Anyway……

I captured our Christmas season in photographs. The joy in smiles, the heart in giving and the spirit of love.

After many years of trying, I finally got it into gear.  Most of the parts of Christmas that can cause me high stress are under my belt.  That is not to say something can’t go wrong or has not gone wrong.  In preparing all my envelopes in advance the photos were slightly bigger than they should have been and so…I had to trim, trim, trim!!! But, that was NOT going to ruin my momentum.  =) Cards are ready to send out on December 1st!!!!  That makes me so happy!

With all of the big stuff behind us we can just enjoy all that comes at us.  This week looks like this:

1. Bible Study
2. Christmas Concert
3. Dawn Treader event at school. 
4. Ballet
5. Sleep overs
6. Dinner dates
7. Festival of lights
8. Photo shoot
9. Bunko
10. Pottery Painting
11. Baking
12. Gift making
13. Church

Oh What Fun!!!

1. Thanksgiving break
2. Play dates
3. Healthy for the most part.
4. Family time, movies, shopping, walks, baking.
5. Watching my children dog sit with such responsibility.
6. Thanksgiving feast shared with my wonderful extended family.
7. Ongoing organization projects, purging 15 years of stuff.
8. The way candles make our home smell so welcoming.
9. Homemade peanut butter fudge.
10. Warm slippers, hot tea and reading with my family AND my new phone!  =)

Things I am Thankful for Year Round:

1. That I am a daughter of The King.
2. My Mom and Dad – so thankful that I have them both still in my life.
3. My precious and most awesome husband, Kip.
4. My two amazing children.
5. My sister.
6. Our house.
7. My car, since I am in it so much of the day.
8. My honey’s job – provision
9. Friends
10. Our pets

I see the Reindeer! Where is Santa?

Bennett keeping watch.

]]> https://www.csrussells.com/2010/12/28/looking-out-for-santa/feed 1 https://www.csrussells.com/2010/12/16/thanksgiving-traditions?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=thanksgiving-traditions https://www.csrussells.com/2010/12/16/thanksgiving-traditions#comments Thu, 16 Dec 2010 17:58:53 +0000 http://www.csrussells.com/?p=1031 Ten years ago Kip and I started a tradition that has become so dear to us. It was year of many thanks after having come off a very difficult year. It was the year we first invited both of our families to our home for Thanksgiving. That year, was magical. We had the beautifully adorned table and an amazing Thanksgiving Feast. The best part was that we had made scrolls for each place setting announcing we were expecting our first child. There was not a dry eye in the house. God had blessed us, and we were all so Thankful. That year we also started our Thanksgiving CD tradition, a compilation of our favorite songs and songs that had meaning to our families. It does get harder each year to find new songs that convey our feelings over the Thanksgiving season, but we often times include songs from years past and find new arrangements of the same songs. It is a tradition that I do not think we will be allowed to end.

Three Years after our first Thanksgiving dinner, we were able to do an announcement similar to our first. However, our 1 and a half year old son, Hayden was able to help us announce the impending birth of his new baby brother or sister.

Reading the Thanksgiving Book outloud to us.

God has blessed us so much all of these years, it is a very special time of year for our family. Although we are missing one very special person, our dear Aunt Frances, who is unable to travel from AZ anymore. We miss the joy and love she brings to our day.