I'm glad you asked! Let me tell you...um, freaking.awesome. Fist pump it Dwight style:)
It's been a crazy long time since linking up with Jen and her loyal crew of Friday quick takers, glad to be linking up once again:)
Even though I went shopping on Black Friday with my mom and sister, most of the things I bought were some things to cute to pass up for Jim/our apartment. How can you say no to cute boxers with the Valentines Day candy all over them? That's what I thought too.
Having it done before Thanksgiving has made me realize how much of the month of December is spent trying to figure out what to get for those tough people to shop for and just more focused on getting the perfect gift, instead of really focusing on what this season is really all about. I feel like it is SO easy to get caught up in all the business of getting ready for one day (Christmas) that sometimes I forget to really prepare my heart and mind, so I'm hoping by having some of that jazz taken care of early on, I can better enter into the season of Advent.
One thing I'm excited we are using at our casa during Advent is this awesome book. It is a short, easy book to use every day of Advent, complete with Scripture verse, reflection question, and song. I'm actually really starting to love our off-key version of 'O Come O Come Emmanuel'.
2. After 10 hours of hitting the pavement on Black Friday and engaging in some yummy leftovers, we were ambitious bears and decided to bust out the Christmas tree and decorations. Our tree is somewhat 'special' because for whatever reason it does not have the ability to hold a normal sized star or angel on the top. Thank you Walgreen's for having mini sized stars and helping our tree look more complete. After busting out the holiday cheer, we ended with a movie night on the couch with some hot chocolate and peppermint Hershey Kisses. Nothing like a little Clark Griswold to get some holiday cheer going....
4. I'm pretty good at planning ahead for things and using my calendar. However, this week I realized from November-March I have 5 lock-ins on our youth ministry calendar. epic.planning.fail. Don't get me wrong I like teens, but the crazy weird things that no sleep at these 10 hour gigs does to your body is not always the fun part. Two of them are combined ones with other churches, 2 are for our women's ministry for the teen ladies, and 1 is for our men's ministry for the guys. Tomorrow night is the kick-off for men's ministry. If you think of it tomorrow night as you head to bed, say a prayer for Jim as he is helping at it...he and no sleep don't work together well.
5. I am really excited my brother-in-law David is going to our pictures for our Christmas card this year. He is great with photography and editing pics, so I'm looking forward to seeing what he comes up with. Even better, I have a coupon for them at Walgreen's and they have some great deals going on right now too! If you're looking for photo cards, check out Walgreen's. I was pleasantly surprised!
6. Have you read this book??
7. I'm starting to realize how my love affair with Diet Coke over the years is starting to catch up with me. Any tips/suggestions how on to kick a mean diet pop habit?? I have started drinking a little more tea, specifically caffeinated green tea, but how much caffeine does tea really have though? I'm all ears for any thoughts folks. Hook this lady up.
Happy weekending!
This was my first year getting all of the Christmas shopping done before Thanksgiving, and I really want to make an effort to do this from now on! It's helped me have many more peaceful moments throughout this Advent season.
ReplyDeleteI am SO excited to see Heaven is for Real! I loved the book!
I'm done with Christmas shopping already, too! {Besides that pesky, last-minute decision to do a swap at work}. It definitely feels great not to have to fight the crowds and cold to worry about gifts in December!
ReplyDeletePraying for Jim tomorrow night - poor guy. He can do it, though! :)
And, I'm a lover of sweet tea, and it usually gets the job done. However, on days I work two jobs, I can't get through without my cran-energy raspberry drink! It has natural energy and lots of B12 - and it tastes great! Also, only 50 calories :). Just sayin!
I looked it up online and found the following chart for caffeine:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cspinet.org/new/cafchart.htm
Ahhhhh the movie looks so good. I loved the book; the movie looks equally great!
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of getting Christmas shopping done before Thanksgiving so you can savor the season. Good for you pulling that off! This year I'm particularly behind, but so it goes sometimes.
ReplyDeleteMy soda habit got kicked due to pregnancy and breastfeeding. You can have some caffeine, but I try to avoid it as much as possible. After a while you just get used to not having it and stop craving it-- like chocolate during lent, if you've ever tried that.
Angel grew up drinking a lot of pop, he always has, but this year his goal was to drink "less pop than every before"--and I found that it's really helped to keep a gallon of freshly made iced green tea in the house at all times. And I put just a little bit of local honey in it to sweeten it which is supposed to help his allergies, so he gets multiple benefits! I'm one of those lucky people who really likes drinking water, so it's easy for me, but I know it's not that easy for many people!
ReplyDeletekiss of peace, totally Aaron and I on Sunday. It was bad. I went in for the kiss (let's just make up, it's the kiss of peace) he purposefully offered me his hand (which he later explained was suppose to be funny). I was so pissed, that two minutes later, when he came in for the kiss, I turned away from him. All during Mass, all while wrangling our three children. It was awful. We like each other now...no worries!
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