My Favorite Christmas Present

This will be Jon and I's 13th Christmas together and 12 of those we have been married. Jon is really a great guy, but every Christmas morning all of the stockings on the mantle will be full except for mine. He will then wince and do the, "Aw man, I forgot. I'm so sorry sweetie." Every. Single. Year. That is until year #10. Year #10 I told him not to even think about filling my stocking because I would do it myself and I was going to make up for the last 10 years. My stocking runneth over. I know I spent at least $100 on my stocking. Truth be known, it was probably closer to $150. Did I feel guilty? No way Jose! I was secretly hoping this would teach him a lesson (he's what I call a budget Nazi).

Last Christmas morning after we had all opened our gifts we went to the fireplace for the kids to rummage through their stockings. To my surprise mine was FULL! I saw this note folded up sticking out of my stocking. It said . . .

"Since we've been married this is Christmas eleven
And they will all be spent with you until I'm in heaven
You notice this year that your stocking was stuffed
I finally realized you'd had enough
Although for ten years I may have forgot
My love for you has not lessened a drop
I do not promise I will always remember
To fill your stocking on the 25th of December
But remember this morning as you open your gifts
That everlasting love is more than a myth
You may rise another Christmas morning to find a stocking that's flat
But I'll be there beside you, and I'm sure of that."

I cried like you wouldn't believe, then he cried. I was so very touched. I held this piece of paper all Christmas morning and every time I would read it I would start crying. Jon's parents came over later that morning. I read the poem to them, and they started crying. I was so blessed by Jon's thoughtfulness. The thing is, on Christmas Eve, Jon spent a long time in our home office at the computer. The kids and I even watched a movie (which most of the time Jon will join us for). I just thought maybe he needed some time to himself. He was actually writing this poem.

I kept it folded up in my purse for the longest time, then I decided to frame it. It now sits on a table in my living room for everyone to see.

What about you guys, what is the best give you ever received?

Wordless Wednesday

By the end of this month I am surprising my husband with a trip, and this is where we are staying. I am so very EXCITED I can hardly stand it!!! I got an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G deal. Thank you LORD!!!

It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas

This past weekend was filled full of Christmas cheer. Saturday we took off with Tiffani and her family and Julie and her family and all headed to Stone Mountain for a "Stone Mountain Christmas." Jon and I have been wanting to do this for years, so we were very excited. We had a great time with our friends. The biggest thing was it was F-R-E-E-Z-I-N-G cold at night. We were so cold we could not feel our toes. After we left we took off to Cracker Barrel for some good ole' Southern cooking. I was so excited because I actually got our Christmas stockings there for 40% off. We have had the same stockings for about 8 years now and I hate them. You can hardly put anything in them at all. This year I had actually bought fabric to make us some stockings; however, I CAN NOT motivate myself to sew, so I was really excited when I found our stockings!!!

Jon and I on the "Singing Train" Jon was really such a trooper. The SEC championship was going on that night. I told him the kids and I could just go, but he refused. He came along, but he did remind me that this was "the biggest game of the year" (he says that about all of them). My sister would call and text me with updates. We were pulling hard for Bama - Roll Tide! But the FL Gators pulled it off!
Alec and Connor after Alec burned his mouth with hot chocolate. I guess he didn't take them seriously when it said HOT chocolate. Poor thing! His mouth was scolded and I think he was really, really embarrassed.

Tim, Avery, and Julie on the "Singing Train"

Tiffani and Me on "Singing Train"

JuJu and Hanna (can you believe these girls are in the same grade? JuJu is super small and Hanna is super tall)

Sweet Avery. This cute kiddo is a great source of entertainment. I could literally watch him roll his eyes all day long. He was so very good! Can't you just eat him up?

Hanna Boo and Me

Best Friends - This is Ash and her best friend, Beth

Me and Julie in Santa Hats

Stone Mountain town lit up at night

Santa and Mrs. Claus

Waiting on the laser show. We were F-R-E-E-Z-I-N-G!!!!

Avery and Tim

These 3 beauties went to church with me on Sunday - aren't they precious? Beth came home with us after we ate at Cracker Barrel. The girls had a GREAT time!

We only went to Sunday School on Sunday and skipped church. We really needed to get our Christmas tree and Sunday night we had something going on. It was really cold, so we picked out our tree really fast. Here are the girls freezing.

The perfect tree for our family

Jon and Alec loading the tree onto Jon's truck

Hanna decorating the tree

Beth and Ash decorating the tree

Alec chose to watch the Falcons game with Jon. However, decorating the tree is one of my favorite things at Christmastime. I put Christmas music on and we sing together. Every year I put on the lights and every year the lights and I fight. I always plug them in together and make sure all of them work before I string them on the tree. Just about every year I get so mad because I will string them up and be so excited to light up the tree and NOTHING! They will not work. Usually Jon will come to my rescue and figure it out for me. So before I plugged it in I asked the girls who they thought would win the fight this year - me or the lights? They all voted for me and, guess what? They were right. I started high-fiving the girls I was so excited!!!

This year as I watched the girls decorate This year as I watched the girls decorate the tree my eyes filled with tears. I was just overwhelmed at God's goodness and how He has blessed me. It really gave me a craving for my home to be filled with lots of children. I prayed that whatever His will was that He would just fill my home with as many children as He would have! (Please don't mistake this as baby fever. I do not have baby fever!)I was just really trying to savor the moment. I know that I am going to blink and pretty soon it will be just me decorating my tree. I loved to hear the girls' excitement as they found different ornaments. I let them have free reign. I told them to be as creative as they liked. They used ribbon, beads, etc. There have been years in the past when I really wanted to have a "Southern Living" tree. My mother-in-law has the most beautiful Christmas tree. But growing up my mom always let us decorate the tree however we liked, and I can remember this making me feel so special. So I always let the kids do it and leave it just like they decorate it! However, I did decorate the mantle.

Our mantle

The Finished Tree!

Later that evening we went over to Stephanie and Barry's for an ornament swap. Oh My Goodness! This was so much fun! We stole and got stolen from. We would plot within our family to try and get the ornaments we wanted. Funny thing is, we had the largest family there! It was all in good fun. Thanks Steph for such a fun time. Here we all are showing off our ornaments!

Summing it Up

Not much blog worthy has been going on this week, but just so my very tired mind will remember this week I am going to sum it up.

• Monday - My friend, Lisa, had to have an emergency surgery to remove a hernia, so I had one more child added to my crew. I had her oldest little boy. Bless his heart, I felt so bad for him. We had both ballet and basketball and my kids get pretty bored having to wait on their siblings; however, they are used to it. So, I felt extra sorry for Tucker. He was a trooper though and hung in there. We went from ballet to our favorite pizza spot then headed to Ash's first basketball practice for the season. The girl is a natural athlete. Even one of the other mom's commented on it. I think so many people think she gets it from me since I am so into working out. Actually her Daddy is the athlete. I always tell people I run because anyone can do it, just put one foot in front of the other. I really am a very clumsy person with no athletic ability whatsoever.
• Tuesday - Alec and Ash had "homeschool school." Hanna and I went shopping and got things for our Advent Jesse tree. I love this idea. It has really been fun for my family, and we have learned so much. It teaches how Jesus has been there from the beginning and He just didn't come on the scene on Christmas Day. We have a devotion every morning and an ornament to go to the tree that relates to the ornament. We then went to vote. Jon also got his X-Box 360. The kids (Jon being one of them) were stoked and so very excited!!! Alec had swim practice.
• Wednesday - We met with some of our friends and got together goodies to send to the soldiers serving over in Iraq. This was a fun time. There is one really neat lady, Jane, who I really like a whole lot. I am going to make a point to have she and her kids over for lunch one day. She, like me, works and homeschools. For a long time she did the 4:00 AM thing like I do. Now she works after her hubby gets home. She has 5, yes 5, children though. I could probably learn ALOT from her! She seems to have it all together. She assured me she does not. She sure has me fooled!!

Wednesday night at church I got a call from my father-in-law saying he really needed to talk with Jon and I. He has not been his normal self for many, many months now. Anyway, to make a long story short I got my kids and we left church. I tried to get in touch with Jon's mom, but couldn't. I went by her church to see if she was there - no dice. Jon's dad then came over and said some really odd things. The problem is the doctor's haven't diagnosed him with anything. One doctor was leaning towards colon cancer because he has had a lot of weight loss and no appetite. But, praise the LORD, he does not have colon cancer. I am just praying that soon we will find out what is wrong and it can be fixed. I have cried my eyeballs out so many times grieving over him. Poor Jon, he is having to console me, and it is his Dad. When praying the other day I realized the LORD is allowing me to grieve now, so that when it comes time for Jon to grieve I can be strong for him. Jon is swamped with work right now, but I believe that is a good thing so he doesn't have time to think about all that is going on with his Dad. He did say the other night after his Dad left that he knows his Dad is no longer the man he knows, that he has essentially lost his Dad already. I have just been in such a funk since Wed. night. I feel so heavy, like I have this dark cloud hanging over my head.

• Thursday - I was SWAMPED with work!! Ash had an orthodontist appointment and got green and red bands on her braces. A friend came over and we made ornaments for our kids' teachers. She is so funny and cracks me up! I really needed to laugh after Wed. night. I had to cut our visit short though because I had to meet this lady to sign a contract who is renting one of our houses we have for sale. Praise the LORD!! God is really looking after us during this S-L-O-W real estate market!!! I was so tired (maybe it is because of this black cloud that keeps following me around:) and I was asleep before 9:00 PM. I even set my alarm to 5:00 AM instead of 4:00 AM.
• Friday - Remind me to not ever set my alarm an hour later. Trust me, I may get more sleep but work drags on. I am so much slower once everyone wakes up. I didn't finish until almost 10:30. We started school at 11:00 - YUCK! I hate doing this. I really like to start at 8:00 AM. I am on homeschool burnout right now and I can't wait until we take a break. None of us wanted to do school today, but I told the kids if we were going to take a Christmas break we had to push through! We did! Alec had swim practice and now we are home. Jon is still working and I am not sure when he will be home. I think I am going to go get the kids in bed and put on a good movie. Tomorrow we are heading to Stone Mountains with some friends and I am so excited! It is going to be a great day!

Hope everyone out there in bloggy world has a wonderful weekend!

Just for Fun

I copied this from Tiffani's blog and decided it would be fun to do something random for a change. Okay, this has to be one word, which is pretty hard for this wordy girl. I have cheated a little bit because I hyphenated. After all, though, this is just for fun!

1. Where is your cell phone? bedroom
2. Your significant other? working
3. Your hair? long
4. Your mother? sacrificial
5. Your Father? hard-working
6.. Your favorite thing? Jesus
7.Your dream last night? NOTHING
8. Your favorite drink? coffee
9. Your dream/goal? heavenly-crowns
10. The room you're in? office
11. Your fear? loss
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? discerning
13. Where were you last night? home
14. What you're not? lazy
15. Muffins? fattening
16. One of your wish list items? real-estate-boom
17. Where you grew up? Georgia
18. The last thing you did? ran
19. What are you wearing? clothes
20. Your TV? too-many
21. Your Pets? none
22. Your Computer? necessary
23.Your life? blessed
24. Your mood? good
25. Missing someone? Sister
26. Your car? Noah's-Ark
27. Something you're not wearing? socks
28. Favorite Store? Beall's
29. Your summer? AWESOME!
30. Your favorite color? red
31. When is the last time you laughed? today
32. Last time you cried? today
33. FOUR PLACES I GO OVER AND OVER: church, Wal-Mart, ballet, swim
34. FOUR OF MY FAVORITE FOODS: salad, pizza, Mexican, Mom's.
35. FOUR PLACES I WOULD RATHER BE RIGHT NOW: Hawaii, New York, Snow Skiing, Beach.

If I were texting this post it would say SA, TG, BF, NC

SA - Salvation Army. On Wednesday my in-laws kept the kids for me and I did a little pre-Thanksgiving Christmas shopping. I then decided to treat myself to one of my favorite Mexican restaurants. I went to lunch with me, myself, and I. I had a glass of Sangria, salsa, and a taco. Yummy. A lot of people think is it weird to eat by yourself -not Jon or I. I had a really good time with me, myself, and I. I then headed over to Belk to ring the bell for the Salvation Army. Jon then showed up with Alec, and he and I rang the bell for a little bit. My in-laws then dropped off my girls and they helped me ring until it was time to go home. Thankfully the weather was beautiful. Jon wasn't there with the camera when the girls were with me, but I do have pictures of me and Alec.

TG- Thanksgiving Day. Jon and the girls made all of us homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast while I got ready for us to head over to my Grandmama's and Papa's. This was Jon's year to choose where we would spend Thanksgiving. His mom wasn't cooking this Thanksgiving so I automatically assumed we would just go to my Grandmama's. I was later convicted and I felt very selfish. I suggested to Jon we just stay home and I would cook. I was very excited about cooking my first Thanksgiving dinner. I had already planned on getting out our good china (that we never, ever eat on), and fix the table nice and pretty. He then said we could go to Grandmama's. After going back and forth, we decided to go. YAY!

Before we headed out to my Grandmama and Papa's

Our silly Thanksgiving Day picture

There are so many special details of Thanksgiving but I will try and just blog on the highlights.

Before saying the Blessing my Papa said he had something he wanted to say. He praised the LORD for getting him this far with his cancer. He said he knew he had been difficult to deal with this year and he thanked "the family," as he said, but everyone knew he was talking about my Grandmama, both of my aunts, and my Dad. I was tearing up and I looked over at my Dad. My Dad turned his head and put it down (I am pretty sure he was tearing up too). Thankfully Papa stopped when he did or I would have been sobbing at his sweet, sweet words.

Jon and Alec

Me, Papa, Daddy

There has always been a "kid" table in my Grandparents' sunroom, where all of the grandkids (that being me, my sister, and my cousin) still sit. The great grandkids put out TV trays in the living room and eat on them. My cousin and his wife, me, Jon, and Alec all went out to the "kids table" and laughed and stuffed ourselves silly.

Afterwards, I headed over to the dessert table to feast on my Grandmama's homemade coconut cake. This is my very favorite dessert, and I am not a cake girl. I can't turn this one down though. I grabbed a cup of coffee and headed to the dining room where all the women were. Me, my aunts, my Grandmama, and my cousin's wife all sat around and chatted. It was so much fun. We looked at a scrapbook I made my Dad for his birthday and I told everyone some of our funny stories from when Daddy and I visited my sister for her birthday.

Talk around the table

I had to show this picture - notice my hands. For some strange reason my mouth will not move unless my hands do. I always talk with my hands!

Sweet Hanna and Sweet, Sweet Grandmama - Isn't my Grandmama beautiful? I remember one time seeing my Grandparents at the Mall and I actually ran into my Papa first. He was supposed to meet my Grandmama by a light post. We saw her waiting for him, and he pointed her out. He said to me, "Isn't she as pretty as a picture?" He meant it too!

Halle (my cousin's little girl), Ash, and Hanna - These girls had a blast with one another!

Everyone sitting around enjoying one another

When Alec was hugging Grandmama goodbye I noticed that he was now as tall as she is. I just had to snap a picture.

BF- Black Friday. I am one of those crazy shoppers who get out at O-dark thirty to get lost in the madness of Black Friday. This is something my mom and I started doing years ago, and it is something I look forward to every year. I love my mom, and she is always such a trooper. She pretty much goes and does what I want to do. I give her strict orders on where she is to be and what she is to get! It is such a fun day. My mom really goes overboard on my kids at Christmas. I really have to restrain her. She really buys more for them than we do. I know most people would be grateful for this, but I just don't want to bombard my kids with "things." I try really hard to teach them that "things" do not make us happy. Always before we check out we go back through our buggies and put back some things. If I have said it once, I will say it again, my Mom is a great Nanna! She really finds so much joy in buying for the children.

It was 3:10 AM when I left my house. I wasn't even supposed to get up until 3:00 to meet my mom. I woke up at 2:00 AM and I was so excited I couldn't go back to sleep. My mom told me to call her at 3:30. At 3:30 I called her and she answered, "Rise and shine." I told her, "she had better be up and at 'em." She said she had been awake and already had one cup of coffee (which it takes her 30 minutes to drink one cup). She also woke up at 2:00 AM and was unable to go back to sleep because of her excitement.

I love many, many things about my car. But, my most favorite thing is my seat warmers! Sometimes I will even turn on the AC just so I can "burn my buns." I turn them on immediately when I crank the car up.

Here's Mom in line

Here we are in line at Lifeway. We finally got to eat breakfast about 6:30 AM (see Mom's Chick Fil-A cup?)

We finished up around Noon. I was totally exhausted. Guess what though? - ALL of my Christmas shopping is done! YAY! I got everything I went for and saved LOTS. I will say, though, even if I did not buy a thing I would still get out in the madness. I just LOVE it!

Exhausted - Can you tell how "fake" my smile is? I was really so sleepy by this point it took everything in me to muster up a smile. For anyone out there who may be wondering if I wore high heels or not? YES!!!! You must be stylish AT ALL TIMES especially on Black Friday. You see so many people you know! Plus, I am convinced you burn more calories when you walk in high heels. I was able to burn off some of my Thanksgiving Day food since I didn't get a run in on Black Friday.

Every year I always buy my family a Christmas movie on Black Friday. This year I decided to buy everyone some Christmas PJ's too. Jon went and picked up the girls from my in-laws and I laid everyone's new PJ's out in our family room along with the new Christmas movie. They all were so excited when they walked in! Jon brought home pizza, we played Bible Gestures (a game he bought that day), and then snuggled up in our Christmas PJ's and watched "Fred Claus."

Snuggled up in our Christmas jammies ready to watch Fred Claus. Jon's head didn't get in the picture and he didn't want to take another one. At least we know he is there, just not his head.

NC- The Nutcraker. Today I took my girls to see The Nutcracker. The one held in our town is my favorite, even over the Atlanta Ballet. Jon and I went several years ago to Atlanta to The Fox to see "The Nutcracker." The one in our town is just so special to me, I guess because so many children I know and love participate in it. We went with our friend, Cookie.

Hanna, Me, Ash

Ashley collects snow globes and has had her eye on a Nutcracker snow globe at the dance studio for weeks. She has worked so hard and saved her money. She has resisted the temptation to buy other things with her money. Today it was all worth it. She got her snow globe, and it is beautiful. I bought Hanna a little snow globe to remember this special day by.

Cookie and my girls

I loved watching Hanna's little face as she watched the ballet, especially when she would see her ballet teacher, Ms. Jena, dance. Ms. Jena was beautiful. I have decided I want to be Ms. Jena when I grow up.

Hanna and Ms. Jena

My favorite part about the whole ballet was seeing this very special girl named Emilee dance. I have known Emilee since she was about 5 years old. We all went to church together. We formed a bond instantly. Her mom, dad, and Mimi would tell me over the years how much she loved me. I can remember times when they would say they had been out shopping and Emilee would say things like, "Ms. Michele would wear this," or "Ms. Michele says this." Emilee would make me very special things over the years, all of which I still have. I can remember she would make me jewelry and I would wear it to church. I love this child deeply. It is amazing the bond you can form with a child who isn't any of your flesh and blood. Her family left our church several years ago and I have missed her oh so badly.

She is beautiful. She has grown from a little girl into a beautiful young woman. Watching her dance I was so teary eyed. I really tried to control it because I didn't want my mascara to run. I can just remember when she was so little. We were sitting on the 2nd row, and when she would dance near our end of the stage I could have sworn she was smiling right at me. I would smile back, beaming with pride over her. I didn't think she knew it was me though because I didn't think she could see me due to the stage lights. After the performance was over she ran to the edge of the stage waving her hands at me rapidly. She did know it was me out there!!! I hugged her so tightly and told her over and over again how proud I was of her and what a wonderful job she did. I am still just beaming with pride over this special, special girl! She has grown up so much; she and I could literally wear one another's clothes now. I was so tempted to call her Emilou, which was one of her nicknames as a little girl, but I didn't want to embarrass her.

Ash and her friend, Claire

Me and Emilee (I hate this picture of me b/c I think my face looks fat, but I don't care I had to post it b/c it is the only one I have of us together)

Hanna and Emilee - Hanna actually reminds me very much of Emilee as a little girl - blonde, extremely shy, doesn't warm up well to others, loves to dance

Ashley and Emilee

I know this is a long post, but I wanted to get everything into one post. Thanks for persevering through to the end!

Giving Thanks with a Grateful Heart

I have so very much to be thankful for. Some of the things I probably don't even realize. Here are the things I am especially thankful for this year.

1. My LORD and Savior, Jesus Christ. I don't see how people make it without Him.

2. My Husband - He is truly the better half of me. He is the most easygoing person I know. He makes me laugh all the time. He is loving, encouraging, comforting. He takes this all-too-serious girl and lightens her up, not taking life so seriously! He is a hard worker and sacrifices so much for our family. He teaches me every day to "not sweat the small stuff . . . and it's all small stuff."

3. My children - From my earliest childhood memories I can always remembering wanting to be a mom. Even in my wildest dreams I never imagined it would be this great! Alec is my serious, hard worker, who loves making his Dad and I happy. He is very funny when he is not trying to be. He has a good, tender heart and is probably the most sensitive of all of my children. I always say he is the smartest person in our family. Ashley, well no one loves me quite like Ashley. I believe I am truly the apple of this little girl's eyes. She has a laugh that is truly contagious. She is the most giving person I know. Hanna, much like her Daddy, is very easygoing, very silly, and doesn't take anything too serious. Maybe it's because we don't really take her very serious. Hanna is my cuddle bug.

4. My mom - My mom loves me and my children like no other. She takes off work to come and take care of me when I am sick. She surprises me with little "unexpected things." She is SO MUCH FUN! She rearranges her plans when I need her to. To sum her up, she is just AMAZING!!!

5. My sisters. Melissa has been through so much this year. She has faced a battle this year and has been truly victorious. I am so proud of her. She has inspired me more than she will ever know. Other than Jon, she is my very best friend. She is always loyal, encouraging, and will come to her big sister's rescue and defense in 2.2. She is the one and only person in this world who has been side-by-side with me through EVERYTHING in my life. She is apart of me just like my hands and feet are apart of me. Kristen, my baby sister. She is peppy, spunky, and truly has a servant's heart. She shares my love of running and I am so very thankful for her.

6. My messy house. I am thankful for the mess because I haven't had the chance to clean it up. We've been too busy enjoying our friends, enjoying one another, and enjoying life. Although sometimes it really grades on my nerves, I would rather have a messy house and be out enjoying life, than a clean one and be so focused on having a "Southern Living Home."

7. My job. Although my job requires me to get up at 4:00 a.m. every morning, I am very thankful for it. It provides us with income so that my family can have the "extras" in life. It also prevents me from having "idle" time. I am thankful that God has given me the health, endurance, and discipline to get up every morning at 4:00.

8. My friends. I have some truly amazing Godly friends. They inspire, encourage, and pray for me. I am so very blessed. I enjoy sharing my life with them. Each of them, in very special and unique ways, make life so much fun!

9. My church. All you have to read is my previous post to know how special my church is to me.

10. My Papa. Last year at this time he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. I remember after hearing the diagnosis I got in my car, drove around, and sobbed my eyes out. I called Melissa and sobbed hysterically on the phone with her. It has certainly been a battle for this wonderful man in my life, but he has been victorious. He is doing wonderful, giving all the praise and glory to God!

11. My father-in-law, Jim. He is going through a lot right now. My heart is broken into bits and pieces for him right now. He is the greatest man I have ever know. He is an amazing person and has strengthened and encouraged my walk with the LORD more than he could ever know. He gives unselfishly, never expecting anything in return. He gives sacrificially. He doesn't care about having things, but he sure wants to make sure his family has both the things we need and things we want. He is a man of great character - you know, that kind of character that is bone deep. I am truly honored to be apart of his family.

He has always known my desire to finish college one day. I quit school after only having 8 months left before finishing my bachelors degree in education. I quit because Alec was little and I didn't want to miss out on anything. I knew I could always go back to school, but this time was a precious time in the life of my little boy and I could never get it back. Several years ago Jim approached me and told me if I wanted to finish school he would pay for it and help me with the children. This is just a tiny example of his love for others. A truly remarkable person! Just ask anyone around here, and they can attest to how wonderful he is. In fact, the very first Citizen of the Year award was given to him.

I hope each and every one of you out there has a very blessed Thanksgiving!