Packed Up...and Outta Here

I just took the last load of Christmas decorations downstairs and shut the doors on my storage closets.  Vacuumed up glitter, tree needles, flocking from my new tree and countless little teeny tiny balls that fall off of everything.  Woo-hoo...I am tired.  Something always feels really good to me when I get all that stuff packed up until another year.  My house always looks so much more spacious and I always want to rearrange everything and redecorate.  Big plans huh???  I will move stuff around and I will probably redecorate with stuff I already have and Lord knows I have a ton of stuff.  That is something else I have done.  Thrown out some stuff.  It is stuff I don't need, don't use and don't really want so it's outta here!!  Throwing away anything is hard for me.  I don't care for changes.  I am a creature of habit and a slave to sameness.  Change my last name to boring.  Cindy Boring?  Kind of a nice ring...don'tcha think?  Anyway, here at the close of 2013 I was thinking today of other stuff I need to change and let go and revise.  I don't really make resolutions because I never keep them.  Still need to lose 20 lbs...only 27 to go!  But there are a few things I need to pack up and send outta here.  A few things I need also.  Get rid of my self-criticism and make peace with me.  I will not ever be a size 2 or wear my hair long so I can put it in a messy bun or ponytail.  I will never like wearing jeans or sweat pants.  I will always prefer dresses and skirts.  I will never be any taller.   I need to accept me....all of me.  Parts I don't like??  Too bad.  God made me and to constantly put myself down is a sin against Him.  Got to stop that behavior.   It is a very poor testimony to the work that God has started in me.  I can improve things.  Lose weight, grow my hair out (a little) change my clothing style, wear my make-up differently.  Let's face it, I am never going to give up wearing make-up.  I like it and I need it.  Don't know many women who don't.  I'm just sayin' any old barn looks better with a fresh coat of paint.  I need to pack up bad attitudes.  I have them on several topics and they need to go.  Life is just too precious to waste it on lingering on things that are not bringing glory to the one who gives me everything.  My job, my church, my home, my family, friends and a zillion other things.  Better attitudes are a comin!  I need to love my family better.  My daughters and sons-in-law and grandbabies all know I love them but I can always love them more.  By telling them, by praying for them more and more specifically, by serving them.    My precious friends.  I love my sisters in Christ and I want them to know that.  I need to tell them, put more effort in being a better friend.  Serve them.  Pray for them...everyday.  With a new year on the horizon it gives a sense of freshness.  Newness.  Starting over.  Clean slate.  Pick your adjective but it all boils down to one thing.  A blessing.  Each and every day is a blessing that we can either make better or cause it to be blighted.  Marked up in some way.  For this fresh year coming I want it to be better.  Each day better and better.  Am I going to fail?  You bet.  Resurrect old things.  Probably.  But with God helping me and showing me and shaping me.  I am so hopeful of better times.  Praise Him, for helping me pack up stuff and sending it outta here!

Merry Christmas

The fun never stops...

Today was a day that I would like to just forget.  It has rained for the last 964 hours as hard as it can and my dog will not leave the garage.  I made Trisha Yearwood's Crockpot Candy which is so good I cannot stand it....and I have single-handed eaten 94% of it all by myself.  Even my fat pants don't fit.  I decided today that I would finish wrapping my presents and my little Piper wanted to help me.  Wrapping with a 3 year old is....fun?  Let's just say that name tags are a plenty on each gift and bows are in the oddest places but oh well...it all goes in the trash anyway.  Both my girls were here earlier and Megan bought a great wreath for her door at Hobby Lobby for 66% off and she needed a wreath hanger.  I have a slew of them (have I ever mentioned I am a hoarder??).  I went to my basement into a storage closet that I store Christmas and Fall decorations where I had several wreath hangers suspended from a big nail that is the rafter beams of the basement ceiling.  When what to my wandering eyes did appear (quick...name that poem...again!!) but a snake!!!  That's right people a snake.  Its demon head peeped over the beam at me and get this...it stuck its tongue out at me.  As if to say I have been here for weeks and watched you haul all of this stuff out and you never knew it...na-na-na-naaaa.  Needless to say I screamed like a banshee and ran for my life.  Visions of pythons dancing in my head.  When I got upstairs I was breathless and screaming.  I wasn't screaming really loud because i was breathless....I really need to exercise more if for no reason so that my screams can be heard from the bottom of my steps.  Erica my quick-thinker called my daddy next door.  Megan...well she ran for truck and said see ya...wouldn't want to be ya!  So once again to my rescue was my daddy.  Sweet old Paw....he is a cowboy and a super-hero all in one.  My daddy has an artificial arm due to a work accident 30 years ago and his hook makes and awesome snake catcher.  More than once he has snapped one right up....eeewwwww!  So within 2 minutes here he comes up the steps with this monster snake who was planning to kill me tonight in my sleep I am sure.  All 18 inches of his blackness.  So while I am screaming for him to kill it and kill it real good, my daddy proceeds to just fling it into the woods....still alive!!!  I just stand there in my garage all slack-jawed and say, "It's going to come back to kill me later Daddy!!  What are you doing letting it live???"  He just laughs and walks home.  Clint Eastwood woulda shot it.  So now I will keep my Christmas stuff up forever because I am never going back to that snake hole again.  Meanwhile I told my attack dog, Penny, that she is now on testy ground with me.  She is to kill anything that breathes, moves or even smells funny in this house. She understands and is on board with this plan because I showed her a picture of the "farm" that all dogs are threatened with if she doesn't pull her weight.  Good grief, I need a nap....or another piece of candy!

My Christmas Show Top Ten

During the Christmas season I love to watch certain things each year.  Here are my top 10 things I try to not ever miss.  These are in no particular order and there are many other things I like.  

"Year Without A Santa Claus"  I love this show and my favorites are Snow Miser and Heat Miser....there too much!

"Elf"  This clip cracks me up and I really love the movie.  I am not much for Will Ferrell usually but he is great in this movie.

"The Walton's Homecoming."  This was the original pilot for the show.  The parents were different but all the kids and the grandma were the same.  Loved the show and I love this movie.

"Home Alone".  Hands down this is the funniest of these movies and I still laugh like a loon when Daniel Stern screams like a girl over the spider.

"It's A Wonderful Life."  This movie just moves me to tears every time I watch it.  It renews the knowledge that we all really do matter.

"A Christmas Story."  Every year TBS plays this for 24 hours.  My daughter, Megan, and I watch for about 18 of those hours.  Randy is my favorite.

"A Muppet's Christmas Carol."  While I love the traditional story of Scrooge, Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim.  The Muppets do it up right.  Gonzo the Great is an awesome narrator.

"Charlie Brown's Christmas"  This is just the best.  Thank the Lord they still show this on TV every single year.  I love it.

Christmas just isn't Christmas without at least watching some of the Griswold Family.  They are just....well Griswolds.

Finally, "The Little Drummer Boy."  This does not come on very often anymore and that is a shame.  If this little guy doesn't break your heart well then you don't have one.  But, as he approaches the newborn King...it changes his life.  And when we approach Jesus today He still changes our lives.

Expectations

I had a conversation with a dear friend today who is going through some very trying times and some tough issues.  They vary from some serious health concerns for her and for her new son-in-law to family dynamics and...oh how they change!  Like me, she is a deep thinker and an over-thinker.  We both dissect problems and issues over and over in our heads.  We both like reasons for things and definite answers.  Even if they are not the answer we would choose or even like.  Lines in the sand so to speak.  Both of us have high expectations from people.  Especially people who state that they are Christians.  Neither she nor I are perfect by no means.  Especially me.....I do have my quirky ways and I let the Lord down multiple times each day.  But when someone is involved in your life and a part of your family you expect certain things, behaviors and treatment.  And when they let you down...over and over and over.  Well, it hurts.  It hurts a lot.  My friends' sister tells her to just expect nothing.  But people like my friend and me struggle with that.  I expect a lot out of my own family and close friends.  I expect them to at least want to do the right thing.  To try to do the right thing.  If they don't I expect some kind of effort.  I try very hard and so does my friend to make sure that the people in my life matter.  And that they know they matter.  It hurts when you think that people who claim to love you and to love God and His ways and yet continually treat you as if you do not matter.  I truly hope and pray that my family and my friends know I love them.  that I care about them and the things that touch their lives.  That I pray for them and what is going on in their lives.  I do not do this for any kind of benefit for myself.  I believe that this is God's desire for His children.  To love one another as He loves us!  When my friends hurt....well, I hurt for them.  I pray for them and I try to tell them that i am praying and that I care.  Why is that so hard!!!!  Honestly, it isn't hard at all.  It might take a tiny bit of effort but it is the least I can do for the people I say I love.  Bottom line....I expect my friends and family to expect that from me.  I am praying for my friend and her family.  She knows it.  She didn't have to ask me to either.  I would not have to ask her to pray for any need I may have.  As a believer I expect her to choose to do that just like she expects me too.  Life is too hard and too short to go around self absorbed and self-centered.  Look around your own home and your circle of friends.  I expect you just might find someone to pray for and to see what you can do for them.  Just knowing that you matter to someone means the world to people.

Christmas Program

This past Sunday morning we had our Tiny Tots Children's Program at church.  My sweet grandaughter, Piper, was Mary.  I did film the whole nativity scene but since it is 12 minutes long I am only going to post two other short segments that have the children singing some songs.  Piper did fantastic!!!  She performed her role just like she has been practicing since around September.  When she and Joseph sat beside the manger Piper did hold onto baby Jesus and when the director motioned for her to place baby Jesus in the manger Piper just held him closer.  She never put her baby down.  She is just like her Mimi...I never put my babies down either!!  After the play Erica did ask Piper why she didn't put baby Jesus in the manger and she said there was already a baby Jesus in the bed and there was no room for my baby Jesus.  We had our adult cantata the night before and that Mary forgot her baby Jesus in the manger all night long!!!!  So Piper did the right thing by holding onto her baby.  Savannah was so cute too.  She was way down on the other side of the stage and I could not see her during their performances.  At one point she did see us and Erica whispered, "Don't make eye contact."  But I stole a peak at her and she smiled.  Such a little cutie-pie!

Here they are singing "Come On Ring Those Bells"

Another song by our little ones at church.  I just love the sweetness of these babies.  So pure and genuine.  They just want to please the Lord!!  And they did it with a lot of "joyful noise!"

Notice Piper has a tight grip on baby Jesus.

My heart was just so blessed by these precious little ones and I know that God was so pleased by them.  Unlike adults, they are not worried if they sound okay or if their veils fall off or their crowns are crooked or they stumble or forget words.  Children just do their best and leave it at that.  God only wants our best.  We are not perfect and these children were not perfect but God was Glorified and the story was told...perfectly.

Okay...I'm a big cry-baby

Last night I sat down after a very long day to watch some tv.  Seldom is there really anything on worth watching but Hallmark plays Christmas movies 24/7 during the Christmas season.  This was one I didn't care for.  So I clicked on over to ABCFamily to see what was on the 25 days of Christmas.  And to what to my wandering eyes should appear (name that poem!) but my favorite movie trilogy....Toy Story.  I adore the Toy Story movies.  They are funny, nostalgic and just delightful for kids and grown-ups alike.  As a child I was always convinced that my toys were secretly alive.  These movies confirm this totally.  I still have Megan's Buzz Lightyear downstairs.  He can still go to infinity and beyond by the way.  Slinky dog is great but it is Mr. Potato Head that kills me.  With each movie certain parts speak to me in ways that I can't really describe why.  In the first one I love the line that Sheriff Woody tells Potato Head to say good bye to the wife and tater tots.  I laugh every single time.  In the second one I cried for the first time watching a Toy Story movie.  When Cowgirl Jesse reveals to Woody why she wants to be locked away and be on display forever is because her little girl stopped loving her.

See???  I am crying right now.

But the killer is Toy Story 3.  No wonder it was nominated for Best Picture that year.  As far as I am concerned it should have won.  This scene kills me.

Kills me.  I am wailing right now.  When she walks in and sees Andy's room empty.  Well, there are just no words.  So yes, I am a great big cry-baby when it comes to little kid movies.  They are my favorites.  The Toy Story series is by far my favorite and I watch them every single time they come on.

Christmas Decorating....done?

Well I am still not done decorating my dining room for Christmas.  I need napkins, glasses and flatware on the table.  When I place all that I will be done....I think.  My kids wonder why I decorate so much and i truly do not know other than I just love it.  Erica and the girls came over tonight after ballet class and the girls took baths here and I got a chance to take their picture in front of one of my trees.  It have zero presents wrapped yet.  I am so behind in that department.  I love the photos on pinterest where they are very dark and just the lights of the tree illuminate the photo.  I really like artsy photography.  To me photography is an art form.  One that I am very passionate about.  I am forever more taking photos of things that speak to me.  I am working on some of different angles of my Christmas trees.  There are some parts I just love of these trees.  Hopefully by December 25th I will be done decorating and can actually sit back and sip coffee and enjoy all the twinkling lights and such!!  Then I can start taking it all down until next year!!!

My little sweeties in a few different shots.

Savannah was pointing out a bird to Piper.

I love Piper's little arm around her baby sisters' shoulder.  They are so sweet.

My little Christmas Angels....

I wish they could just stay this little.  Childhood just passes so fast.

I adore this owl in one of the trees in my living room.  Erica and Megan think she is creepy but I love her.

This is one shot of my tree before I moved it.  Thank goodness artificial trees slide easy on wood floors because I slid this one across the whole room and it didn't even lose one ornament!

Where is the time going???

I have honestly never, ever been so busy in my whole life.  Between, work, children, parents, grandbabies, church, photo shoots and tree decorating (I have put up 7 and am stopping) I am exhausted.  I have a ton of pics to post and a lot of stuff on my mind but I think I will kick off the December posts with a song.  Enjoy!!


I love, love, love this version of this precious song!