12 Day of Christmas Blog Challenge-Favorite Holiday Show/TV Movie Special-Day 5

Today's challenge over at Aly and Molly's place is Favorite Holiday Show/TV Movie. 

 My all-time favorite Christmas movie is It's a Wonderful Life.   

This is my favorite part:



There are others that I really like a lot, though:



12 Days of Christmas-Tips/Tricks to a Budget Friendly Holiday Season-Day 4

Today is Day 4 of the 12 Days of Christmas Challenge.  Today I am focusing on tips and tricks for a budget friendly holiday season.  

 I don't really have any tips, yet, because my children are still young enough to appreciate dollar store toys.  I am really big into looking on the clearance section of every website I peruse and I always go through the dollar bins at Target and every other store that I go to. This year we are going to make more ornaments and decorations just because I think the kids will really think it is cool to help decorate the house.   Homemade and heartfelt gifts are always appreciated!   

Look Who's Back in Town

He's back.

Our Elf on the Shelf made his way back from the North Pole tonight.  He decided to land on top of the cabinets. 

He will come back every night until Christmas Eve.

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope each of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Eat lots of turkey, laugh lots of laughs, make lots of memories.

I am thankful to God who sent his son so that we may all be saved.

I am thankful to God that he chose to send me the best husband and father that I never deserved.

I am thankful to God that he gave me the gift of three healthy children.

I am thankful to God that he has allowed me to still have both of my parents and that they live a lot closer now.

I am thankful to God that he has given me a sister, brother-in-law and a niece and nephew that I love very much.

I am thankful to God that he has given me "outlaws" (inside joke) that love me with all of my faults. I am grateful that they have taken me in and treat me like I am theirs.

I am thankful to God for the friendships that I have made. Each of them serve a different purpose and role in making my life a happy one.

I am thankful to God for my health.

I am thankful that God allowed me to born into an American family.

I am thankful to God for Scott's job that not only puts food on our table and a roof above our head but gives me the opportunity to stay home with my children.

I am thankful to God for the food that I will eat today, the farmers who grew that food and the truck drivers who drove that food to the store so that I can buy it.

I am thankful to God that their are people who have chosen to be in the military to protect our freedoms.

For all of these things, I am thankful.

What are you thankful for?

Chair Landmine

No, this isn't a chair landmine that you are looking at.  My sweet little Caleb is a climber.  Every chair in the house has to be turned over or he is on top of the table!

Truly Thankful

On the eve of this Thanksgiving I am all of a sudden overwhelmed with a sense of thankfulness.  If you read my post from yesterday, you know that I had a stressful day.  After my project was finished, I plopped down on my couch to relax a bit and my sweet baby Caleb climbed up on lap.  He sat there for quite a few minutes and just let me soak him up.  Sitting there in the quietness and peacefulness of the moment, a Bible verse came to my mind.  It was 1Thessalonians 5:18 came, "In all things give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."  After my long, hard day, I was still to give thanks.

On a "whim" I put this out as my FB status. 

Today I received a FB message from my very best church camp friend.  She told me how much she appreciated me posting that Bible verse because she really needed to hear it.  She and her husband just found out that he is going to be deployed for a year in February . . . he just got home in August.  They have two little boys.  I'm not quite sure of the ages but I would say around 3 and 1.  This will be his 6th deployment.

My heart just broke for her.  I cannot imagine what she must be going through.  It would be bad enough to go through one deployment but SIX?  It is almost more than a person can handle.

Reading her story has really made me stop and think of everything that I have to be thankful for.  I know that no day is promised to any of us but I think the knowing that your loved one is for sure going to be gone on a certain date would make it that much harder.

If you have the time and think about it, please send up a prayer for my friend, Jacquie.

12 Days of Christmas/Most Meaningful or Best Gift You Have Received-Day 3

Today's topic for the 12 Days of Christmas Blog party, hosted by Aly and Molly, 

 is to tell about the Most Meaningful or Best Gift we have received.  I actually have two. Most meaningful:Growing up we did not have a lot of money.  My mom and dad were just normal working-class people trying to raise two daughters.  They both worked hard to make sure that we had everything we needed and most of the things that we wanted.  Like most kids in America, when the Cabbage Patch Kids came out my sister and I each wanted one.  I think they were going for $40 or $50 and this was back in the early '80's where $40 or $50 was more like $100.  Being kids, though, we had no clue how much things costs and we just knew that Santa Claus was going to bring us each a Cabbage Patch doll. Now, my mother is a fantastic seamstress.  (She's a good writer, too, click on her link)  She came up with the idea of making us "Cabbage Patch" dolls.  She went to Wal-Mart and bought doll heads that looked like CBK's and then she sewed and stuffed the bodies.  She then made our dolls several outfits each.   Well, on that Christmas morning we were so happy!  We had no idea that our dolls weren't "real".  We actually thought we were lucky because our dolls came with all kinds of different outfits. At the time, this didn't mean a whole lot to either us of us but now that I am a parent and have 3 kids to buy for I can appreciate how much time, effort and money went into those two dolls.  She would work all day long at a regular job and then somehow sneak in making us these dolls at night.  It was definitely a gift of love and it is now so cherished. Best GiftEach year we do Christmas Eve with Scott's family.  This was new to me when I first started dating him because my family has always been together on Christmas Eve.  The great thing about his family, though, is that they have welcomed mine and one particular year my mom and dad were at his sister's house, too.   We had been dating for a couple of years and, of course, I was at the point where I really wanted a ring.  I mean I really wanted a ring.  I knew that it would come at sometime but I was just hoping that sometime wasn't 10 years down the road. Another factor was that I had a son, Kanin, who I had when I first met Scott.  Scott is Kanin's only Daddy and had been since he was 5 months old but we were at the point where Kanin was calling Scott Daddy and I wanted to solidify all of our relationship so that not only would my heart not be broken but Kanin's, either. We were out at Debbie's and had finished eating and opening Christmas presents.  Scott said that he had one more gift to give and it was to me.  He came out with a scrapbook.  I thought that was great because I love scrapbooks.  This scrapbook was filled with all kinds of things:  our 1st trip together, Mother's Day at Busch Stadium with Kanin, Kanin's first Rams game.  On and on just all kinds of memories. I kept flipping the pages and when I got to the last page, there was a blank page and on it read "Will you marry me?" Yes!  It was such the perfect proposal.  It was intimate and sweet but it also included our family.  That was, by far, the best gift I have ever received.