Christmas Happenings

At this moment (7:42 a.m.), I'm sitting in my living room, in the dark, with just the lights of the Christmas Tree (and, my laptop!). No one else is awake, so it's quiet, except for the cars passing by and an occasional plane taking off at the airport. Oh, and the sound of CH's alarm going off for the second time. This is my favorite part of the day, and always has been. It's my "thinking time". I opted for white lights; there's just something so peaceful about white lights on the tree.
Day 2 of Christmas Break, and almost all of the shopping is done. The wonderful thing about having grown children is that they they don't seem to want much in the way of "things". They're learning that it's more important to have family together for that day. (Or maybe it's that they'd just rather have money.) At least, MS & YS are that way. We'll see about OS...he's always very anxious to open a present on Christmas Eve!
I've cut back on how much baking/candy making I'm doing this year. The cut-out cookies, "air" cookies, peanut butter cups, peanut butter fudge, bourbon balls, and 2 batches of Texas Millionaires are done. I still have 1 more batch of air cookies and Texas Millionaires to do, as well as chocolate covered cherries. I tried Kolaches the other day, but they didn't turn out right. They tasted good...they just weren't right. So, maybe I'll try again after Christmas. I'm convinced Mama couldn't get hers to turn out & that's why she made cinnamon twists & Hungarian Coffeecake out of the same dough.
A friend posted this on Facebook, and it pretty much sums up how I feel right now:
I thought the baking, shopping, and wrapping would help, but...no. This Christmas is hitting me harder this year than last year. The choir had our concert (Advent Lessons and Carols) on Sunday night. It was beautiful. There is one song that the choir sang acapella that was absolutely gorgeous. I had tears in my eyes by the time they finished & could definitely feel my mom's presence. 
Okay...enough of that! After reading Knit by God's Hand's post, I also realized I haven't shared my new ornaments from this year.
From our last year's visit to The Keys:
 I love this mama & her baby!
From our Outer Banks Trip in July:
 I've started trying to find an ornament to support the local artists. I thought this one was beautiful:
I almost got out of Texas without an ornament! It was a good thing we ran back by the warehouse before I left!
This was what I got through the ornament swap at our SLP Meeting: (just adorable!)
This definitely isn't new, but it is one of my favorite decorations:
Our tree this year:
I hope that everyone has a very happy and safe Christmas!

5 comments:

  1. ahhh - love that Santa :)
    That snowman ornament is so cute! & that would be easy to make & give... I need to remember that for next year :)

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  2. I'm so sorry you are not feeling Christmasy this year. I hope you will be feeling it more soon. Your tree is very beautiful and I love you new ornaments. I never thought of taking pictures of the new ones this year. Maybe I'll have to do that later.

    If I don't get to "talk" to you again before Christmas, I hope you and yours have a great day!!

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  3. I haven't been feeling that Christmasy this year either. Maybe it's in the air since I know from others' blogs that we aren't alone. Sigh. Your ornaments are great and I like the idea of getting one to remember your travels. Fun. I sure do wish you and yours a very merry Christmas and a new year filled with love and happiness! On to the big day!!

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  4. Sending hugs to you!

    The baking you mentioned, wow! That's a lot, girl.

    The ornaments are adorable. I have a fetish with ornaments :)

    White lights. I wish I had them again on the tree. A couple years ago when the white strands started to go out on the pre lit tree, David cut all the strands off (the pre lit tree is too beautiful to just throw away), and I went with colored lights mainly because of Sam and Cecelia. For some reason, I always thought colored lights were more festive for little ones. Some day though, I'm going back to all white :)

    Wishing you a happy two days left of Advent!

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  5. Sounds perfect! I know there are few things my son comes up with for Christmas gift idea but they are all things he will use like different cooking gadgets or socks. After that is is usually about gift cards to places they like to shop. Your baking sounds so yummy. I cut back and pick different favorites each year. I'll only eat the leftovers because I won't throw away all the hard work that I put into it....LOL! Your Mama's baking sounds like it was delicious too. ((Hugs)) Love your ornaments. Hope you had a lovely Christmas Day.....

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