1. so had to try this...., 2. Pom-pom garland, 3. Vintage Bottles, 4. Untitled, 5. candy shop, 6. merry and bright, 7. G I V E , 8. Wood hanging, 9. Sleigh Ride, 10. Untitled, 11. the lady of the house, 12. Holiday Lights, 13. Untitled14. Not available15. Not available16. Not available

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Today... 


I love the smell of:the piney perfume of our Christmas tree, floating upstairs.


I love the sound of: this beautiful Christmas Carol


I  love the taste of: baby oranges

I love this thought: " We need to think of ourselves as gifts to be given and to think of others as gifts offered to us.  -John Powell 


I love the sight of: my littles splashing together in the bathtub


I love the feel of: this baby girl tumbling around inside of me

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{ A touch of the Merry + Bright }

We are so excited to hang our stockings up on this pretty mantel!

Our first fire in the fire place, we celebrated with yummy orange rolls +

Trader Joes Cinnamon Vanilla Black Tea ( a current favorite of mine )... 

Loving the sight of  my little vintage winter village,

given to me last Christmas by my Mom,

who is the best ever present giver!

Annabelle's little *purple* Christmas Tree, a advent gift from Mommy. She'd been asking for " a pink tree + colored lights."

Sledding with Daddy...the kids were in heaven .

Annabelle couldn't stop gigling and all Jack could say was " wheee" !

The ever so dear + lovely Jess of Living a Swell Life was so sweet to feature my Vintage Christmas Garland Tutorial on her Hoilday By Hand Mini Series today over at her gorgeous, little, better-than-a-trip-to-Anthropolie-blog.

"Christmas renews our youth by stirring our wonder. The capacity for wonder has been called our most pregnant human faculty, for in it are born our art, our science, our religion."  - Ralph Sockman



Wishing you sweet, sweet December days my lovely friends...

{ a *good* cry }

" The Value of Cheerfulness " being the title of my blog, I normally choose to focus on writing about joyful, happy things.
And I try to keep a thankful heart.
But in the spirit of keeping it real around here I just have to say that things are often far from rosy and perfect, as my blog mostly portrays. Take yesterday afternoon for example, out of nowhere I broke down sobbing at the kitchen sink. Just because.  Sure I was feeling really discouraged about a couple things...The main one being Jack's skin condition, which has become more + more severe in the last couple weeks, even though we've got his diet down to only the foods that are the least allergenic. Anyway the whole reason I am writing about this, ( besides the keeping it real part :)is so that someday I will read back over this and remember that as I stood there, dish towel in hand, crying my eyes out... God met me right then and there...in my messy state of heart...as my legs were instantly wrapped up by little arms and sweet pats came from my beautiful daughter and tender hearted son as they hushed and comforted their Mommy. They both had such concern in their eyes. Which only makes me cry again to think of it.

 I am beginning to realize that it's not only okay to give myself permission to come unraveled but that it can be really good, and even healthy for me to be that honest with myself and with God and my family when I am feeling sad or angry. Maybe this is the very best and safest place for me to be in. After all healing comes out of hurt and redemption comes out of loss, so that we may comfort those with the comfort with which we've been comforted.

" I will have nothing to do with a God who cares only occasionally. I need a God who is with us always, everywhere, in the deepest depths as well as the highest heights. It is when things go wrong, when good things do not happen, when our prayers seem to have been lost, that God is most present. We do not need the sheltering wings when things go smoothly. We are closest to God in the darkness, stumbling along blindly."


 Madeleine L'Engle

Hello December...

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We have snow. Record breaking amounts of snow even. Every day we notice new evergreen wreath with bright red bows and twinkle lights, sparkle at us from the front doors and porches of our neighbors. David and I have been spelling out secrets to each other which leads to lots of giggles as we see the wheels turning as Miss Annabelle Lucy trys so very hard to figure out what we are talking about. And I am so excited about this little ditty that I learned from my sweet friend Andi, in regards to our family Christmas gift giving this year. " Something you need. Something you want. Something to share. Something to read." And to that I have added, something homemade.

But most of all this December I am looking forward to celebrating Advent, for the very first time. I have been working on a advent calendar that is going to look a lot like this one made by an amazing friend of mine. So far I have five pockets sewn on and my first number.  Hoping to get that finished, filled + up on the wall in the next couple days.

We tucked a very special surprise for Annabelle into this first day of December...her very own tiny ( violet colored ) Christmas tree for her room. It makes the sweetest night light. She and Jack are just enchanted by it. And I have to admit, so am I.

I've been pouring over the Advent posts of this dear, dear friend... I am so inspired and wishing to follow her example of the beautiful + meaningful traditions she + her family hold dear.

Excited about going through this ( free downloadable ) daily Advent Devotional. We read it together tonight as a family. It was so, so good.

" The spirit of Christmas needs to superseded by the Spirit of Christ. The spirit of Christmas is annual; the Spirit of Christ is eternal. The spirit of Christmas is sentimental; the Spirit of Christ is supernatural. The spirit of Christmas is a human product; the Spirit of Christ is a divine person. That makes all the difference in the world. "  

-Stuart Briscoe

Abundant.

       " I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." John 10:10

I've ran out of time to finish up my 30 days of gratefulness like I would have liked to. But tonight my heart is overflowing with the beauty of the goodness and nearness of our great God. Take my heart dear Jesus, as I  pour it out in thankfulness and praise to you...more than words can say.

{ Jenny & Tyler - This Is Just So Beautiful }

Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God.

-Madeleine L’Engle