Enjoying my break, and a little more in the Christmas Spirit than last year.

Even being a child of God, this time last year was awful.  Try as I might, I could not get in the spirit of Christmas.  I felt like a failure as a parent and life in general, but God is good and is always with us.  Sometimes we forget that or push it to the back of our hearts, so we can wallow in our sorrow.  I am thankful that God loves me as I am and where I am emotionally.  His grace is sufficient and abounding.

Here is what we finished last night.  We realized that we did not have any ornaments or decorations for the tree after the kids moved out and we gave them theirs.  So this is what we got after a couple trips to Walmart.

Right now, the only presents are from my mom, but I hope to get the rest wrapped tonight. 


Here is a gift that I made for a dear friend.  I used the same paper packet as the last one I made, but different ones.  The only things not CTMH are the ribbon, button and snowflake punch.  I think it turned out well.

Some bookmarks for her and her husband, since I am thankful that he lets her hang out with me.

I have also been reading while on break.  I have finished a few.  The House of Hope series by Neta Jackson, is really good.  Her husband Dave Jackson, has some parallel novels to go with it that I am waiting for from the library.  They are a continuation of the Yada Yada Prayer group series, that I highly reccomend.

 Very thankful for the library.  It keeps me up to date on what I want to read and makes me really think ahead about what I want to purchase for my own library.

Doing Some Creating

So we have a "Secret Snowman" exchange at work every year.  It has been a rough school year and I have not been very creative these last 6 months.  Anyway, I took the opportunity to be creative for my final exchange gift.  I saw the idea here Christmas Drink Caddy.  I think I did a fair homage to it.  I did have a fun time filling it, even though I did not get much information to go on for gifts.

All paper is CTMH, except for the notebook and pen.  The monogram stamp set is Martha Stewart.  I also found a great panoramic puzzle at the dollar store and a snowman ornament at Target.  Aaron ordered her drink caddy from this site  cardboard drink carrier, but I recycled a Sonic carrier.