It's Here!

 

 

 

Are your Christmas letters written?

(mine aren't either)

 

Have you gotten your tree put up?

 

(the one upstairs just barely got put up. the one J &I decorate is a year round tree, so it was already up. Just re-located and love added. )

 

Did you make a Norwegian Advant Calendar?

 

 

 

 

 

Me neither.

 

I have wanted Jaden to hang one of the Birch branches on the wall, fill lunch bags with small items as gifts strung with baker's twine and hung from the white Yul Log.

And have it look as pinteristy as possible.

 

Didn't happen.

 

 

 

The lunch bags did and we did the countdown. But it was when we remembered and

even then, J. just had to take it out of my gift wrapping box that holds, well, things to be wrapped for friends and neighbors and gifts not put under the tree yet.

 

Who knows!

 

He may have gotten to school and sat down to eat a small badge that said:

 

FORTITUDE.

 

 

 

This came from Best Made Co. and I had to have him look up the meaning in the dictionary along with the word "Advent" cause both eluded him when I asked if he knew what they meant.

 

 

 

For some reason it always means more to look at what a word means in a dictionary.

That was how it was when we mulled over the word and patch,

"fortitude."

 

It means

 

Courage in Pain or Adversity.

 

 

 

(The humble tree J. and I spruce up every once in awhile. Do you like how the ornaments from the Birch tree turned out? And the poor Cardinal is in pain because he lost his beak. oh, well.)

 

The stars from Kurt Knudsen's shop have been fun to pick out for gifts and to hang around our Christmas decor. Which was kept way simple this year.

 

With the exception of the wreaths that I started back around Thanksgiving!

 

So my point is; I am still not ready for reasons why I have needed fortitude.

 

 And as we near the day I want to hunker down and do crafts. Like pom -poms and snowflakes for the front window; which I have tried to bribe J. and his pals to help me do. There has been no hunkering in this regard, Readers!

 

We are still in: "School is out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yaayyyy hooooo!!!!!"

mode.

 

Just wait- J. will come to me bored to death from playing a video game and ask me to make tons of pom poms or elaborate origami.

 

This week I actually wish I could read small stories each day and about the Savior's birth leading up to Thursday.

 

 

That would bring me joy!

 

I am somewhat content to write letters to friends and family. Very grateful that we managaed to get a family picture taken. THAT was a miracle in and of itself.

 

 

There was a lot I wanted to do and am sad to not be able to do. LIke make a lovely mantel and coinciding book cases. Half way there. Not totally like the picture I had in my "scraps"

 of ideas. But they come close and I think we have a cozy ambiance in which to watch our Christmas movies, learn to cut paper like the Germans who make amazing things out of paper with exacto knives. And maybe even learn how to make a shirt blanket.

 

 

I need to put in a plug here about the lights that I found at Target. I put them on the opposite side of the room because they are a cool white light and my original decor is warm white.

These lights are the best! They are darling. They were the only ones at Target and the brand is Holiday Time Random Twinkle Cool White LED Icicle Lights.

 

They got a bad review on Amazon but I have loved them around my little "Frozen" end of the basement.

And coupled them with some blue lights wrapped around our Birch Branches.

(Yeh, I know nothing really coincides with each other in the room but the whole point of it is something fun to look at and hopefully the grandkids have some good memories.)