So Simplified

This year just seems so different than all other years.  I am excited about Christmas but I am just not going overboard like I feel like I have in the past.  I am not sewing at all.  I have sewn gifts for about the past three years.  I'm not planning a bunch of homemade gifts and this month is being kept pretty clear of commitments.

I have a different focus this year - simplicity.  I am making a few things but they are easy things.  I have shopped early and am close to being done with shopping (close).  My Christmas cards are here and just need addressing.

Mostly this year I am just focusing on the day-to-day.  I am getting the laundry done.  I am not letting the house be in a huge mess.  I am having tea parties with my daughter.  I am reading the kids our Advent Jesse Tree devotional each night. 

I am concentrating on getting my oldest son's school done.  This has been a tough adjustment for me.  I have to prioritize his schooling.  I know next year will be easier.  My husband has been such a huge help and encouragement for me.  He even had a great idea to have my mom clean for us once a week so I could focus on what I need to focus on.  We pay her a little.  It works out so great.  I don't know how long it will last but I am loving it as long as it does.

Lots of things have happened this past year that made me just want to sit back and breath and take in that my kids are little for such a short time and I want to enjoy and remember these weeks before my favorite time of the year.  In the last year, my grandma passed away and then my stepdad died a few months later.  My Mamaw is now going through major surgery and has had cancer removed from her kidney and my stepmom has been helping her and at her side constantly.  My husband's cousin has had a cancer diagnosis that we are all praying constantly about.

I just felt the need to be quieter and to keep things simple.  I felt it is more important to spend time with the kids rather than spend time with my sewing machine.  When the kids are older I am sure I will go back to making more things. 

I feel the need to make Christmas about family and about the real star of the show - the birth of my Savior.  The incredible gift of that birth and how it has impacted not only my life but the world. 

And who better than to tell us what Christmas is all about than Linus from Charlie Brown.   I love Linus.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.