Photos....

It's that time of year......

....again and it's coming quickly. We are pretty much decorated, Jingles is back, baking cookies has begun and i'm busy with our Christmas cards. I have learned to let go of having decorations on our tree exactly where i want them; Christmas has been a lot easier for me since i've learned that! Most of our decorations on the tree stop as far as Emma can reach, but i've managed to move some of them a littler higher so it doesn't appear that short elves decorated our tree! Emma is full of questions as we put up the ornaments: "Where did dis one come from, Mommy?" and "Wlook! I MADE DIS ONE!!". Like most families, we have a lot of ornaments....and i gave up a long time ago trying to have a tree with matching colors/ornaments. Our tree has all kinds of ornaments that don't match, but it seems that every ornament has a story. Of course, it seems that now my favorite ornaments are ones that Emma has made or ones that we have made together. I think that Emma's favorites are the ornaments that i order each Fall from Guatemala. Some are animals, some are stars, some are dolls....each one is special to her and i love seeing how much she loves them.

As much as i love this time of year, it's the rushing to get things done part that can sink my Christmas Spirit quickly. It seems that i need to start getting things moving in September instead of late November. This time of year rushes pass me way too fast. I watch my life and i want to slow everything down, mostly so i can remember every single moment. There are days when things are tough for me mentally, but when i see all that i am entrusted with, my heart sings. Nothing is more precious than sitting on the couch with Emma and Robert, just looking at the tree. These are the types of moments that money and riches can never buy and it some times seems that these moments happen in the blink of an eye. I want to hold life in my hand, hold it still so it doesn't pass too fast...but there's no way to stop life. Enjoying life moment by moment and being grateful and thankful seems the best way to actually live life.

Our yard is decorated with a huge blowup of Santa and his reindeers, elves and pegiuns in his hot tub. I'm surprised that our homeowners association hasn't fined us for this blowup! There is also a reindeer with a red nose who looks like he's flying, another blowup Santa on the porch, garland on the railings and a pretty big white, metal snowman with lights. It seems that every year we add something else...i'm afraid that my husband and daughter love the blowups, so there's no telling what we will have next year!

I've done some baking. It's nice how smells of different cookies can take us back to our childhoods. I made my most favorite Christmas cookie: Snowballs. Some folks know them as Mexican Wedding Cookies, or Russian Tea Cakes, but my Mama called them Snowballs, so that's what i call them. She would make these every year for me. When i moved away from home and would come home late on Christmas Eve, she always had a tin full of these cookies, waiting on me. Mama was a wonderful cook and baker and i miss her more and more every holiday. While Emma makes my holidays full of fun, laughter and giggles, there's always an ache in my heart because i miss my Mama so much.

Off to finish a few things....more later.