J & A: December 2013

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Grinch

These past few days have been a mad dash to the finish.

Making our to do lists and checking them twice and then twice again (:

We are oh so ready to get on the road and begin our holiday!

To be honest, I haven't been going through these days graciously.

Some gift ideas were a disaster and I had to go back to the drawing board

and some things got changed last minute and we were scrambling to acclimate.

My winter wonderland was falling apart and I was not happy about :P

We strive to remember why we are doing what we're doing during

this season and only allow on our to do list that which falls within

the vision of loving each other and those around us well.

But due to things decided for us we had things on our to do list

and things added to our life that added pressure and some stress

and I think I may have become the very woman I didn't want to be during this time.

I was uptight, stressed, short and curt to husband,

and definitely NOT handling anything with grace.

I let the "list" rules my days instead and decide how well I was doing instead of remembering

that Christ and Christ only decides my worth

Oy vey.

Gratefully both Christ and my husband love me very very much and are incredibly gracious,

so we laugh at the past few days and move forward with a lesson learned.

But who are we kidding,

I'll probably have to RElearn it again next year :P

(please tell me I'm not the only one who does this???)

So Merry Christmas season,

I pray that you are able to remember better than I

what this season is about and that your to lists are not controlling monsters.

xoxo,

lyss

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Winter Wonderland

This has been the perfect Christmas season.

The snow, oh the snow! It has been just magical.

The other day I was out with my little man

and it started just pouring snow.

So we made our way to our park that has the biggest field

and just danced and ran and played in it.

And had an epic snowball fight of course (;

You would think we would have had enough of it by now,

I mean its been snowing off and on for a few weeks now,

but we're still enchanted by it (:

Our days lately have been full with preparation for our Christmas roadtrip,

listening to NPR, going to all sorts of fun things with friends,

and drinking lots and lots of tea and spiced orange juice.

It has been marvelous, just marvelous.

I am cherishing these days and hiding these times away in my heart

to pull out and reminisce in the years to come.

As I sit here and make a playlist for our roadtrip

(any recommendations?? we have 17 hours to fill :P)

our home is so full of warmth and christmasy with lights everywhere

and preparation tucked in every corner.

Present to be wrapped, clothes to be packed, to-do lists to be finished,

and it is such a beautiful thing.

Happy Christmas season dear friends,

I hope that your days are likewise full of joys and unexpected loving!

xoxo,

lyss

Monday, December 16, 2013

Snow Day

Friday night it started snowing and it just kept going until Saturday evening.

So Saturday afternoon after we had had our fill of making advent

calendars (we are SO stretching out the 'better late than never' mindset....)

we all bundled up and went out to make a snow man.

You can't see from the pictures, but there was quite a progression

of snowmen. We started with a kind of t-rex shape, then molded it into a strong

resemblance of a cat shape, and ended on the classic round man you see here (:

After we created our little man (and took a million pictures ;))

we went on a walk to where husband preceded to pick

me up and throw me in a snow drift.

I'm pretty sure the neighbors think we're crazy.

Sheesh, I think we're crazy :P

Happy Monday!

xoxo,

lyss

P.S. one week till we leave! Eeeek!

Friday, December 13, 2013

Oh Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree

We went to the Christmas market last Saturday night

with some friends and it was so beautiful and sooooo cold!

Think single digit degrees cold,

seriously cold.

We kept ducking in and out of the mall across the street to

warm up and explore some more.

Then we headed to Macy's to see their Christmas tree

and had a blast trying out this couch and that

while enjoying good friends and good conversations.

We did get a picture of the two of us

(thanks Patience!)

but bloglovin keep turning it sideways?

Whats with that?

Does anyone know how to fix that?

Because we look kind of cute and I vainly want to show off my husband (;

xoxo,

lyss

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Random

Ack! Where did that week go?!

I came down with a monster cold on Sunday

and life just kind of went into survival mode from there.

Wake up, go to work, cough cough, sneeze sneeze, run and play monster,

come home, go to bed. A cup of chamomile tea, rinse and repeat (;

Josh has been deep in the throw of finals

and is allllllmost finished.

He's finishing up his 6th semester now. 6th! Go baby go!

I know I'm becoming a broken record,
but we are so so SO excited to get down to FL for Christmas!
We had a -20 degree wind chill today
and we are so looking forward to that sunny warm
weather while celebrating the ones we love (:

Someone called me "young lady" today and it was
such a sweet nostalgic compliment.

I got a package from my GG today.
I don't think I will ever be too old to squeal over a package from GG.
Although Josh did beat me to opening it....

I found a yellow dress as Salvation Army and recognized the designer
so when I came home I looked it up and it was $288 new last year
going for $4.50 that afternoon at Salvation Army.
I didn't buy it.
Hows that for anti climactic?

Merry Christmas Season friends,
I'm glad you still read my sporadic randomness here.

xoxo,
lyss