Moments

We have the first of many family Christmas gatherings this weekend (you can read about last years country gathering here). So between now and then, I'm squeezing in some precious moments of creating. I've been drawing some insiration from the holiday issue of Jeanne d'Arc Magazine


These ornaments are super easy. They are just ripped book pages from a book that I picked up out of a free box during Summer garage sales.

And some candles wrapped in sheet music and tied with hemp string. Have a I mentioned that I'm allergic to hemp string? I love the rustic look of it so I have to wash my hands between each candle. Some girls suffer for the sake of fashion with their diets, etc. I get hives over a basket of candles. That's not wierd. ...Right?

Vintage Christmas Monday at Anything Goes Here.

Fallout

Thought I'd show you a bit of blizzard country *smiles*

Remember the decorated dead tree?

We passed by it earlier today so I had to get a quick picture to share (Yes, I take a camera everywhere - my family is used to hearing "Wait, turn around..."). I wish I would've seen it before the snow but it's a delightfully curious thing just sitting there at that busy corner.

How did the storm effect your area?

Snowed In

We're bundling up!

I couldn't be more delighted. Christmas time is the perfect time for a blizzard. Seriously - there's a "blizzard warning"! And it looks like it's effecting people all over the country. I heard there's snow in parts of California.

So what will you do if you're snowed in when you wake up tomorrow?
And my kids want to know... should homeschool kids get snow days?

Raising Cane

I say it every year!

I don't care for traditional Christmas colors and someday I'm going to get around to decorating with more chic shades, something more "me".

I've let it all swirl about in my head long enough!

I've decided that "my" Christmas color is the color vintage and even though our gaudy tree must continue for kids, I'm setting up some vintage-y vignettes this week.

What are your Christmas colors?

Visit Vintage Christmas Monday

A Slight Christmas

It's been a year!

A year this week since Mr. Blessing was laid off. I know that many of you have been praying so I wanted to celebrate with you and give you an update. No, there's no new job. And while Christmas has been slightly smaller at our house since the lay-off, we have not felt slighted in the least. God has provided in both big and small ways. It's possible that the worst is yet to come. That future months will find us forced to tighten the reins drastically. But at every turn we are given immeasurably more than we can ask or even think.

We are growing.

Our roots are going deep. It's a by-product of being dependant rather than independent.

"Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants." And we are indeed tender. Raw, somedays.

I've developed a need to really talk with God. So I ask Him stuff all day long. Little bitty conversations. And I ask Him to talk back to me. So I read his Word. I've been praying verses, substituting Thee's and Thou's with Me and I and Mine. Do you think it's ok to pray this verse for my family... Then this "family" will bring me renown, joy, praise and honor before all "bloggers" who hear of all the good things I do for it; and they will be in awe and will tremble at the abundant prosperity and peace I provide for it.

It might seem that I have my head in the clouds but let me be perfectly honest... We are stressed. We are working harder than ever at a job that some would not consider a "real" job. We are weary. We are unsure. But we are not destitute. We are not alone. I'm delighted that our household is drawn inward, becoming even more old fashioned... baking & crafting & staying home by the fire. We've discovered that our youngest boy loves to draw. He spends hours drawing now. Our oldest has learned the value of a job that's hard to come by - even if it means he's the only guy in his crowd that bakes bread and decorates cakes (Wal-Mart bakery). Amazingly, all four of our kids had a hard time coming up with a Christmas wish list. But what brings me to joyful tears is that God gave us enough so that we could buy the gifts they wouldn't put on their lists.

No, it isn't easy & I'm often on the verge of falling apart, but we are blessed in the midst of it. Blessed with more than we've ever had. Blessed with each new French Cupboard member, each new web shop sale. We are blessed to have our home and really, truly live in it - work in it, play in it. Blessed with joy and blessed to be weary.

Blessed to be unemployed!