Well, it's 10:00 a.m. on this fine Saturday morning. My breakfast
is consisting right now of a bag of green and red M&M's. Really!
So, I thought I'd post before you guys thought a Christmas Elf had
kidnapped me...LOL! I thought I would share a couple of
Christmas photos...

This is the picture from my Christmas header. This is the tree at
my parents house. Every year there seems to be a new stocking
being added. Next year there will be a new one with the name of
my new niece! I look forward to her arrival this Spring!

I received a Christmas package in the mail the first of the week

and my nephew was with me when I got it. I read the message

on the box outloud.."Don't open till Christmas". To which I

replied how much I wanted to open it "now". My nephew said,

"But you can't open it now". "Why not?" I

asked. "It's because of the Spirit of Christmas!", he answered.

In the "Spirit of Christmas" I wish you and your family a very

Merry Christmas! May the meaning of Christmas fill your hearts

in a special way. I pray God bless you all with special moments

this Christmas that you can tuck away as treasured memories!

Much love to you all!!!

Melanie~

Joy of the Season

I wish I could describe my mood lately. It's a really weird

combination of quiet and a bit withdrawn. What makes it

weird to me is that it's not from being down or blue. It's

almost like sitting back and watching things going on around

you. Today was a bit emotional as we gals tend to be at least

once a month ;( Anyway, we dropped off a package today

and I wanted to share the moment with you....

The other day we were in the mall and we picked a name

off the Salvation Army Christmas tree. We decided on a

little boy the same age as my nephew, we wanted him to

help us pick out the gifts we would buy. (I'm going to tear

up again) When we got home we explained to him why

we were going to buy toys for a little boy name Joshua.

Hmm...yeah, his name is Joshua...not a coincidence

for me. Anyway, when my nephew found out we were

to drop of the gifts for Joshua....he said, "cool, we can

drop them off and then I can play with him!". He was

sooo excited when he exclaimed this. Yet a bit

disappointed that he couldn't actually give it to Joshua.

It just warmed my heart to know that he wanted to

not only give a gift but sit down and enjoy the

company of what he would consider "a new friend".

I so wish the Ladies of our church would catch a bit of

this....the joy of giving, receiving and sharing things of

"real" quality with one another!

I also thought about the "gift" that He gave to us! And

I'm so glad the He didn't want to give it anonymously!

He wanted to stick around and play!!

God has also blessed me with some wonderful...

wonderful friendships this year...I'm so grateful!

You Girls...you warm my heart!

Hi....still here!

Hey all....I know, I know it's been another week and I've yet
to post. It's been sooooo crazy around here. No, not a bad
crazy just too much going on. Too much going on at work,
church and thoughts chasing around in my head...oh along
with Christmas shopping. Please help me pray about our
church...there's a situation going on and it's not too good and
it has to be handled in the right way....many details but
please say a prayer for our little pastor and his wife. Thanks!

Well, going to crawl inbetween the kids to watch Charlie
Brown Christmas special and sneak food off their plates...
hey their not eating it ;)

I know this is short but wanted to let you know I'm thinking
of you and love you all.

Just a little funny...

What do you get when you cross a snowman with a vampire?

frostbite!

I owe my BIL a thank you for helping me look at the spirit of

the day a bit different....thanks for the call and the laugh...

Well, another holiday has come and gone. And as I always do,
ate wayyy too much. I hope your day was as great as mine!
The house was full of family, food, laughter, kiddos and sale
papers (which were empty of anything I had to get up this
morning to go get).
We did something different this year and I wanted to share
it with you. I've always wanted us to go around and tell
what we were thankful for. There are normally so many of
us I've just never done it.

Well, this year we did a Thankful Tree! I was planning to
just have it there for the kids to do but my Aunt's got into
it and made each of their grown kids join in. Along with my
Grandmother and my parents. It really turned cute. Now,
I have a keepsake from everyone. Like my Grandmother's
list in her handwritting with her name signed to it.

I love my nephew's he summed it all up in one big word "everything"!
The top pick on most of the kids list was "food". I blamed on the fact
they were eagerly awaiting a taste of all the wonderful smells coming
through the house.



So tonight we will take the Thankful Tree down and put up the
Christmas Tree. It's time to "Deck the Halls".
Blessing to you Sweet Friends!! May your Thankful Tree
overflow again next year!!

Oh, not on this day

Well, as most of you have heard me talk of how Thanksgiving
is my most favorite holiday ever....well, someone else heard
me talking about it too. As a matter a fact he was standing
next to my bed this morning to be the first person to great
me on MY favorite holiday of the year. Yeap the sneaky
rat himself, satan. So I've decided to make another
thankful list...to shut him up from the crap he's trying to
lay on me today...

I'm thankful that my God is "bigger than the boogie man".
I'm thankful that all I had to do this morning was close my
eyes back and talk with my Creator whom I was created in
the likeness of.
I'm thankful that in a few hours that the house will be full
of kids laughter. We are going to make a Thankful Tree
today...so I should have pictures up of it soon.

If satan showed up that early this morning then...
It's going to be a good day Ladies! A good day indeed!
Many Happy Warm Blessings to you today!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This little guy has the right idea...

Praise the Lord and pass the turkey!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday! There is something special
about it that warms my heart. Our Thanksgiving day isn't as
crowded with people as it use to be. Be it some of our loved ones
are spending it with Jesus or that ones have houses to juggle
between. Still it's not that...it's the reason of the holiday I love.
It's always been an extra time that I sit still and reflect back on
all God's goodness in my life.
I could keep an ongoing list of things I'm thankful for and we
would be here all day talking about them. I will name a few...
I'm thankful for being raised in a Christian home.
I'm thankful for the gift of salvation my Savior provided.
I'm thankful for God's provision.
I'm thankful for my parents, sisters and my nephew and niece.
I'm thankful for family.
I'm thankful for friends. The kind that feel like family.
I'm thankful for a second chance on life.
I'm thankful for the tough times too.

I'm thankful that God has crossed our paths!
You have all been a special treasure give to me from above.
Thinking of you all this Thanksgiving....
May your day be a beautiful reminder of all He has done
in your life.