1.  The other day on Shutterfly you could get 10 free Christmas cards and so I thought I would take advantage.  I created three that I really liked and decided to let the family vote on which they preferred.  I asked three children (they were alone and uninfluenced by siblings) and each picked a different one.  Guess Honey was the tie-breaker.  The code didn’t work.  All that and no free cards.

2.  Bubba was reading Psalm 1 to me the other night and said,

“Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who medicates on it day and night.”

Truer than he knows!!

3.  I was trying to talk to my kiddos about the difference between Christmas songs about Jesus and Christmas songs about the holiday itself or winter.  KB cut in and said, “Mom – all the songs are about Jesus because they are about Christmas.” It was kinda precious, really.  It must mean that in her mind Christmas = Jesus.  Right? So I asked her, “Then what is the most exciting thing about Christmas?” Her response, “Opening presents!!” Obviously there is more to learn here.

4.  I love Christmas cards.  We haven’t sent them in a few years because of cost and “the times” but I really want to send them this year.  I love writing an update about our family that fits in a 4×6 space (we have typically sent picture postcards), I love addressing each one and remembering special things about each family, and I love writing a note and hoping friends will know they are still special to us after all these years.

Christmas cards are one of the reasons I don’t like Facebook.   For all it’s good points, I hate that folks expect you to get your season’s greetings there and don’t take that extra personal step.  Facebook is the antithesis of Christmas cards, equalizing the masses and allowing no one to feel special.

5.  Yesterday I helped a friend create an image she then used to create and order fabric.  The image contained scanned recipe cards in her Grandma’s handwriting and she is going to make dishtowels from the fabric.  BEST CHRISTMAS IDEA for extended family.  Seriously! They are going to be precious.

6.  The Sensory Integration stuff they are doing at Little’s school has been wonderful on so many levels.  She is able to feel her body more than ever and that is evidenced by more trips to the bathroom and more hugs! Last night I put her to bed and she hugged me five times while we were talking.  To put that into perspective, I was only in there 7 minutes and each hug was more than a squeeze.  Her new preference is long and tight hugs (deep pressure is what an OT would call it).  When she wasn’t hugging me, she would take my hand and put it on her back so that I would rub her back while we talked and sang.  7+ years of little to no affection from this gal and now this.  Merry Christmas to me!!!

7.  I just read a friend’s post from Thanksgiving and he listed 30 things he was thankful for.  It was a beautiful list and beautifully written (he is a writer, afterall) and included all the things you would expect to read about : wife, each child individually, parents, job, etc.

At our house we always give the limitation, “you can’t list family, friends, or Jesus” – those are givens.  This year we put butcher paper on the fridge and at dinner listed things from the day that we were thankful for (very Ann Voskamp) and used the same constraints.  Our list ended up being pretty comical but VERY real.  Examples?

My sewing machine
St. Luke’s and staples
bathrooms (added by a very sincere KB who had been caught in the car twice that day really needing a bathroom!)
art at KDS (Bubba loves art)
SMZ (sensory motor zone at Little’s school)
Nathan Fillion (Honey’s contribution)

That’s it for now. My brain seems clouded a good bit these days and blogging has been hard. I think this is my first real rough patch since I started in 2007. While life is bigger than a blog, I don’t like what my absence represents. Please pray for a clear mind, self-control, and discipline. And have a good weekend – a personal and purposeful weekend!

gratuitous photo of cute kids: