A Merry Little Christmas

I love Christmas Eve.  I love the feeling of barely suppressed excitement, of such joy.

In the midst of last minute plans and presents, I want my heart to focus on who and why we are celebrating.  We're celebrating the birth of a King.  The King of kings and Lord of lords, our Savior, Jesus Christ

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.

I want to be like the shepherds who, when they heard the glad tidings and saw Jesus, told everyone about Him!  And not just this time of year, but all the year long.  Thank you Jesus for saving me and washing me whiter than the snow that is falling outside!

Update: Totally forgot about this picture!  Hank trimmed this wood circle off the bottom of our tree and I turned it into an ornament for our first Christmas together!

This first Christmas with Hank has been a joyful one.  His family parties hard this time of year, and I'm loving it!  Since Hank and I are spending Christmas day with my family, we celebrated with his family on the 21st.  We exchanged presents and watched Christmas in Connecticut.  Love that movie. *smile*  Last night we went with some of the sibs and saw the Hobbit movie.  And tonight we're getting together for their traditional Christmas Eve meal - lasagna!  We'll probably watch more movies and go to the candlelight service at their church.

Hank has a half day at work today, which I'm super excited about.  Which also means I have to run, because I need to finish sewing his Christmas present before he gets home! Yikes!

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone, filled with the joy that only Christ can bring.

I'll see you next year. *smile*

What are some of your family's Christmas traditions?

Are you going to have a white Christmas, or are you dreaming of having one?

I want to know!

Snapshots

It's me!!  So, I don't really know who else it would be.  This is my blog, after all.

I've been married for 2 months now, and I still love it.  LOVE it.  What I don't love, is this sniffle/sore throat I've picked up and had since last Saturday.  So, almost a week now.  It didn't get really bad until Tuesday.  I stayed in bed all day with chills and aches.  But that's all over.  Now, I just have to deal with coughing - major "I wouldn't be surprised if I coughed my lungs up" coughing - and not being able to talk above a whisper.  Really praying about that since I'm supposed to be singing in our church's Christmas Cantata THIS Sunday.  I love to sing, and I'll be really disappointed if I don't get to.  I think the choir will be just fine without me.  They have other sopranos who can hit the really high stuff, after all.  I keep praying and giving my hoarse throat and the cantata to the Lord.  But, it's hard.

Vintage Texas-ware teacups. <3

Anyway, not really complaining...but yeah, I am.

Here's some snapshots from the past few months for you all.  Still working on picking out which wedding photos I want to share here (there are a TON). *smile*

There are doors on the cupboards, but I love looking at my dishes. ;)

I love our vintage Electrolux vaccuum - it's from the 60s!

There's a shelf over the door to the laundry room/mudroom now.

I love browsing Hank's record collection and listening.  So much fun!

My first official visitors to my new house, Kellie and Clara!

Our power went out (right as we were finishing dinner) so we spent the rest of the evening reading (ahem, at least Hank was reading;) by candlelight. :)

My "new to me" car.  I've named her Tracy.

The Bonnie dog seems to be pretty happy at her new home.  She and the cat Smudge (I'll have to get a picture of her) are getting to be friends, and she loves chasing the neighbor dogs out of the yard. *grin*

And that's all I have time for now.  I've got a kitchen full of dirty dishes.  Totally unbelievable how quickly those accumulate when you're sick.  But Hank is bringing dinner home tonight, which makes me happy.  He's so good to me.  I haven't been this cared for while I was sick since I was a little girl.  I could get used to this. *smile*

Anyone want to see a house tour vlog?
Does your power go out a lot during the winter?  What do you do when it does?  I want to know!

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