Do you like it?

So I know there's really no point in having a cute blog if one never posts on it, but just humor me!  I have several things to post about, but they will be big, long posts that require a lot of focus and energy, and I haven't had the time to put into them.  But there are great things happening in our house, and I can't wait to share them!  They are affording me a lot more free time and emotional energy!  But I digress... So in June I got this Scrapbooking software with high hopes, but have only done two small projects for a friend so far.  I realized I could make my own perfectly unique collage for our Christmas card this year!  So like a terribly irresponsible parent, I stayed up until almost 3:00 last night playing with it and ended up with this really cute card, but couldn't find any place that would print it for less than 80 cents per print.  (I thought all of the sites that had 4x8 cards would print it with no problem, but that's not the case, apparently.)  So that's just more than I'm going to spend on Christmas cards.  I found a different site where I could upload my own creation, re-did it and then realized this one is the perfect size for a happy header!  So here it is!  (If you're on a feed reader you've got to come see it.)  I've so enjoyed playing with this software and making this.  Almost as much as I've enjoyed decorating my house this week for Christmas! 

I love going through my boxes of familiar things.  Christmas decorations have always been a favorite of mine, I think because with all of our moving, they were consistent.  The red eyelet tree skirt has always been the same, the Oak Ridge Boys Christmas cassette, the angel at the top of the tree (and a really funny had-to-be-there story about the year her lights died and we rigged her up to work), our stockings that our grandmother made, the ceramic nativity set, the cardboard my grandpa used to wrap the Christmas lights around...  I don't even use it anymore but it's in the bottom of my box because it has his handwriting on it, and I can't bear to pitch it.  All of those things remind me that tradition offers us security and identity. I love that my kids already have these things that they look forward to.  We are keeping some of the traditions I want to savor, shaping them into a good fit for our family, and beginning some new traditions of our own.  And I hope I'm building a solid foundation of love and security in my children that they will want to relish each December.

I'm thankful for the changes around here.  They have come none too soon and have enabled us to slow down and enjoy this season of waiting.  For school each day we're doing math, language arts, piano practice, a creative activity and then just reading together on the couch.  We have so needed this time!   Some intentional reconnection opportunities and moments for the kids and I to like each other again after a hard season, and God is giving us those in abundance.  I'm so thankful.