year, start our own compost, because they charge you!)
2. Took out the window AC unit in our bedroom after one especially cold night.
3. Installed the ceiling fan in our office (picture forthcoming – I really like it!)
4. Installed a fun little under-the-counter storage thing-y in our sink.  I’m kind of an organization and de-clutter freak.  My messy kitchen is driving me nuts after being gone for 4 days and forgetting it was there…
5. Killed my thyme and oregano plant  Sadness.

And now that Thanksgiving has passed and all of the gaudy fake leaves can go back into storage and the weird scarecrow in our neighbors yard is gone, it’s time for Christmas!  I love Christmas time and Advent.  I love thinking about the birth of Jesus, the greatest gift of all.  My faith is refreshed every year during this season – I love it!

I also love all of the joy, celebration, giving, time with family, snow, twinkle lights and holiday wreaths, trees, and decorations.  It’s my favorite time of year.  :-)

Unfortunately, I’m going to be away for most of it this year.  In fact, I’ll be away for more than half of December due to work, a wedding, spending time with family, and more work.  But I think I’m still going to decorate a little.  Because who can deny that they don’t like a little bit of Christmas cheer?

Because I won’t be around much, and we’re not actually celebrating Christmas here this year, I don’t think we’re going to have a tree.  :-(  Sadness.  But it’s okay, because we will have cute little Christmas houses, a wreath, some twinkle lights, and I think I’m going to try some decorating ideas I found on a “friends” blog:

I love the dangling ornaments from the pictures, and the wrapped pictures that look like presents – it looks super easy and something I could reuse from year to year.  Unfortunately, we don’t have shelves quite like that in our house.  But we do have our piano, a plate rail and a few book shelves that could work.  I just need to go out and finally print some pictures that I’ve been planning to for a while!

This table idea is cute and simple – she just used a floor length mirror and plopped some candles on there with the glass containers holding the extra ornaments.  I have a few similar glass containers and I’m pretty sure we have an extra mirror lying around somewhere…maybe I’ll just do the candles and ornaments without the mirror.  I envision lots of food smudges on it in the future!

I’ll post some pictures when I get around to it, and eventually I’ll post a picture of what I did for the month of November to decorate around the house.

The past few days I have been making a lot of fundraising calls, some have been wonderful conversations with alumni I’ve never met, a few have asked me to call back at  better time, and many have been me practicing leaving voice mails.  Getting back into fundraising more whole heartedly has been difficult, but not especially frustrating.  It is, however, making me realize how much I want to reach my full budget and really get a chance to do my job to the best of my ability.  It’s reminding me how much I really believe in what I’m doing, even if it’s hard.  

In an odd way, I’m grateful for the challenge of Jesus in scripture and in my life:

“And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.  When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.  Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore prayer earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his field.‘”  Matthew 9:35-38   

I am a laborer in the field, but fundraising has reminded me that I cannot do it apart from others (and God!)

“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.  And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”  Philippians 1:3-6

I’m very grateful for the call on my life to serve, and the provision God has sent my way through the blessings of many people.  

What are you grateful for?