As Annabelle would say...

In a enthusiastic, high pitch little sing-song voice
" Merry Tis-mas! "

{ That's a Wrap }

So as of 3:30 this afternoon, we are officially off on our annual Merry Christmas trek to Id. to spend the next three whole weeks with our families and boy are we ever excited. They have snow...and lots of it. We heard that four inches fell in one hour last night...so we are going to sled and make Annabelle's first snowman, and eat snow and throw snowballs, and make snow-angels, and ski, and skate on the pond, laugh and kiss and make lots of cocoa and take lots of pictures of all of it.

All this:

Has been packed away, what we need now is a giant 4 wheel drive sleigh, and a handful of reindeer to get over the pass with all these presents.

This little girl, as you can see, as long as she has her " Mr. Socks" is ready and raring to go. It was the first Christmas present of the year from a dear friend. She was suppose to wait and open it on Christmas morning...lets say, the poor fellow laid under our tree for several days half-unwrapped before I gave in and let her open the rest of it...and now they are inseparable.

We are going to catch-up on life and just be with the ones we love, and have a truly merry Christmas.

So.... Poppy, Nana, Mor More, Auntie Roo, Uncle Bair, Auntie Deb, Uncle Jerry, Jesse Mari, Kate, A. Ra Ra, U. Brian, U. Pete, Auntie Min, Faith, Nelson, Beau, Uncles: Dan-Dan, Tommy Jay, Marky, John and Nate...Uncle Laren, Auntie Becca, Joey, Molly, Hildi, Patrick and Saoirse, and Auntie Greta, and all the neighbors and friends we are looking forward to seeing....

Ready or not...Here we come!

You can be sure we will be popping in every now and then to see how all your holiday-ing is going. And maybe even try and squeeze in a post or two, or at the very least, a picture or two.

In the meantime wishing each dear one of you, the Merriest of Christmases. And As the carol goes, may your heart feel the " radiant beams from His holy face." along with the beautiful reality of " the dawn of redeeming grace."

{ merry making }

So tonight I made my second batch of Christmas cookies, this batch is getting sent to my Grandpa, all excpet for one tray. The one David and Annabelle joined the fun on. And let me tell you it was a jolly sight. That, and a mess ( courtesy of precious 21-month-er ) . Sparkles of red and green everywhere...cookie dough...smashed and crumbled... everywhere... but you should have heard the delighted sighs she gave when David cut out three ginger bread people, a daddy a mommy and a baby, and linked them holding hands together...or the giggle when she saw the imprint of her tiny hand, made with the red and green sugar you sent to us, Leslie. If I could have, I would have frozen time in that moment. I guess that's why I am here right now, writing it down.

As you can see, we've also hung up Christmas lights, me for the first time ever, on the outside of our house. Our oh so thoughtful next door neighbors who offered for us to use their extras. Of course the very best part of it, is hearing Annabelle say when we leave the driveway " bye, bye house, bye, bye kitty, bye, bye twinkey-yites. "

And must share this with you because, Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without the silly little faces Grannie Annie draws on baby oranges for all of us.

Now for some Christmas tree show and tell:

I stayed up late tonight to among other things, wrap presents. David and I exchange stockings and so I have this shoe box that has TOP SECRET written all over it, which I keep it taped shut at all times. But I have to spill my secrets to someone...and I know they are safe with you, right?

• gummy worms


• LED light w/compass key chain sort of thing


• smoked salmon


• milk chocolate


• Blue Diamond Bold Wasabi & Soy Sauce Roasted Almonds


• one black Ipod


• kippered snacks


• a enormous pack of gum to help with the fish breath


• and a note from me, which is actually a quote by Edgar A. Guest that I've adapted..." I am wishing at Christmastime that I could but repay a portion of the gladness that you've strewn along my way. " Except I am changing the last three words to read " throughout my every day."

All wrapped up now, incase he is tempted to peek. And now I better hurry off to bed before it's time to get up again.

{ Inspired }

By this lady. And made these:

She's absolutely amazing. All about living Happily Ever After. And I totally adore her. And this Christmas she could totally give Martha Stewart a run for her money, if you ask me. And she has a husband who brings her gorgeous sweets to cheer her up. And, saving the best for last, she's got the most darling 6 month old baby girl you've ever, ever seen. Go take a look.

You'll see what I mean.

{ mischief maker }

At 21 months Annabelle, is turning out to be a lot of things, most of which are entirely endearing. At this point, one thing our days are most certainly, would be um...anything, and I mean anything but dull.

• For instance, when you find a half a roll of wadded up toilet paper stuffed in the bottom of her potty chair which remains vacant, except for those few occasions when she sticks "hoppy" her favorite stuffed bunny, on it. That being said, the "potty train" is the new big thing around here right now. she sticks "hoppy" her favorite stuffed bunny, on it. That being said, the "potty train" is the new big thing around here right now. And her little potty chair sits ceremoniously. like a royal throne in the smack-dab middle of our living room floor. She is more than happy to run around naked, as she wants to be like her big cousin Jesse who's just started riding the "potty train." So we sing this silly song. And watch her like a hawk, to make sure we don't end up with a puddle or worse on the floor. Occasionaly we bribe her with chocolate. Is that awful of us? Because it works. Just the other night, after her third try, she was promptly rewarded. That's some serious motivation if you ask me.
  
• She learned to say pistachio yesterday. Well, sort of. It's something reminiscent to a cross between pea soup and statue. And if she'd been able to crack the shells open by herself, I fear the entire bag would have been *poof* gone like that. Followed by a serious tummy ache.


• We were in the car yesterday when out of the clear blue, totally uncoaxed she counted to six. Well, she might have skipped four or something but I was floored. I really have no idea where she learned to count like that. Certainly not from me. I am still trying to get her to say A...B....C...D instead of A...B...C...X.


• So with a stack of Christmas Cards, just waiting to be addressed. My address book went missing. Not good. And I had the most sinking feeling about it, as I have pulled out earrings, toothbrushes and books from the bathroom garbage can before. So you can imagine my relief yesterday, thinking the worst had happened when I found it stashed in the bottom basket of her changing table, under a pile of diapers.


• maybe the #1 piece of advice I have for people about to be responsible for a 21 month old, would be this: Never take your eye off of them. Not even for five seconds. They are fast. Really fast. Little miss or mister 21 months will be out the door and down the drive way, lickety-split, in under 7 seconds. Or another example would be David and I, laughing about something at the dinner table, absorbed in the humor of the moment, while she sits across the table from us happily chugging away at the bottle of soy sauce. Our reaction to the s.s. incident : wide eyed horror. Hers, " mmmm...salt...num, num! "


• and of course there are those times all I want to do is sit down and cry, but no matter how rough the day has been.. I can't help but ache with joy. Especially with my hubs coming home to find it a disaster area, his wife down-trodden and frazzled, in spite of which he says things like: "Why do you think I married you?" Then answering his own question with a " so I could cuddle with you every night."

Her eyes twinkle with mischief. And wonder. And magic. And laughter. And affection. And curiosity. And fun. And all I want is for mine to always twinkle back at her in unconditional love.

it's the sweetest thing I know....

At dinner tonight, with John Denver singing softly in the background " Hey it's good to be Back Home Again" David just couldn't resist turning up the volume, and saying with feeling, " I love this song!" And he grandly sang along, big smile on his face, while I sat there thinking to myself, " I love him!" Then the next song came on, ' Thank God I'm a Country Boy, ' and my normally anything but dramatic husband swooped our little girl right out of her high chair and proceeded to hoot and holler uproariously while spinning her in circles around the kitchen, ending with a great big " whoop" on his part and a giggle meltdown on hers. As our laughter dies down, these words fill the room. And our hearts.

It’s the sweetest thing I know of, just spending time with you
It’s the little things that make a house a home
Like a fire softly burnin’ supper on the stove
The light in your eyes that makes me warm

I heart twirling.

I remembered today that I had a bag of hand-me-down-

dress-up clothes stuffed away in the back of her closet. Out they came

and she quickly transformed in her shimmering dress, into a twirling princess of great beauty.

It's moments like this that it hits me. I am seeing more of the little girl peeking out of and less and less of the baby every day.

If life came with a pause button, I'd be pushing it right now.

Or even a SLOW DOWN button. That would do nicely as well.

Anyone know where I can find one of those? Anyone?

{ twirling for Daddy }

{ Busy Elf }

Thought I'd share some of the fruit of my elfish

productivity from this past week with you:

And if you like, you can always go see more at my little paperie shop, here .

{ Pondering }

Tears are falling, hearts are breaking

How we need to hear from God

You've been promised, we've been waiting

Welcome Holy Child

Welcome Holy Child

Hope that you don't mind our manger

How I wish we would have known

But long-awaited Holy Stranger

Make Yourself at home

Please make Yourself at home

Bring Your peace into our violence

Bid our hungry souls be filled

Word now breaking Heaven's silence

Welcome to our world

Welcome to our world

Fragile finger sent to heal us

Tender brow prepared for thorn

Tiny heart whose blood will save us

Unto us is born Unto us is born

So wrap our injured flesh around

YouBreathe our air and walk our sod

Rob our sin and make us holy

Perfect Son of God

Perfect Son of God

Welcome to our world

Lyrics by Chris Rice from his awesome album,

Deep Enough to Dream

{ crack-up }

Just had to share a tid-bit from our ride home from church last night. It's really quite remarkable. This little girl of ours, actually begs us to tickle her... " she'll actually put my hand to her knee and then plead for me to " tickle, Mommy, right there..." so, as I am more than happy to comply with such a request, I tickle her. Consequently squeals of laughter fill the air. Pretty soon we're all laughing because as you have probably experienced before, the stuff is highly contagious. The flip side to this is her screaming " out mommy, hold mommy, stuck mommy" as she arches her back and tugs at her straps, trying to get free. I think we'll stick with the tickles.

Also I am way too excited about this to keep it to myself. I can hardly wait to see the look on her face when she opens this up on Christmas morning.

The picture is of her admiring her new cup-cake pa-jammies.

Also, we are both loving this little book right now, with it's super darling illustrations.

{ Mystery Solved }

Today she asked me for " snowman juice, peas! "

My response to her, " what in the world?" as I wracked my brain to think of what she meant by such a request.

Then tonight after dinner as I poured David a glass of eggnog, it occurred to me that there was a great big snow man unmistakably, covering the entire front of the carton. Ah-ha...now I get it.

And I doubt we'll ever refer to it as eggnog again.

Best of all, is being together...

We had a weekend not unlike a winter fairytale.
Friday night David and I kicked it off in styel with a date that included lots of smooching and hand holding , as we enjoyed the undivided attention we were able to give each other. We even squeezed in a little Christmas shopping and then on our way home, stopped to pick out a Christmas Tree to surprise the sweet girly-kins with. The entire evening left me refreshed, and romanced. And I must have had stars in my eyes that evening because I could feel them. The minute I opened the door, Annabelle Lucy slipped down from Aunt Lynne's lap, face beaming and seriously raced, squealing across the room, and into my arms. Let me tell you, my heart skipped a beat. Who wouldn't love to come home to that? To her. And David gets to do it 5 days a week. No wonder it's his favorite time of the day. :)

Saturday morning we woke up to find snow falling outside our window, it felt like a gift, sent especially to us in honor of it very first day of December. So David and Annabelle played in the fluffy falling flakes and stacked fire wood , while I watched out the window and grinned at them, busy at the kitchen table, with my " Project Christmas Money, " going great guns. The snow stopped eventually but the fun didn't as we brought in the Christmas tree, poured big mugs of egg nog and strung and hung to our, well maybe more like my, hearts content. Annabelle was full of delight over the whole process. "Yites" and "balls" and "snowmens" and most importantly of course,"tandy-tanes." My tree is missing three of it's Candy Canes this year so far, thanks to Anniebelles and her sweet tooth of a Daddy. Oh well, I suppose maybe I can overlook it, just this once.


I am predicting that the best thing about Christmas this year going to be continuing to watch our little girl discover and delight in life.

Such wonder.