Welcome December...

A warm December welcome...
to all of my friends and readers on this first day of December. December holds many special, happy memories for me, but most especially it holds the birth days of my first three children. My twins were born on December 4 and my eldest baby was born on December 11. Happy birthday to my most precious gifts from heaven above! My twin babies will be 11 years old and my big baby ;) will be 13. Golly Moses, were did the time go? I remember the waiting and the hoping and the wondering that I did the entire time of all my pregnancies and it is quite like the waiting, hoping and wonder of the Advent season - all for a baby. Three  precious babies born to my arms during Advent and one most precious of all born into the arms of Mary all those years ago in a stable. May your Advent season be one of waiting, wonder - but most especially one of hope. Hope is the key to travel on in this life, isn't it? Hope for a brighter day, for a bigger tomorrow...may it be so for you too!

Looking onward...
I've had a couple of wonderful parcels land in my mailbox! First up is this darling ornament that Catherine stitched for me in our personal ornament exchange:

Isn't it gorgeous?! All that glam and glitz? It reminds me of my Granny...she liked bling - and so does her Grand-daughter :) This hangs way up high on our tree by our Angel and I smile and love it everytime I see it. THANK YOU CATHERINE!!

Then the most lovely friend that I have "met" through this blog, Paula from Portugal and her darling husband Rui, sent the Pfeiffer family this lovely package:

The cute little green pencils are favorites of the kiddos, of course - what good student doesn't like a special pencil to labor over homework? Ellie believes her pencil to be a wand...(I think because the star at the end)...anyway, whether they are solving math problems or waving it over someone with incantations they are a big hit! Paula also sent a cute little sledding Prairie Schooler ornament for us to hang on our tree - which it does with beauty - and a lovely cut of fabric, a handcrafted wooden cat button (which Ellie has claimed for her "charm necklace") and a Paris notebook. THANK YOU SO MUCH PAULA!!!

I thought I'd leave you...
with a shot of Pfeiffer Christmas. Here's my birdhouses all dressed for a down home country Christmas, my sled and skates are all ready too...come on snow! :)

Until next time...
I'll be keeping my "hands to work and heart to God" -  please join me!
Hugs and love,


Tool for our tool box: Don't jump to conclusions.
Looking over my life, (and I'm sure if you look over yours) you'll find many times that you've taken something innocent, something meaningless - whether it was done or said by others - and have added GREAT meaning to it in you mind and in your heart. Could you be making mountains out of mole hills? Take a breath, take a break and think before you speak (or e-mail) back in anger or hatred. Not jumping to conclusions, not making moutains out of mole hills and thinking before you speak is all one great big tool to add to our tool box. I like to think of this tool as a shovel - you know shovel yourself out of the load of smelly stuff your mouth or actions have gotten yourself into perhaps? Get it out, think about it, examine it, keep it shiny and ready...seek your memories of instances that could have gone better if only you had your tool at hand. Remember, learn and vow to take action - now put the tool back in your tool box, because you're ready for the next time!