Candy Cane Lane

I've found something else that just makes the holidays even more wonderful for me. Celestial Seasonings Candy Cane Lane Holiday Decaf Green Tea. That's quite a mouthful to say, but when you drink it, it's happiness in a mug. Seriously. It's tastes just like a candy cane. But without the sugar. (I added Splenda.) Yum! I'm just sitting here smelling the box right now, and it's making me happy. Celestial Seasonings makes several different holiday teas, and they're all on sale at HEB right now, for those of you in the TX area. There was a gingerbread kind, a sugar cookie kind, and several others. Check out the website here. Super yum! This will definitely take a bad morning (For example, one where yesterday it was 75 degrees and this morning it's 33 and sleeting... Yes, that IS what happened in Waco today!) and turn it right around!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I LOVE the holiday season! Thanksgiving and Christmas combine to make a wonderful season of fun, family, joy, thankfulness, and lots of good food! Justin and I spent Thanksgiving weekend house/dogsitting for my boss, so we enjoyed having lots of space and cable TV. (Friday afternoon while Justin was working on school stuff, I watched 5 hours of a "What Not to Wear" marathon on TLC. Pure bliss.) Thanksgiving morning we gave back to the community by delivering Meals on Wheels to a few senior adults, and then for lunch I cooked a magnificent feast for just me and Justin. It was delicious and healthy too! :) Then Friday morning we got up early (but not at 4:00 as we have in years past!) and both started and finished our Christmas shopping! Fun times! So it was a highly successful weekend. Finally Sunday afternoon we put up our Christmas tree and now we're ready for Christmas! Just 2 more weeks of school for my sweetheart, then he gets to breathe a big sigh of relief for a little while. We'll be taking our annual trip to the homeland for Christmas, so we'll be hitting Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee on that trip. Can't WAIT for that! I'll have 2 new nephews by then, and I can't wait to squeeze them both! So here's a fun quiz for you to do in honor of the beginning of the Christmas season:

Your Christmas is Most Like: A Very Brady Christmas

For you, it's all about sharing times with family. Even if you all get a bit cheesy at times.

What Movie Is Your Christmas Most Like?

The Rear End of Luxury

Well, it's finally getting to be that time of the year in Texas when we're pulling our sweaters out of storage. In fact, I even glimpsed a patch of frost on my rear windshield this morning! Oh no! I DO NOT LIKE COLD WEATHER! I prefer t-shirts and flip-flops! But alas, my poor feet are doomed to a couple of months of being trapped inside socks and shoes. However, I've just recently discovered one perk of the cold season. My precious, wonderful husband, being the strong and mighty protector that he is, has recently let me start driving his 2004 Camry to work instead of the less-reliable 96 Grand Am I'd been driving. One chilly evening last week when we were out and about, I noticed some buttons on the dashboard of the Camry that I'd never seen before. There was a right one and a left one, and they showed a picture of a seat with wavy lines coming up from it. So I pushed the one for my side to see what would happen, and lo and behold, 2 minutes later this wonderful toasty feeling starts to emanate from my seat! (At first, I thought I'd wet my pants!) I realized it was a seat warmer! I'd heard of these, but always thought they were for luxury cars and that I'd never own a car that had them! (I realize you're probably rolling your eyes and attributing my naivete to the fact that I lived in Africa for 2 years. I still think a refrigerator is a marvelous thing!) I mean, who came up with that idea? It had to be a woman. So anyways, thanks to my precious husband's generosity and concern for me, I get to drive to work every morning with a roasty toasty rear end. So maybe there is ONE good thing about cold season in Texas. Now I just need a warmer for the steering wheel!

Cutie-Patootie!

There's not much going on in my world right now. I'm ready for Thanksgiving so I can get 2 days off work! I'm pretty sad to not be going home, though. I want to squeeze my new precious nephew! But in the meantime, with my absence of anything interesting to post, I'll just post a couple more pictures that I got from my mom of the two most precious children on the face of the earth.

What an adorable little chunky monkey!

I love this picture because it seems to me that what's happening is Azlan is in his carseat wailing, and Patriot is pointing and laughing. Oh, the pitfalls of being the younger sibling! I know how you feel, Azlan. :)

He's Finally Here!

My second sweet nephew has made his entrance into the world!

Azlan David
Born November 6 at 7:30 p.m. EST
9 lbs., 5 oz., 21" long

He's pictured here with Mommy, Daddy, and big brother Patriot. I LOVE the look on Patriot's face - What is THAT thing Mommy is holding?! :)

I've Always Wondered...

I heard a song on the radio this week that REALLY touched me. I've always wondered about things like this, but I've never heard anyone else talk about it. But in this song, Todd Agnew expresses perfectly the things I've always wondered about Jesus' life on earth:

Todd Agnew - Did You Know?
From the album Do You See What I See?

Were Mary’s the first eyes you saw
Or did You remember choosing that shade of brown?
Were You surprised at the shepherd’s crazy story
Or did You know You wrote the song the angels sang?

What was this life like for You?

Did You know?
Did the cross cast its shadow o’er your cradle?
Did You know?
Did You shudder each time Your hammer struck a nail?
Did you know?
How much heaven and how much earth
Were in this baby at His birth?
Did you know? Or did you wonder?

Did you remember the brightness of Your glory
Or did You just notice it was cold and dark here?
Did You know Your name or did you have to be told?

Were You just a baby or were You as old as time?

What was Your life like?

Did You know?
Did the cross cast its shadow o’er your cradle?
Did You know?
Did You shudder each time Your hammer struck a nail?
Did you know?
How much heaven and how much earth
Were in this baby at His birth?
Did you know? Or did you wonder?

What a moving thought, and how appropriate to think about as the Christmas season approaches. May we all meditate on the life of Christ and all He gave up to come to earth as a man to die for the sins of you and me.