MERRY CHRISTMAS!

"for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord"

-Luke 2:11

Have yourself a Merry little Christmas!

Waxhaw

A few weeks ago, Adrienne and I decided to visit Historic Waxhaw for the afternoon.

It was a rather amusing trip to say the least and we saw the longest train ever!

It was a bit chilly so we went to the Dairy Barn for some Hot Chocolate. It was kind of like Cracker Barrel on the inside...they even had a cd player on the floor that filled the place with the sounds of crickets.

Sadly, we didn't ride Quick Silver ha ha

We found the coolest bookstore!!!!

And the man working told us everything we needed to know about books and Waxhaw. I think he may be the mayor...and if he's not, he should be! He even offered to take some pictures. I think our visit was the highlight of his day!

We walked across this bridge and as we walked you could her the birds chirping/tweeting.

They must live under the bridge.

The moon!

Thought this was cool

Yea, all the black specks by the water tower are the birds that live under the bridge...

And the massive train...

Overall it was a fun, random, trip!

I think everyone should visit "historic" places every now and then.

Monks

Adrienne's Dad spent the week at the Gethsemani Trappist Monastery in Kentucky.

He brought back this fudge that the monks make (and wow can you taste the Bourbon) and the prayer below the picture has become my new favorite.

In fact, I'm going to type it in a fancy font and frame it and hang it somewhere.

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.

I do not see the road ahead of me.

I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.

And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.

I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.

I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

-Thomas Merton

-Thoughts in Solitude

Christmas Cheer is Here!

Yesterday I was in quite the holiday funk, but today....I snapped out of it!

We all know that God works in mysterious ways and when I came home from work yesterday, I went to check my mail and I got my first Christmas card of the year! It made me happy!

Now I just need to find somewhere to display Christmas cards!

Anyway, here's what I've done so far to get ready for Christmas.

It's kind of random, but for now, it'll work!

As soon as you walk in the front door, this is what you'll see.

I just love this mat! I found it in Hobby Lobby for 50% off and it reminded me of home.

I really liked the wording of this sign. So I hung it on the coat closet door.

It's the first thing you see when the front door opens.

I had this sign on the closet door until I found the one above. I thought this one was funny, and it was also another Hob Lob 50% off find! I just need to find somewhere to hang it.

The side table contains the ornaments that didn't make it on the tree and some snowmen that I didn't have anywhere else to put!

Here's an aerial view of the ornament tub/snowman. Please disregard all of the bags around the table...I sort of drop everything by the door when I get home!

My tree! Lit and decorated! I found an "M" made out of jingle bells to act as the Star/Angel topper. And yes, to the right of my tree is a bookcase which is really a picture case since it doesn't have any books on it and to the left of the tree is the boardum....it's a bulletin board that contains index cards with funny moments/sayings. It's kind of like a happy board of memories.

Just a close up of the ornaments I found...

Since I haven't bought/wrapped any presents, I decided to put some Carolina under my tree! I've collected a fair amount of sports related ornaments over the years and generally have a sports tree. However, this year I forgot to bring all of my Christmas ornaments from home to NC, so I had to buy new ornaments. Instead of mixing the basketballs with the green/pink/blue balls, I just kept them in the box and put them under the tree. I also don't have a tree skirt so I took some fabric that I've had for awhile and just bunched it under the tree. I was going to make a memory board but never did. Oh well!

This is the tiny tree I bought last Christmas and I added some glitter ornaments to it this year and put it on the counter. I also found a nativity scene in walmart that I really like.

Last year, Stephanie made everyone stockings and we hung them in the apartment. Well, this year I decided to tape mine to the counter.

I found this plate in Marshall's for $2.00 and just knew it would be cute for the kitchen! It's also a great reminder for when I start to bake Christmas Cookies! :)

I found these angels in Hobby Lobby (for 50% off) and thought they were cute. They are currently next to my tv stand.

And the random gifts I've acquired.

So that's that! Nothing too exciting but still some holiday cheer!

Bring on the snow!

overwhelmed

Sometimes I'm sitting in my car at a red light, and I look to the right and left and see the decorated houses and the nicely lit Christmas tree front and center in the window and I think "how do they do it?"

I'm a very organized person.

Those that I work with would probably say I'm a bit OCD

(in a moment of tiredness this week, I did convince a customer to purchase an extra something they had chosen so that when packaged, their box would look symmetrical...presentation people!)

about things because I often nicely lecture them on the importance of putting things back where they found them and completing tasks as they are assigned. I mean really though, it's a great system because during the rare occasion when I'm not at work, I can walk them through what they need to do/where they need to go to find something and everyone is happy! Or maybe it's just me. :)

However, this week I've been in a bah humbug mood.

It could be because for 4 straight days I came to work at 8:00am or 8:30am and didn't leave until 8:00pm. I even had the oh so glamorous moment of working in the office for a few hours one day this week and I tend to "Pebbles" my hair when I spend a lot of time looking at the computer/print outs (ya know how Pebbles from the Flintstones would have a pony tail on the top of her head) and I walked out of the office to assist a customer with their order and the gal that was working the counter was giving me these looks and I couldn't figure it out until after the fact that I had just spent 15 minutes assisting a customer with a large holiday order, answering all of her questions, planning everything out and the whole time, I had Pebbles hair. Don't let the black dress and heels fool you people!

Perhaps the bah humbug comes from the fact that I receive e-mails throughout the day about "Holiday Gift Giving" sales/deals/items/specials and I realize that I have not purchased a single gift. Christmas is exactly 3 weeks from today. THREE WEEKS! Granted, I have a few stocking stuffer type items that I've found and think "so and so would get a kick out of this" so I buy it but I have a small collection of nothing in the corner of my dining room aka storage room. But I have yet to step foot in a mall or store that would have what I'm looking for.

I have a green blob in the corner of my living room that should be a nicely decorated Christmas tree. Yep, took that thing out of the box 10 days ago, put it together and that's as far as I got. I was so excited when I purchased my 1st ever fake Christmas tree. It's pre-lit which adds to the excitement. I had all these ideas about the theme of the tree and I have yet to purchase a single ornament. Now I'm not complaining, though it may sound that way, but I'm mad at myself for not taking the time to do what makes me happy. I realized that I've spent the last few weeks helping everyone else make their holiday gathering awesome that I haven't taken the time to enjoy the Christmas Cheer as well.

I did enjoy a Peppermint Mocha so I guess that counts as holiday spirit!

However, when I finally left work BEFORE 8:00 yesterday...I left at 6:00 thankyouverymuch. I had all these plans to Griswold Family my apartment in a classy way and I fell asleep on the couch at 8:30.
Yep, 8:30 on a Friday night. I'm a party animal!

That's all going to change today! I'm going to leave work before dark and DECORATE!

Awhile ago I purchased clear glass ornaments, ribbon and feathers and somehow, I'm going to make it work. I have no idea how, but I'm going to add some flair to my tree. I'm going to purchase green, pink and silver ornaments and hang those along with the blue ones I picked up a few weeks ago.

And when I am all done, I will finally get back on the blog train and post more often and post my holiday decor. But for now, we should all take a lesson from Santa and head to the beach/relax!

Thank you Hob Lob for providing cute doormats for 50% off! WOO HOO!

Hope everyone else is in the Christmas Spirit!!!!

I'll be joining you soon!