It seems like the days just get busier and busier as we get closer to the holidays – but that’s OK!  That is part of the hustle and bustle.  That, and 14 phone calls tonight from my brother regarding various Christmas present purchases that he is working on making.  Love it!

joy #50:

This is our nativity set.  I love our nativity set.  My mom gave it to us when we were first married and for our first three Christmases, it was the only Christmas decoration that we could fit into our small apartments.  I love it because of its sentimental value, but I also love it because of the story that it represents.  I love that it represents one brief moment of time where all of the people involved knew they were on the cusp of something important, but none of them could really imagine how it would all turn out.

joy #51:

I love this video.  It makes me smile and cry.  Holy hormones, Batman.

joy #52:

Tonight we received some sad news that a friend’s dad passed away.  In the era of the social media frenzy, her Facebook page was instantaneously bombarded with friends and family members consoling her, offering their sympathies and asking if they could do anything.  One friend wrote, “I am carrying you in my heart.”  I thought it was the most perfect way to express friendship in a time of trial because all too often, as a friend reaching out to another, it does feel like our friends are in our hearts.  And what a beautiful picture that creates – all of us carrying our family and our friends in our hearts, wherever we go.  That is such precious cargo!

joy #53:

Imagine a picture of something that says

“30 degrees fahrenheit”

right HERE.

I’ll try to find something that says that.  But I can’t right now and it’s super late and I NEED to go to bed.  I want to say, though, that today it was 30 degrees Fahrenheit and it was AMAZING.  I felt like I was in a sauna.