How to Really Enjoy This Christmas

Ever since I can remember, Christmas has always come and gone in such a flash that I can’t remember where it all went. Obviously, when we are children, it is all about the gifts and Santa. As we grow older, it becomes about commitments, where we have to be on what day at whatever time with whoevers family, checklists of to do’s and gifts to buy, cleaning and decorating and making sure everything is perfect. With all of the hustle and bustle, I think from a very early age most of us get caught up and carried away. Sadly, a lot of people never get back to what this season is all about.


When my brother and I were children, my family had alittle tradition that I always loved and was so special. Christmas Eve, after we had gotten home from a day of gifts and fun, we would have out baths, put on our new Christmas pajamas and gather in the family room by the Christmas tree so that my dad could read us the Christmas story from Luke 2. Amidst all of the madness that has become “Christmas”, this time always served as a beautiful, precious emphasis- reminding us what this season is really all about. When I got married and moved out, sadly, this tradition kind of got discontinued. For the past several years I have found myself not really enjoying “Christmas” at all- because of what it has become and how I have fallen into the mix.

This year, I wanted to focus on what and WHO this season is about, and that is the birth of a King. Not just any King, but the One to whom it is written,

“the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” Matthew 1:20-21

Back at the beginning of December, I read a post from Ann Voskamp that changed everything about Christmas for me. Her son asks her a stirring question that turned everything about how I have looked at Christmas in the past upside down. He asks, “What does Jesus get for His birthday?”


Wow. What has He gotten from me I ask myself?

- A long list of “I wants”

- A bad attitude for being pulled in what feels like 1,000 different directions

- A sense of lets hurry up and get this over with so we can go on to the next thing

- Very little attention to family- mainly whats going on now and whats coming next

- A whisper of a thank you prayer to God for Him- and on to the next thing

Get the picture? It’s horrifying and no wonder there has been very little joy. Ann’s message was burned into my heart, along with God’s about how we are to treat the poor. I know it seems like 2 totally different messages, but really it has become 1 for me.


The joy in Christmas is giving, because He gave. The joy in Christmas comes from all focuses and attention on Him, because He is all we need.All of a sudden that list of “I wants” has turned to absolutely nothing. I have everything I could ever need or want in Him. My heart’s cry has become who can I give to? Who needs Jesus love through me? Lord, give me eyes to see and a discerning Spirit from YOU!

To kind of wrap this up, I wanted to list some new things I have done this year in observing advent, and just keeping my focus on Him. It’s truly been life changing.


This Book

Stories from HERE

Messages from Him

Each has been enriching in its own way, but there is absolutely no replacement for the Word of God. Get in the Word. Stay in the Word. Understand and appreciate the true meaning of Christmas.

Christmas Weekend

Happy Monday Morning!

We had a great weekend.

Our festivities began on Saturday morning. Each year, my Junior Women’s Club hosts a Breakfast with Santa for children in our town. It is always so much fun- even though it is a lot of work! The children are so sweet coming in and as soon as they see Santa- it is honestly like they have seen Jesus in the flesh. They can hardly contain themselves through breakfast so that they can hurry and jump in line to sit on his lap when they finish. So many laughs! We also have other stations set up. We help them write letters to Santa, make reindeer food and some cute ornaments. I did get a few pictures of decorations before the madness began!

This is the set up where we had Santa for pictures.

Saturday afternoon, I had to head to my mamas to get started wrapping our Sunday school children’s Christmas presents. Nothing like waiting until the last minute! By Saturday night, I was worn out! We had a nice time at home, cleaning, reading (more on what I am reading tomorrow) and watching TV.

(Gracie's hair is so long right now. I should have gotten her groomed before Christmas, but I have slam ran out of time. We had to improvise alittle on Saturday before her bath to keep the hair out of her eyes. She hates these clips. I think they are hilarious. )

Sunday morning we got to church early to be able to get out gifts to the kids. After church, we headed to Lyman to have Christmas with my grandfather and his brothers. This is a tradition we have done since I can remember. It is always fun eating the best food and sitting around after listening and laughing to old stories. We leave with our belly’s and hearts full!

I am looking forward to some time off this week!

PS- Here are those food picks from Friday- They were DEVINE! :)

Christmas Goodies and New Traditions

Merry (almost!) Christmas!!

Less than 10 days and it will all be over :(

We are short staffed right now at work. Normally, I would complain, but not this time of year!







ALL of these yummy goodies are mine! (No, I did not eat 1/2 of the red velvet cake, but I did have my share!) I wish I could say this is all of it. I am going to pick up another candy tray today and some ham biscuits from a precious lady in town who is so popular that if you want any Christmas goodies, you better be calling no later than mid October. I can't wait!!

This Christmas season, my family and I have started a new tradition that we have enjoyed so much. Each week (beginning the week of Thanksgiving) my family and my brother's family have been getting together one night a week to eat and watch a Christmas movie. Whoevers house we go to is who cooks. It has been so much fun and has really kept us in the Christmas spirit! So far, we have watched The Santa Claus, Prancer, Miracle on 34th Street and Home Alone. One more this week- Christmas Vacation!

I think I will be back later today to post my extra special Christmas goodies. You just can't imagine how amazing they are!!!

Happy Friday,

Update in Photos

I have been trying to get this post together for weeks, and it just has not happened until now!
I have just lacked motivation with this little blog as of late. I have always had the best intentions, but it's just not top priority everyday. Obviously, not top priority over the course of months judging by the time period of my last post! I saw someone post about doing 31 days in photos that I thought about doing, but not really in the mood to set myself up for failure at this point! Maybe soon!!

Here are a few pics of life over the last month!


My brother's wedding! . . .

I am not wild about this picture! She didn't tell me to uncross my legs! ha!

They wanted us to enter the reception dancing! Tables were alittle tight, so this was the best we could manage!

Cleared out alittle more as we got to the dance floor!

I am not one who likes my hair typically ever. But, my good friend who is also my hair dresser never ceases to amaze me with her style! I loved my hair that day! Honestly, I think it is the best it has ever looked.

I have a good friend who does some amazing artwork. I had him do this painting for me a few weeks ago and I love it! Kinda my vision of God's protection and providence. It is in our bedroom.

Of course, I can't not include a picture of this sweet baby! This is a toy I got her about 2 years ago. It has had its run. She loved it, but also LOVES to get to the insides of all her stuffed toys. Her ears are down because she thinks she is in trouble!

Hoping my blogging is going to get alittle more steady! I have to make more of an effort :)

M.I.A

It's hard to believe a whole month is gone! I have been alittle missing in action around here lately, but for good reason!

We have been getting these 2 married and celebrating like crazy! I wish I had more pics to post right now. I "borrowed" this one from Clary's sister's facebook page :) It has been an EXTREMELY busy last few weeks. We are semi on the down swing of things, so I hope to get back to blogging!

Congrats Daniel and Clary! We love you!!

What's Happening Right Now?

1. My boss is conducting business via speakerphone and it can be heard ALL over the office. By business I mean on hold with AT&T. He is verbally answering out loud (& repeating himself over and over while getting louder and louder . .) to the machine and pressing the phone buttons for what seems like a totally unnecessary amount of time.

2. I am helping my mama get some things finalized for the rehearsal dinner for Daniel and Clary coming up September 30. We got invitations finished up with Leslie and hope to have them by early next week! They look AMAZING! I can't wait to get my hands on them :) Y'all, she is awesome. We conduct everything via email and it is so simple and easy. Everything she does is totally custom and people take notice. I can't tell you how many compliments I have gotten on stuff she has done for me!

3. Jason and I have started looking at/for house plans. It will be so amazing IF we make it through this process and don't end up never speaking to one another again ;)

4. We have an anniversary coming up next week! We have been married 4 years . . seems like just yesterday. . .

5. In one month from today, my brother is getting married!!! So excited, but lots to do!

6. Jason and I are going to be an Aunt and Uncle! His sister Anna and her husband Jason are pregnant, due in April! CAN NOT WAIT for this baby!!

Friday is almost here! We are going to enjoy this long weekend!

Pest Control Anyone?

I have talked before about us living in the country. We are having a time with fruit flies, which are no bigger than gnats, but annoying. We have had some migrate to our master bathroom due to some of the moisture. There are not many, but just enough to drive me crazy! :)

My hubby had his own idea of how to get rid of them:

It seems to be working!

I have officially . .

experienced an earthquake! Honestly, I never thought I would be able to say that! Yesterday, while sitting in line at the bank drive through, the car I was in began to move as if someone from behind was shaking it. I thought it was just the car doing funky things until the teller comes across the intercom and asks if we were moving out there because they were in the bank. I thought, ok, at what point is the earth below me going to crack open and swallow us up?! I got out of the car to see if I could feel anything standing outside, and I couldn't. Felt alittle better. Shortly after I got back in the car the movement stopped. Not really sure what had just happened, I called around to family to see if they had felt what I just had. Some of them had, but most of them had not. Shortly after I got back to work, I read about the earthquake in Virginia and knew I wasn't crazy. Definitely a weird feeling that I hope I don't experience again!!!!

We live in the country. On my way to work this morning, this was in the middle of the road:

Go Gamecocks?!

Happy Hump Day!

Reading Spot

Our summer is slowly coming to an end :(

I said this winter that I would NOT complain about the heat that we have had this summer, and I really haven't. Although, it has been hot. I have enjoyed all of the pretty greens everywhere, the beautiful blue of the sky and the yellows and oranges of the sun.

I have been meaning to capture a picture this week to look back on in the dead of winter for some encouragement. Here is my evening reading spot:

I know it may seem like just a backyard photo. But for my little family, it is our haven. Jason chips around, Gracie watches all things in all directions from my lap and I read. We enjoy this little nightly ritual so much.

I will miss this November-February!

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Gracie in April

in August

I can't believe we let her get that shaggy.

The L Party and A First for Me!

This weekend, some of my brother's friends gave him and Clary a Liquor, Linen and Lace party. I have heard of these type party's before, but never been to one. It was fun and entertaining to say the least!

The party was at this neat little barn in the middle of the country! Actually, it was only about 5 minutes from our house.

My mom and dad surprised them with one of their engagement pictures framed beautifully. They LOVED this- I think best! ;)

The next several pictures are of a few games that some of the guests played.

In the first game, the boys are on one side of the room with a plunger between their legs.

The girls are on the other side of the room with a roll of toilet paper between their legs. I didn't include a photo of the end game, but basically the boys hop over to the girls and try to insert the plunger stick through the roll of toilet paper using nothing but their knees/legs. You get the picture :)

This game involved popping balloons in some compromising positions!

Good, clean fun! ;) I promise it wasn't as bad as it sounds, and actually was really funny. Again, never having gone to one of these parties, I didn't know what to expect. But, it was light hearted and fun!

Husband best friends!

Wife best friends! My sweet friend Lindsey is 3 months pregnant tomorrow! We are SO excited. We have prayed for this baby for awhile, and the Lord has been so gracious. Lindsey is just now coming out of the sickness phase. She had a really rough time, but thankfully is feeling ALMOST back to normal. Do you ever really feel normal pregnant?! . .

Successful Weekend

This weekend my mom and I set out to accomplish one thing- find and purchase her mother of the groom dress. We had an appointment at one place and one place only. I had not been to this particular place in about 9 years when I got my deb dress, but we had a really good feeling. We found it! I did take a picture but have sworn not to post. You would know the one we loved was in a size that was about 3-4 sizes to small. She was able to get in it, but that is basically it. Definitely no zipping up! We were laughing HYSTERICALLY. It was so funny. I had to peel her out of the thing several times. But, we came away successful!! Couldn't be happier!

While we were out and about we ran by Hobby Lobby. You know, it's just one of those stores that at one point I had an arm load of things that I could have used all over my house. I wasen't really thinking about where specifically in each room I was going to put everything. I ended up putting everything back a couple of different times. I need a game plan when I go back :) I did come out with this -

Ever since I have seen these, I wanted one to go above our mantle. I found our letters and the nice guy in the frame department hooked me up while we grabbed a quick bite to eat. I am so pleased with it. Jason liked it alot too. Once I get my game plan together for the whole mantle, I plan on going back and picking up all the goodies I put back!

Also, Jase and I have been engaging in a really unhealthy habit after supper recently, involving this-

Now, it is low fat ice cream. It is not low fat chocolate syrup.

Hello??!! I have a wedding in 9 weeks!

Back From Hiatus

I don't really know that you would call this last month a hiatus in real life, but most definitely a hiatus from blogging! It's not that I haven't had anything to blog about, just very little time to get it all down. This is my fresh attempt at blogging . . again ;)

What's new?


I finally graduated from my counseling classes. It has been a fulfilling 2 years to say the least. Though my riding partner and I got really burned out this last semester, and came up against so much spiritual warfare, we successfully completed the course. This was not through any effort of myself, I should add. I was so ready to throw in the towel more than once. As the fire got hotter, the more all I wanted to do was retreat to my safe haven. But, God showed me really quickly that I wasn't even safe there. It was a hard season, but a growing one and He never left my side. I am so thankful. So anyway, we are finished!! Yay! The next step is to go through the year long certification process which includes answering and submitting questions as well as actual counseling time. My goal is to complete this within the next year. I have not started to amount to much, but I am hoping that very soon, I will be off to a solid start. My mom has some great pictures from the Sunday we graduated which I will post as soon as I retrieve them from her camera.


My Aunt and I threw a shower for my soon to be sis-in-law at the end of June. We had a great time. I have a few pics, but Mom has more. I plan on doing a separate post on that as well, including photos!

We went to the beach at the end of July with our whole family! We had an amazing time, and just enjoyed each others company, the sand, the waves and the sunshine (when it decided to come out)! We had a few rainy days, but I still got my tan on. Here is what Gracie and I did one rainy morning -

Would you believe I didn't get any beach photos?! I am telling you, I know to be a successful blogger, you must have supporting photos with every post . . I must do better!

This is my first week back at work and it has been super busy. Again, we are thankful being that the real estate market has not been the most lucrative or kind market the past 2 years. My first day back at work was met with this pretty little something special -

I don't know whether to say ouch or gross first! Lesson learned. . after more than a week in flops, ease back into the work heels!

I guess that's about it for this first post back from blog vacation. We have a lot going on that I can't wait to post on!

Happy Thursday!

A Father's Day Funny

We had a great Father's Day weekend! Of course, I took no pictures (except for 1).

Friday night we had dinner with Jason's parents', brother and his girlfriend at Outback. It was yummy! Normally, we do Father's Day with my family on Sunday, but this year we had to improvise and gather at a different time due to South Carolina's first game of the College World Series scheduled for Sunday at 7. Yes, we are those people. Well, let me take that back. My dad is "those people". He is not missing the Gamecocks play in the CWS- no matter what the time ends up being. I am so glad Daniel and Clary didn't plan their wedding anywhere near this season. Otherwise, we would have been short a best man :) So, no big deal we got together on Saturday night and ate at mom's and dad's. We decided to just pick up from a local restaurant here and relax and fellowship. None of us really wanted to get dressed and go all out. So, we spent a great night in!

Funny story. I have been seeing for weeks the Dairy Queen commercial on TV advertising the Father's Day ice cream cakes. I decided on Friday that we had to have one. My dad is a golfer, so I thought the golf decorated one was perfect for him. I call the order in and they tell me to pick it up Saturday afternoon. Cutting it alittle close, but ok, what choice do I have after all?!

This is our yummy cake

Now, it was great. The only problem is that my daddy's nickname is "Cap", not "Cat". I am sure people get weird messages written on cakes all the time, but I did tell the employee "CAP, as in baseball CAP" repeatedly.

Oh well, we all at least had a good laugh!

Hope your Father's Day was special!