December Daze

I had a brief moment, last Monday, of rest. Then it was over.

TUESDAY - Homeschool Moms' Christmas Party

Like a lunatic, I signed up to participate in the cookie exchange this year. Why did I do this?? I do not like cooking, or baking, and it stresses me out to do it for other people. I have no idea what I was thinking. I made chocolate truffles (that were pretty yummy, if I say so myself, although they were not quite as pretty as the picture in the cookbook). I did come home with a large amount of other wonderful Christmas goodies, as well as Galloping the Globe, the geography curriculum I won in the white elephant exchange... but who knew that chocolate could cause so much stress?

WEDNESDAY- Mom's Taxi Service

Children's Chorus Concert at the Rotary Club. Doctor's Appointment at the same time. Take returns back to three stores amid all the lunatics at the mall. Take three teenage girls back to the mall to take pictures for the Purity Retreat. Praise Team rehearsal at church. Sigh of relief that this day is over.

THURSDAY- Piano Recital

I have to admit, even though I spent the day doing laundry so my kids would have matching clothes and clean socks to wear, this was wa-a-ay fun! The kids' piano teacher, Miss Kim, had all of her students and their families over to her house for the recital and a holiday feast. The adults ate at a table that looked like something out of Southern Living. She did all the cooking, fed the kids while the parents sat and talked, and sent us all home with gorgeous gift baskets and homemade goodies. Wow. And Nathanael played his first recital piece ever, called "The Snowman". Too cute!

FRIDAY- SATURDAY - Purity Retreat

Our church hosted a Purity Retreat this weekend for teen and preteen girls and Becca's friend Erin stayed the night with us. The girls made scrapbooks with different pages for each of the things they discussed. The books are beautiful and will be a reminder of how priceless they are as daughters of the King. Moms came in at the end of the retreat to eat dinner with their daughters and have a mothers' discussion about how we can help our daughters keep their commitments to be pure in a society that glamorizes promiscuity. It was truly a priceless weekend.

I also finally got all the sandals and flip flops out of the shoe basket, and I tied the sock basket to the shelf in the laundry room, to keep "Not Me" from dumping clean socks all over the laundry room floor again. I know, it sounds insignificant, but I have to enjoy the brief moments of Victory Over Chaos.

SUNDAY- Roadtrip with my Husband!

John has been looking forward to this day for months! He was given tickets to the Titans vs. Jaguars game at work, and we farmed the kids out to different friends from church and took off! The seats were in the club level, which was fun- we got to skip a lot of the long lines, park at the stadium lot and grab a bite to eat at the stadium restaurant. The weather was warm and sunny (in December??) and the Titans won, 24-17. Very fun.

Afterward, we ate dinner at the Melting Pot, where every course is served Fondue style. My hands-down favorite would have to be dessert... cheesecake, poundcake, brownies, marshmallows, strawberries, pineapples and bananas with your choice of chocolate. In fact, I would be perfectly happy to just skip the salad and meat and go straight from the cheese to the chocolate... After we finished the dessert plate, the waiter asked, "Would you like some additional dessert to finish off that chocolate?" Was he serious?? He was. I actually had to leave cheesecake on the table because I was so stuffed. Pure heaven.

And that was our week, blessed with friends, faith and lots of fun. I hope yours was blessed as well.