Let the events begin!

With only 22 days until Christmas, I should be:

- Mailing out my Christmas cards

- Finish decorating the house (my MOMS in Touch group will be here on the 15th for our Christmas brunch – and the house NEEDS to be finished! Not to mention there have been boxes of decorations sitting throughout the house since Saturday – ugh. I’m a very neat and organized person so this is not making me happy at the moment :-(

- Shopping (okay don’t panic – I haven’t even started and the first party where I NEED a gift is Friday!! That’s right – THIS FRIDAY!)

- Baking cookies, oh how I *heart* baking cookies! I’ve had a stick of butter sitting at room temperature and the recipe book open to “Fudge Puddles” for the past week, but my chef just hasn’t gotten the message. Guess I’m it’s too obvious.

- Making sure the kiddos have the proper Snow gear – snow pants, coats, gloves, BOOTS. Yes, I’m embarrassed to say that I’m the mom who desperately rushes into a store during the first substantial snow fall to cloth my children ONLY to find that there are NO snow pants to be found! So the kiddos wriggle and squirm their way into pants that are 2 sizes too small.

- Kickin’ back next to a roaring fire, sipping on a Star.bucks Grande Skinny, no whip, Peppermint Mocha Twist,

BUT instead I’m:

- I’m spending the entire week, 8:30 – 3 pm, at my kiddos school hosting the “Secret Santa Shop”. The students are able to come down during school and secretly shop for their family. They have a blast, and so do all the volunteers that help (only 8-10 a day!), but when I get home at 3 pm, I’m beat and I still need to contact the volunteers for the next day (can’t they remember on their own?) – Keep after the house work that still accumulates even when nobody is here, the laundry and we gotta eat you know!

- Coordinating the Wednesday Connections events at our church TONIGHT. It begins at 5:30 pm with a buffet meal (I need to find volunteers to help with serving and clean-up which is no easy task but that’s another post for another day), then there are kiddo choirs, programs, prayer meetings, youth activities and so one. Wednesday Connections happens every 1st & 3rd Wednesday of each month. So it’s not new for me, just hitting at the WRONG time.

- Teaching Sunday School

- Babysitting for a friend from church (new baby 4 weeks old and a 4 yr old) so she can start her Christmas shopping and enjoy an evening with her hubby.

- Make 5 freezer meals (all the same recipe) to swap at a “Meal Swap” this Friday morning. This one I should have passed on because I won’t even be able to be there, but I’d really like to have a meal supply in my freezer over the holidays.

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All the songs, cards, family and friends encourage us to be “Merry” or “Joyful” BUT just how does one keep their merriment and joy during these times?

I think Luke 1:46 –48a, Mary’s Song, says it best!
“My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.

So for now, I will continue my trek for the week will surly end soon!

On the bright side - it's Wednesday!!