Blessed Busyness

Christmas is always a very busy time for our family.  We love to decorate our home for the season, make lots of homemade goodies, make handmade gifts and enjoy a time away from the school books.    Devin has been working especially hard in the kitchen.  She has made M & M cookies, peppermint stripe cookies, toffee coated graham crackers, cinnamon rolls, buckeye candy and helped Kaelan make chocolate and sprinkled covered pretzels.  We've also made several pies, bread, gluten free shortbread and buttermilk cookies.  Today I will need to make more shortbread, banana nut bread, applesauce muffins and a pound cake.

Jeff and Devin have been busy playing in Christmas cantatas for a couple of local churches.  We have all been suffering from colds and I am trying all kinds of supplements.  Those who take the most supplements are doing much better than those who chose not to take them.  I am so very thankful that Caedmon and Jackson have so far made it through without have trouble with their asthma.  It seems with every change of weather we have been having cold symptoms which causes them to have some serious asthma trouble as well.  Praying they will continue doing well.

Tomorrow marks the beginning of our festivities as we gather with Jeff's parents for the day.  Today we are finishing up some projects and cleaning and preparing tomorrow and for church on Sunday.  Sunday evening we are excited to gather with several friends.  One special family is moving back here after being away for a couple of years.  They will live just down the road from us and we have been helping to prepare their new home for them this week.  Another set of family friends now make their home in Florida, but will be visiting here and bringing their newest edition as well.  We are so excited to meet their new Baby Jack!  We are looking forward to this time with these families and others as we share a BBQ dinner, play games and fellowship together.

Next week we will visit with my mom, sisters, nieces and nephews for a couple of days.  Mom has been planning a fun white elephant gift exchange while I am planning on giving my mom and sisters several bars of our homemade goat milk soap and a few varieties of Devin's sugar scrubs, foot scrubs and bath salts along with a jar of homemade jam.

Then we will be home again to have  Christmas here.  The gifts are all wrapped and under the tree.  The kids have been peeking and trying to guess what is in each box.  The other day Aaron and I were in Barnes and Noble where he was just   soaking in all the books.  He sighed and said to me that it would be just fine with him if all he got for Christmas were books.  Ha!  He might just get his wish!!  So very thankful that my children love books and spend much time reading good literature.  (Confession--Aaron has been reading several Hardy boy books this week, but he usually has a full diet of biographies and historical fiction during our school sessions that I don't mind a little fluff right now)

Lists of chores for today have been made and are on the large white board in the dining room and everyone but me is busy getting things done.  Time for me to get up and get going!  But here is one funny that Caedmon just did:  Kaelan opened her little chest of dolls and stuffed animals for Caedmon to play with this morning.  He chose a stuffed fish and a Bitty Baby.  He brought the Bitty Baby over to me and I told him she needed to go to bed.  He told me she needed to nurse!!  Hmmm....

Ya'll have a great Friday!