On The Seventh Day Of Christmas...

... I picked my word for 2012.

FORTITUDE

I have to be honest. I had a hard time settling on this word. In fact, I'm still kind of nervous about it being my theme word for 2012. How can I, who oftentimes fears the worst when storms hit, ever possibly hope to keep even an ounce of courage? How can I, who sometimes feels like simply giving up, even dream of remaining strong through it all, whatever "it" is?

But this word picked me.

Since the Advent season begin way back at the end of November, I've been reading a daily devotions book. On a day during which a lot was weighing particularly heavy on my heart, the scripture passage mentioned was Mark 4:35-41.

"That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, 'Let us go over to the other side.' Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, 'Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?'
He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, 'Quiet! Be still!' Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
He said to his disciples, 'Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?'
They were terrified and asked each other, 'Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!'

Oh sure, I've read that story many times. Usually my reaction is something like, "Really, dudes. He's right there with you. Surely there's no need to overreact and panic." This time though, the message behind that story hit me and my reaction was, "Really, JM." (Yeah, I refer to myself as "JM" ;-)) "He's right here with you. Surely there's no need to overreact and panic."

I know remembering to remain strong won't be easy. It's so much easier for me to be fearful about things unknown than to remember He's got a plan. It's so much easier for me to want to take control of situations that are out of my control than to simply let go and let Him do the driving, so to speak. But I hope that by making Fortitude my theme word, I learn to "Let go and Let God" in times of distress.

Even if doing so scares me.

On The Sixth Day Of Christmas...

... we played with Legos.

On The Fifth Day Of Christmas...

... I took an alphabetical walk down memory lane.


A new year


Bonding moment


seCond grade


royal weDing


Earthworms


First anniversary


Gabe and Gus


Hawaii


fIllings


Just dress-up


mele Kalikimaka


the death sLide


children'sMuseum


Numbers


Offline


Piano recital


king and Queen


Robin Hood


Shoes


TJ Maxx (see Shoes and here)


University revisited


loVe


Winter's patience


eXercise


just biographY


Zoo

On The Fourth Day Of Christmas...

... I finally tried making pancakes from scratch.

I may never buy store-bought pancake mix again.

On The Third Day Of Christmas...

... I discovered who I should turn to if I ever need a loan. ;-)

It took us eight years, but we finally opened a savings account for JS today.

Yes, for eight years JS has been filling his doggie bank and Winnie-the-Pooh pail with birthday money and loose change my hubby and I didn't need. When we took both to the bank, we were shocked when the teller told us how much we just brought in. Let's just say the kid has more in his savings account now at age eight than I had when I graduated from high school.

On The Second Day Of Christmas...

While these two were trying to figure out how to operate JS's new remote controlled helicopter, ...

Gus wondered ...

... if his brother Gabe would ever defeat ...

... the strange new toy.

Mele Kalikimaka!

No, Just Family didn't sneak away to the islands to visit my folks this Christmas (oh, how I wish). But with no snow on the ground and temps in the 40s, it's like we're in the tropics. ;-D


To say it's been an odd December -- weather-wise and otherwise, but I won't get in to that -- would be an understatement. But at least the Christmas tree theme I chose for this year doesn't seem as out-of-place as my hubby originally thought it would be:

"Christmas In Hawaii."

I have been collecting Hawaiian Santa ornaments for several years now, and I decided it was time to hang them on the tree. We visited my parents in Honolulu this past summer, so the tree could also remind us of our visit there.

Yeah, I know some people think they're tacky. But I think they're kinda cute. :-D

I even had some to put on the mantel.

Here's the other side of the mantel.

And here's the full view. Yes, it's forever a work in progress.


In addition to Hawaiian Santa ornaments, I also put up...

... angels, ...

... these ornaments I bought at a dollar store in Hawaii several years ago, ...

... and poinsettias.

Lots and lots of (fake) poinsettias.

This hibiscus tree ornament is displayed next to my snowy tree.


But you're probably wondering what we did Christmas morning. Well, we turned on some Hawaiian Christmas music (of course) and watched Just Son open an insane number of presents. Again.

These were from Santa. (Notice the music flash cards? Santa loves it when JS practices piano and thought music theory flash cards would be a great thing for JS to have. ;-D).


I didn't take a whole lot of photos of JS unwrapping presents, but I did get one of him with one of his favorite gifts:

Thank you, Just Sis and Just Brother-in-Law! ;-D


Well, I think that's all to report on the blog. (Yes, it's been a while.)

Oh!

I wanted to show you the teacher gifts I put together, thanks to an idea I found on Pinterest.

Yeah, I thought they were cute.

And yes, they taste really good too.

Merry Christmas!

Er ... Mele Kalikimaka! ;-D

Let's Play Catch (Up)!

(a.k.a. "The Things I've Been Too Lazy To Post About Until Now")

1) I celebrated my five-year blogoversary on December 10 but apparently didn't post anything.

2) The fact that I haven't been updating this blog regularly has little to do with nothing happening in my life, and more to do with good old-fashioned laziness when it comes to uploading photos.

3) If I had posted my photos in a timely manner, you would have seen a photo of the lake as ice started to form earlier this month.

4) It's overcast, above freezing and rainy today, so I imagine the ice is melting a little. Or a lot.


5) We still haven't received any significant amount of snow here, which I admit makes it difficult for me to believe that Christmas is only 11 days away. ELEVEN DAYS, PEOPLE, AND THERE'S NO SNOW HERE! (Not that I'm complaining, of course. ;-)


6) No snow hasn't stopped me from enjoying the things that define this time of year for me: two choir concerts earlier this month, JS's first-ever Christmas piano recital Friday and lots of Christmas lights.

7) The above display was "dancing" to the tune of "Music Box Dancer," which I hope JS will be able to play one day. (Coincidentally, we saw this display after JS's piano recital.)


8) I haven't been to a single Christmas party yet this year (was invited to four). Don't worry, there are others coming up.


9) I finally got my Christmas letters in the mail this past Monday after putting it off for so long. Here is one of the photos on the card:

That's quite a change from when I first started blogging:

10) I can't believe I've been blogging for five years.

The Gift

Every year as Advent approaches I have lots of grand ideas. I look up Jesse Tree activities to do with Just Son. I seek out new devotions and gather our prayer books, all in the name of teaching JS the real meaning of Christmas. For the first few days, everything goes according to plan and we miraculously are able to do every activity. But then reality sets in -- and December commitments begin -- and we start skipping a day. Or two. Or more.

This year, I may have found the answer:

This box.

The box once contained a Christmas ornament that was given to me as a gift. The ornament now gets stored in a larger ornament container with other delicate treasures, but I've never been able to let go of this velvety box.

The box sometimes ends up as part of a Christmas vignette on the mantel, the coffee table or a shelf. But it always sits empty. That is, until this year.

Every day since Sunday (the first day of Advent), Just Family has been writing down on small scraps of paper things we were thankful for that day. Those scraps then get stored inside the box. On Christmas morning, we'll open the box and look through all the gifts we've been given throughout Advent as a reminder of the greatest Gift and all He has done in our lives.

The best part for this oftentimes overly committed family? Writing down our blessings takes but a minute, but that minute helps us pause and remember what this season is all about.

In case you're wondering what JS has been thankful for these past few days, his answer has always been his cats. ;-D

On The First Day Of December ...

... I took these two ingredients ...

... and turned them in to these, thanks to this recipe.


All I need to do now is keep away from them until I take them to a bake sale this weekend. ;-)