On Christmas Eve twenty years earlier, Marlee and Jacob were married in a snowstorm.   This Christmas Eve, they are ready to quit, divorce is imminent. Their relationship is as icy as the road they're traveling and as blocked with troubles as the piling snow. They take a shortcut to get to the lawyer's office, on a slippery, no-fault path. She thinks they need to stay on the main road. He disagrees. They fight. Story of their lives and they slam into a bank of snow , spinning, drifting, falling, out of control. Just like their lives. Reluctantly, freezing cold, hungry, scared, she trudges up the hill. Jacob is nowhere to be found. Her ears frozen, fingers and hands red, she comes to a house on the hillside, built like a Bed and Breakfast, a green wreath on the red door and the door-knocker is in the shape of a wedding ring.

The red door opens and the first thing she notices is the fire in the room, blazing hot, a warm, inviting, friendly place and the voice of an old man welcomes her in. There are three golden pots on the hearth, shining, glimmering things. The old man claims that they are used to restore marriages. She laughs-and begins a journey through her past, present, and future that will test how she views her lifelong love. There are two futures available. Which will she choose?

================
A great little one sitting read. While using the names Marlee and Jacob is a little corny, it seems to fit within the new telling of a classic Christmas story that we all know. It's a story of finding hope when maybe you didn't think there was any left to be found, how one choice can change everything and how with some hard work and hope, everything can work out.



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Welcome to the 12 Pearls of Christmas blog series!

Merry Christmas from Pearl Girls™! We hope you enjoy these Christmas “Pearls of Wisdom” from the authors who were so kind to donate their time and talents! If you miss a few posts, you’ll be able go back through and read them on this blog throughout the next few days.

We’re giving away a pearl necklace in celebration of the holidays, as well as some items from the contributors! Enter now below. The winner will be announced on January 2, 2014, at the Pearl Girls blog.

If you are unfamiliar with Pearl Girls™, please visit www.pearlgirls.info and see what we’re all about. In short, we exist to support the work of charities that help women and children in the US and around the globe. Consider purchasing a copy of Mother of Pearl, Pearl Girls: Encountering Grit, Experiencing Grace, or one of the Pearl Girls products (all GREAT gifts!) to help support Pearl Girls.

Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room by Ginger Ciminello

I have high expectations for the Christmas season. Sure the decorations, presents, and general merry-making contribute to those specific expectations, but that’s not what I’m alluding to. I have a huge fear that I will get to the candlelight service on December 24th and realize I haven’t prepared my heart for Emmanuel. While I shouldn’t allow fear to creep in, I do believe those worries are grounded in a pathetic track record.

I know my heart. No matter how much I say this season of Advent isn’t about parties and presents, I still seem to get swept away by things that don’t really matter. No part of me wants to live consumed by worry and anxiety. I don’t want to finish this season exhausted and dejected.

Last Christmas our church walked through the prophecy of the Messiah in Isaiah 9:6, exploring what it means for Jesus to be Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace.

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. 
And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

What I’ve come to realize is that this verse isn’t just a list of titles for me to memorize or print on an ornament. This verse contains truth about my Savior and God, truth that should radically shape my day-to-day life.

Either Jesus is more powerful than my worries, fears, and frustrations . . . or He isn’t. The way I live my day proves what I believe about His power.

I talked through this concept with my husband on our way to finish up some shopping. I was frustrated: frustrated that I spend time in the Word, read my Advent devotional, pray for friends, and still end up so completely frazzled year after year.

My husband was quick to remind me that God desires my heart more than anything else and that I can’t tackle each day with the hope of perfection, only the hope of dependence upon our loving Father.

I'm focusing on 1 Corinthians 13 this Advent, one word per day. Yesterday the focus was love is PATIENT. (How perfect for spending the afternoon at a crowded mall!) I was amazed at my response to the long lines and ordinary scenarios that would have ordinarily left me completely frustrated.

Living and believing in the Mighty God just by being patient sounds like a really small thing—but can I tell you that I made friends with the cashier at Bed, Bath & Beyond? (A cashier who ordinarily tests my patience.)

Today the word is KIND. I'm working in a coffee shop and am trying to remember to give smiles readily and open doors for others as I prepare my heart for the coming of the King.

"Lo this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation." Isaiah 25:9

Following,
Ginger

Ginger Ciminello may sound like an Italian dessert, but she's actually a speaker, author and blogger from Phoenix, Arizona. She has spent the last decade encouraging young people to live up to their God-given potential and unique design. Her first book, Forget the Corsage, was just released. When she's not embarrassing herself by telling stories of her years in middle school, she can be found rollerblading, making grilled cheese, and hanging out with her daughter and husband. Learn more at gingerciminello.com. a Rafflecopter giveaway





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Welcome to the 12 Pearls of Christmas blog series!

Merry Christmas from Pearl Girls™! We hope you enjoy these Christmas “Pearls of Wisdom” from the authors who were so kind to donate their time and talents! If you miss a few posts, you’ll be able go back through and read them on this blog throughout the next few days.

We’re giving away a pearl necklace in celebration of the holidays, as well as some items from the contributors! Enter now below. The winner will be announced on January 2, 2014, at the Pearl Girls blog.

If you are unfamiliar with Pearl Girls™, please visit www.pearlgirls.info and see what we’re all about. In short, we exist to support the work of charities that help women and children in the US and around the globe. Consider purchasing a copy of Mother of Pearl, Pearl Girls: Encountering Grit, Experiencing Grace, or one of the Pearl Girls products (all GREAT gifts!) to help support Pearl Girls.

Perfectionism by Steven Estes

When my wife was little, her family was Amish. Barn raisings, buggies, high-stepping horses, shoofly pies—the whole postcard. Later, they left that life and became mainstream farmers. The suspenders and bonnets were gone, but they remained hard-working, no-nonsense, sweep-the-porch folks. As good-natured a family as homemade jam and bread.

I grew up taking in the city. Mom and I would hop the streetcar into downtown Baltimore. Lights, crowds, noise, action—the busier, the better. Birthdays were a big thing, Christmas, bigger yet. Whoop it up. Break some eggs, make an omelet.

My wife and I met in college. I first saw Verna from across the cafeteria. Popular as a lemonade stand in summer. Prettier than an evening meadow blinking with fireflies. I was hooked. Proposed on the beach. We walked the aisle, started life together.

Verna kept everything worthwhile from her childhood and folded the rest into a drawer. Worked circles around any woman you’d know. Line dried the wash, taught the kids, pinched the pennies. Joined me in whatever hoopla I wanted, but—in her mother’s meat-and-potatoes tradition—NEVER got exotic in the kitchen . . .

. . . until one December.

Wishing to please—wanting some memories for the kids—she found a recipe book. Brimming with color photos. Promises of the perfect Christmas. The kind, no doubt, her husband recalled from urban days of yore.

Sugar plums in her head, practical impulses stuffed away in an apron pocket, she purchased the ingredients to yuletide bliss. A concoction to bless the family forever.

The evening has arrived. The fortunate are assembled about the table. There is to be a holiday surprise:

“Festive Yule Log.”

Candles aglow, faces upturned. The platter of glory is borne to the table. Mother seated. Nod given.

Trembling forks sink into the first sampling mouthful. Eyes closed for concentration. The pregnant pause. . . . A searching for words. The furtive glances. The first stifled chortle. Then,

Oh, the hooting and howling.
The slappings on the table.
The witticisms.
The criticisms.

Centered on the table, the Yule Log sulks—rolled in a fine gravel posing as crushed nuts. A taste akin to cream cheese blended with toothpaste—perhaps Crest, no, Colgate. As if sautéed in soy sauce, glued into shape by an application of Crisco. The look of a food item suspected of disease, held in quarantine at Customs.

Verna smiles weakly. Rises. Whisks the mistake into exile. All the while carols from the record player begin straying off-key . . . and Misters Currier& Ives are ushered to the backyard, blindfolded, and shot.

Solomon foresaw that many designs for Christmas Eve would go awry. Why else would he write:

“Do not boast about tomorrow,
for you do not know
what a day may bring forth”?
Proverbs 27:1

Or . . .

“You can make many plans,
but the Lord’s purpose
will prevail”?
Proverbs 19:21 NLT

God has bigger plans for you than the perfect dinner. That’s why he lets things go wrong. He’s saving your appetite for the perfect eternity. He notices you smitten with this short life,

feeling it slip through your fingers,
trying to shake a snow-globe Christmas
out of every December.

The true holiday magic is reserved for heaven. Every delight down here is a mere taste and teaser.

Knowing that, doesn’t it ease the pressure just a bit as you flip through recipes on the 24th—biting your lip . . . pondering a go at that Festive Yule Log?

(By the way, Verna recovered nicely.)

**This excerpt is reproduced from A Better December Copyright © 2013 by Steven Estes. Used by permission of New Growth Press and may not be downloaded, reproduced, and/or distributed without prior written permission of New Growth Press.

Steven Estes is a pastor who has known “better Decembers with my family than either Currier or Ives,” but also understands a gray Christmas. A Better December draws on Estes’ twenty-three years of counseling church members through the holiday season as well his other writings on the topic of human suffering. He teaches a preaching class at Westminster Theological Seminary (Philadelphia) where he completed his M.Div and Th.M. degrees. Estes is a conference speaker and on the board of the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation (CCEF). Estes is the author of Called to Die (the story of slain missionary Chet Bitterman), and co- author (with friend Joni Eareckson Tada) of When God Weeps and A Step Further. He and his wife, Verna, have eight children. Learn more about Estes and his books at www.steveestes.net.
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If you like what you've read here, please share it with others using these buttons:

Welcome to the 12 Pearls of Christmas blog series!

Merry Christmas from Pearl Girls™! We hope you enjoy these Christmas “Pearls of Wisdom” from the authors who were so kind to donate their time and talents! If you miss a few posts, you’ll be able go back through and read them on this blog throughout the next few days.

We’re giving away a pearl necklace in celebration of the holidays, as well as some items from the contributors! Enter now below. The winner will be announced on January 2, 2014, at the Pearl Girls blog.

If you are unfamiliar with Pearl Girls™, please visit www.pearlgirls.info and see what we’re all about. In short, we exist to support the work of charities that help women and children in the US and around the globe. Consider purchasing a copy of Mother of Pearl, Pearl Girls: Encountering Grit, Experiencing Grace, or one of the Pearl Girls products (all GREAT gifts!) to help support Pearl Girls.

My Gift to Him by: Cara Putman

As Christmas nears, I’m staggering under a year that’s been too full. A fall that’s been too busy. A season of good, but overwhelming days.

Does anyone else feel the same?

There’s nothing bad—life is just full. Too full.

And I feel emptied. So empty.

It would be easy to enter this season with a sense of exhaustion, feeling like I just want to get through and on to January.

Instead, I want to offer my life again. May my gift be my life. My dreams. My talents. My all. May I be available to Him to transform from the inside out. I want my life to be lived for His glory.

Yet I fail. And on the days that I am most tired and overwhelmed I seem to fail more. It is then that I take comfort in the reality that He is the King born in a manager. A King who gave up heaven in order to save me. You. All of us. He has good plans for my life. Plans that exceed my wildest dreams. Plans fit for the daughter of the Most High.

He has plans like that for you, too. Plans that may be different from your plans, but plans that are wonderful and good.

So in this season of busyness, a season when it is easy to focus on things, duties, parties, family and friends, will you join me? I’m offering myself as a gift to Him. Will you?


Cara Putman is the award-winning author of sixteen novels. You can learn more about her and her books at www.caraputman.com. You can read the first chapters of all her books there including her new novel, Shadowed by Grace, which releases on January 1st just in time for Christmas gift cards. You can connect with Cara on: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Goodreads
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The holiday time are upon us again and I realize that it's been a long time since I wrote more than a book review for this site. It wasn't because I didn't want to but because I needed to focus on rebuilding my life. Finally receiving a diagnosis was merely the first steps in what will be a lifelong journey.

I'm on medication now and it helps. The ups and downs are still there but for the most part, I can ride them out and still be functional. Once I got used to taking the medication, I started building routines to help me get through the day and to get back on track. I've been thrown off a time or two, but the basic routine is still there and it's helping me get through. Every so often, I add back in a piece that has gotten lost.

I sat not only this website aside, but also Geekorama.net which was a tough decision but one that was necessary. It's just now, nearly 6 months later that I'm slowly coming back to both of them. Instead, I focused on spending time with the boys and on slowly reclaiming my home. In that time, I've lost track of how many trash bags have gone out and how much we've donated. This past weekend, we helped load up 5 trash bags of stuffed toys, a full box of books, a fan, a vacuum and a small bookshelf to go to a family who lost everything in a fire. There will be a lot more to go as I slowly work my way through our home. So far, there are only three rooms that have been seriously worked on. Our laundry room has been redone, the bathroom is done and the boys' room is in progress. All of those I'm struggling to maintain but they're better than they have been in years. I'm hoping that by May..a year after my diagnosis, I'll have the entire interior of our home done and then I can focus on the van and the barn.

All of this sounds good, right? I've been making progress. I can't argue with that. There has been some really good progress around here. Except in one area...finances. Financially, we're barely hanging on. We're behind on some bills and there's never any extra money for anything and it kills me. Whenever I think about money, I feel like a complete and total failure.

I know there are those who know me who judge me because I don't work. They point to the trips that I've taken for the website and make comments about how they wish they had someone paying the way. They comment how I'm an abled body person who just lives off of their ex-husband and the generosity of others. They comment and I bleed inside. I want so badly to shake them and scream they wouldn't take my life if they had the chance..a life without a special needs child who *needs* his mother to do homework with him as much as she can because without that extra help, he doesn't succeed at school..a life with a mental illness that can be downright crippling at times. It's not a life that many would choose if they looked beyond the surface to what was happening inside.

I'm not making excuses. I'm telling you how it is. My oldest son is 13 and in the 8th grade. He's one of the joys of my life and I wouldn't trade those after school homework sessions for anything. My heart breaks on the days when I don't have the gas money to go help him and he calls me crying because he doesn't know how to do something. I would give anything to find a magic cure to help things not be such a struggle for him. There is no magic cure other than a lot of hard work, hard work that both he and I and his father and his father's wife put in. He'll be joining Special Olympics soon for bowling and I don't care if I have to beg on the street, I will find a way to get him the hour drive to practices.

As for me, I'm still rebuilding and it's going to take a while. One thing that I've learned in this process is that I have to go slow. I have to add pieces back in slowly. It's like a tower of cards. If you move too quickly, the whole thing collapses and you have to start over. I wouldn't give this to anyone. It's a challenge that nobody in life should have to face, but to many of us do every single day. Am I physically able to work? Yes. Am I emotionally and psychologically able? Unlikely. Adding in something that huge right now would cause my house of cards to collapse.

Would I trade my life for another? No. I love my children and I love the world that we're building together. I am who I am but sometimes being who I am makes me feel like a total failure. These past few years have been miserably hard for me and for the boys and it was my hope that this year I could provide them with an amazing Christmas..tree, decorations, wonderful Christmas Eve dinner with family movie time and then just for once, really spoil them on Christmas morning. That isn't going to happen this year. Both of the editing jobs that I had agreed to take on for this month fell through and
money just isn't coming through the door. I have bills that are piling up and we're struggling. I try really hard not to compare my life to others, but when I see people saying how broke they are and yet they're going to the movies or fancy places, it's hard. Then, I remind myself that I can't see behind closed doors to know their life more than they can know mine.

“In fact, if you're wondering if I expect miracles---the answer is yes. Even when they don't seem to happen, I keep believing in them. Even when I stop believing in them, I'll always start again. Because if you don't have hope, what's left? I believe. And maybe they'll happen in a way I never saw coming--they usually do. Or maybe I'll find the way to make them happen myself. But ether way--I expect miracles.” Jennifer DeLucy



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Did y'all know that it's only 6 weeks until Christmas? I suddenly realized that last night when I was looking at scheduling some posts over at Geekorama. Then, I had a moment of pure panic. I am just not organized about the holidays this year. Losing my grandma has thrown me all out of whack when it comes to anything that we used to spend with her. I don't even have my Christmas card list made let alone addresses collected or anything like that! Ahh!

Then I realized, treat.com may just save my hiney this year. I can go to the site, create a unique and personalized card and they can send it for me. No time standing in the store or waiting in line at the post office. Whew!

How about you? Are you set for the holidays? If not or heck, even if you are, why not head over to treat.com and try out the site? Create a card and then using the code TREATBLOGR, send off that card for Free*. Give them a shot and when you're done, come on back here and tell us about your experience. We would love to know!



*Free card offer only valid 11/19 and 11/20/2012.

This post is brought to you on behalf of treat.com. All comments, thoughts and opinions belong 100% to me.
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I know! I know! It's October! None of us want to hear about Holiday Cards, yet! Well, believe it or not, while some of us are cringing at the Santa Claus' in the stores, others are already planning out their holiday cards. They're browsing through all of the options and planning their family photos.

No matter which category you fall in, you cannot deny that Shutterfly has some of the greatest card choices for making personalized holiday cards. Every single year, I go there and I look through them, wishing that this year I had just a little extra money so that I could send out something like this instead of my dollar store selections. Do you guys feel the same way? If so, I have a bit of a treat for you...are you ready? How would you like the opportunity to win $50 off an order from Shutterfly? Now, I warn you that it won't include shipping and cannot be combined with other offers, but still, that's pretty awesome, right? I just love being able to bring things like this to you! Check out the Rafflecopter below and once you're done, why not browse the site a little and maybe even pick up a little something off their Special Offers page?


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This post brought to you by Shutterfly. All content is 100% mine because I wrote it. ) 

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Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

When I was a little girl, I fell in love with the book The Story of Holly and Ivy. It's about a little girl who lives in an orphanage and when all of the other kids go off to visit families for Christmas, she says she's going to visit her grandmother. By the end of the story, she's gotten the best present ever, a new family. I used to dream that I was that little girl. Not because I wanted a new family, but because in the end, all of her dreams came true.

As an adult, I have new dreams. I have dreams for my own life and now dreams for my boys. I want them to grow up to be good men. I want them to find what makes them happy and to go for it. I think that's my biggest hope and dream for them. I want them to be happy. I know that true happiness comes from loving the person that you are and it's my hope, that as their mom, I can teach them how to do that.

As Christmas approaches, more and more I think about what it is that I can give to them. Yes, they'll have presents under the tree. They'll have the fun of tearing open packages and seeing what Santa (and mom) has brought them. I'll get the joy in watching their faces. There's something wonderful about watching a child open a present, knowing that it was picked out just for them. More than that though, I'll give them experiences.

Like many families, we have our own traditions. Every year, the boys get new pajamas on Christmas Eve. Every year, I wrap them and let them open them, even though they know what's inside. This year, I waited with tons of other people for the midnight sale at Walmart to begin. It was important to me that I be able to continue a tradition that they said they wanted to do still.

After they open their pajamas and get into them, we'll all cuddle up on the couch and read The Night Before Christmas together. I started reading it to them when they were tiny and now they read it to me. We'll put out milk and cookies for Santa. The boys have let me know that they think Santa wants chocolate milk and homemade cookies this year. Every year, I ask them what they think he wants and every year it changes a little bit. One year the poor man had to drink both egg nog and chocolate milk. After that, he let us know one glass of drink is enough to go with his cookies.

Do my boys still believe in Santa? I don't really know and you know what? It doesn't really matter. It's all part of the fun we share together each year. I'm sure in a couple of years I'll know for sure but I don't think that will stop us. I remember the first year I didn't get a stocking filled with treats. Even though I "knew" Santa wasn't real, it made me sad. So, we'll do stockings here until the boys let me know they don't want me to anymore.

As for me, I still believe in Santa and I hope that all of you do too. Imagine if we took the Christmas Spirit that he embodies and applied it year round. This world would be a much better place.

Can you believe that it is now less than 3 weeks until Christmas? Where the heck has this past year gone? I'm not even sure where the last month has gone. I keep thinking I just wrote here and then I come over and bam! it's been something like three weeks. I need to do better. I'm doing pretty good with making the changes within the house and I'm going to keep doing that and I'm hoping to add in more blog stuff soon. If nothing else, I want to start doing my Wednesday photo posts again. Photos make me happy and happy is good. :)

Now, I know it's not Wednesday, but I just have to share some photos with everyone. I think I may..no wait, maybe I didn't. Ok, I need to give some background here. I've been divorced now for about 4.5 years. About 3.5 years ago, I moved out of the "family home" and moved to Buffalo. I didn't put up a tree for the two years I was there or last year because the apartment didn't have enough room and this house was in total chaos at this time last year. This year, when I went looking for my bin with all of our Christmas tree ornaments, I was dealt a pretty harsh blow. It's gone. The tote that held all of the boys' ornaments and all of the ornaments that I've had since I was probably a toddler. They're gone. As you can imagine, insert devastation here. Then, I took a deep breath and said no, I'm not going to wallow in this. Yes, it sucks in more ways than a person can imagine, but it could be so much worse. My friend Jenny just lost her husband and is looking towards a Christmas without him. There are people who can't give their children food, let alone presents or a tree.

So what did I do? I put out the word on Facebook that I was looking for anyone's spare ornaments. My father's cousin and his wife went through their ornaments and found some for us. I went digging through my holiday totes and found some that I'd gotten last year at Goodwill. I think I'd planned them for a craft project, but now they're happily shining on our little tree. We didn't put up the big tree this year. This house just isn't made for a 6' tree. We did have a great spot for our little 3-4' tree though. Now, without further ado...I'd like to introduce you to our tree....











Yes, those are popcorn strands. I sat on my couch, watching the boys play games, smiled and fed a needle through hundreds of pieces of popcorn. I thought about how thankful I was to my mother for giving me her ancient air popper so many years ago. When I needed it, it was right there in the cupboard. I also made that huge 3D star. I had no idea it would turn out as big as it did, but we love it no matter.

As we go into the holiday season and the crazy rush that sometimes happens, I want to ask my readers for two things:

1. If you have leftover ornaments that you're not going to use or that you just don't love anymore, look for a family who can use them. As I've said on Facebook, our family is hosting the "Ornament Rescue Program" for this year. If you have ornaments that you would like to share with our family, drop me an email and I can send you our address. If you have some that you just want to share, check out your local FreeCycle group.

2. The next time you walk by one of the bell ringers outside of a store, drop in your loose change. You have no idea how far that change can go. If you live in an area where those people don't exist, look around online. There are so many charities that can use a helping hand not just now but all year long.

One of the big topics of conversation around my house right now is finances. Honestly, it's a word that strikes fear in my heart. With the holidays coming up, it terrifies me even more. We're still struggling. In fact, with the increases in the heating and electricity bills, we're struggling even more than we were a year ago. We're making it but in some ways, we're just barely making it. Making it even worse, we're looking at moving right around Christmas/New Years and the added expenses for that freak me out.

Those of you who know me know that Christmas is a huge deal for me. I spend months coming up with the perfect gifts for people. I work hard to make sure my boys have a perfect Christmas with me. I spend time thinking and deciding what dish I should take to the family dinner because I want to make the perfect choice. Ut-oh...Does anyone else see a pattern here? Perfectionism has snuck in yet again.

Here's reality. Life isn't perfect. Holidays will never be perfect no matter how little or how much money I have. Some silly thing will go wrong or one cousin will pick a fight with another cousin. Perhaps this year one child will suddenly realize that another gets more spent on them at grandma's house. Yep, that's life. It's reality. Life isn't perfect.

So why do I try so hard to make it be? It all goes back to being abandoned by my own parents and my fears that my children will somehow think I love them less because I went to Buffalo for two years or because I don't live with them now. I want them to know, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are the most important pieces of my life so I try to create this perfect environment for them at the holidays.

I know, even on a good financial year, that I will never be able to buy them everything that they want. However, this year, it's killing me to know that I might not be able to buy them anything. I have nieces and nephews who expect me to give them something really great and personal because I do every year. This year, they might not get that. With the move coming, I've already told my boys that we won't be decorating this year. They're ok with that because they understand the work involved. My youngest, heaven love him, was concerned that without them there wouldn't be presents. He was worried that maybe Santa (I swear he plays along for mom's sake.) won't know we're still celebrating without them. I reassured him that there would be so now I have to find a way to make that happen.

Will Christmas be the perfect event that I always try to push for? No and that's ok. Perfection shouldn't have ever been my goal, even subconsciously. What it will be is ours. It will be us, together as a family. We will still read The Night Before Christmas together on Christmas Eve. We will still put out milk and cookies for Santa. They will still have something to open on Christmas morning, even if it's not the huge stack of presents that every kid dreams about. Who knows, maybe after opening their presents we'll go out and have a snowball fight before we go to see our family.

What's important is that Christmas is about love and family and I am so blessed to have both in my life. My boys may not remember what they got for Christmas 2010 but they will remember that their mom loved them enough to bake cookies with them and to cuddle with them to watch classic Christmas cartoons before tucking them into bed. They're going to remember that I loved them enough to give them me.

I bet everyone was thinking I would forget to write this post, but no, I hadn't. I think I was just waiting for the right time to write it. Tonight seems like the perfect night. I was sitting here feeling sorry for myself that Peter gave Ben Red Lobster and Guitar Hero 5 for his birthday and all I have for him is a cd and maybe some $5 pizza from Little Caesars. Then, Justin called me and reminded me how many times Ben asked for that cd and how much he loves the time that I give him. He's right. Even though I feel bad that I can't give him everything he asks for, I give him things that he will remember for the rest of his life. He'll remember Mom's Wow board where I post his hard work. He'll remember our movie nights and how mom tucked him in every night.

So, instead of feeling sorry for myself, I'm going to focus on the good things in my life and one ...or half a dozen of those wonderful people in my life. As a lot of you know, I'm not working a full time job right now and it was looking as if Christmas was going to be impossible this past year. I posted something here to my blog and I asked on my favorite yahoogroup how much money I could get if I sold my Pazzles. I was willing to give it up if it meant giving my boys a good Christmas.

Well, I didn't have to sell it. Six different people/groups stepped up and prevented that. I was totally blown away by their generosity and the love that they shared with us in a year where I know that money was tight for so many people. People can be totally amazing if you only give them a chance. Even now, almost a month later, I'm totally in awe of these people.

So, to Klo who sent not just my boys, but me as well gift cards, thank you. We decided, as a family, to add them to our Wii fund. We've been saving for a long time and your addition was exciting for us.

To Corinna, who along with her husband, sent the boys books and movies, thank you.

To Jim, who bought our family a gift package to the "local" theatre, thank you! We went to see Alvin & The Chimpunks, the Squeakuel right after Christmas and loved it. The gift card covered everything for all of us to go.

To Justin, who sent us some money to buy special gifts, thank you.

And last, but certainly not least, to Valerie, a woman who I have never met for the incredible gift of money that you sent to us. I have never been so incredibly touched by a stranger. She somehow came across this blog and based just on what she read here, she sent us an incredible gift.

I know I just said last, but I do want to extend one more thank you out there. To the people who donate to Toy for Tots or to the Salvation Army toy drive, I want to thank all of you. We were one of the families that benefited from that this year.

Like I said, the generosity of people amazes me and humbles me. I've worked at teaching my children the joy that can come from giving to others. They don't see a Salvation Army red bucket without asking me for change because in their words, "they help people who need help." Little did they know that those people were us this year. I've heard it said "when your hand is open to give, it is also open to receive" and it seems that is exactly what happened.

Whew! And we made it! It's Wednesday...for real! Today has been another stressful day, but slowly things are coming together, I hope. I've been taking small breaks to do some reading, which is helping me keep it together. Thank goodness I know that the world really isn't out to get me or I'd hide under these blankets and never come out!

Now, with all of that babbling out of the way, I want to share pictures! I accidently left my camera at my parent's house on Christmas day so I didn't take a ton of pictures, but I do have some to share. Over at Sunday Shutterbugs, they finally have a new theme up and I'm excited to say that it's Holiday! Perfect for this time of year. So, without further yammering on my part, here are some holiday photos from the Roets family.


We hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I'm still planning on writing my Christmas Angels post, but I think I'm going to make that my Finish It Friday post when I wrap up all of the things from 2009 and figure out more of the things for 2010!

Well, I would love to say Happy Wednesday all but I just got another round of not so great news and it is seriously affecting my happiness factor for today. Man, I would so like a day where we got some good news around this place. Anyway, I did want to make sure that I got here and posted to my blog. If nothing else, it gives me a place to let off some of the frustration.

Now, usually, I try to do the challenge over at Sunday Shutterbugs but they don't have one! I don't know how or why, but I've checked back every day this week and there's nothing there. So, I decided to show y'all a couple more pictures from the "archives." These were taken back in 2001! I can't believe that it's been 8 years since I took these pictures and that these are the same kids who are sitting in front of me right now playing Snoopy vs The Red Baron on the PS2.


Man, they grow up so fast. Before I know it they'll be wanting cars for Christmas, not just video games where you drive them.

Ok, I know it's Thursday, but I just finished what I needed to finish to do my Wednesday post. Over at Sunday Shutterbugs, the theme for this week is Heart. Now, this is a great theme. It's one that you can interpret in so many different ways. I'm taking something that someone special said to me the other day and using that for my interpretation. He told me that every time he receives a homemade present from me, he can see my heart and love in each and every one of them. So, with all of that being said, here is the project I've been working on for the past week. It's going to my nephew, Dominic, for Christmas. It's just a shame that all of my tape is outside in the van...*looks outside at the snow, knowing that it's like 0 with the windchill without even checking weather.com*



And there it is...one completed Train Bank for Mr. Dominic Nathaniel.