Saturday, November 23, 2013

It's beginning to feel like Christmas

Christmas music officially came on our local radio yesterday. I turned on my radio when I went to bed last night , and woke up to Christmas music in the morning because I forgot to turn my radio off! Today I sat a small Christmas tree on my night stand. I know it's early, but I love this time of the year!

 
I'm beginning to get the warm feeling of Christmas filling my spirit.
 
Mom, Britney and I decided to go Christmas shopping today.
I now have gifts for:
Mom: 4
Britney 2
Dad: 2
Mandie: 0
And about $50 left to spend.
I think I'm off to a good start- though not all that I got is from today. (=
 
Also, instead of tithing to my church this year, I decided to donate to a organization for Christmas.
The last two years I've done Operation Christmas Child.
This year I decided to do Toys for Tots:

 
I think these will make three little girls very happy. Don't  you think?
It worked out perfectly too! I only had so much money to spend, and my total was 50 cents under the amount I had in my tithing envelope! It was absolutely perfect.
 
I also gave some change to a Salvation Amy bucket in the mall.
The bellringer nodded at me and said "Thank you, Happy Holidays!"
I looked up at her and said with a smile, "Merry Christmas to you!"
Realizing that she wasn't going to offend me, she said Merry Christmas in return.
 
I understand the whole Happy Holiday thing...but to me, when someone wishes me a Happy Holiday,  it just puts a damp towel on the whole meaning of Christmas. To spread Cheer.
I hope not to offend anyone when I do this, but I say Merry Christmas whenever I can when December finally rolls around.
Just saying the words puts a happy skip in my heart.
 
And guess what!
We had snow flurries today!
There wasn't enough to lay a thin coat on the ground, but it was still beautiful to watch the snow flakes beautiful descent from the sky.
 
With the warmth of the crackling fire coming up through the vent in the living room, I moved towards our large upstairs window. Feeling the warmth under my feet as I stood right above the vent, I opened the window curtain and found myself gazing at the stars. It was such a clear night that I couldn't resist climbing into the window and taking in the pure amazement of it all, of God's magnificent creation, and just being quiet for a while.
 
Then I started to think about people that are just so wrapped up in themselves and the modern world that they can't let themselves be amazed for a moment about how amazing the world is.
How a tree can grow from just a seed. How a star thousands of miles away can still shine bright enough to make a bright impression in our evening sky.
 
Which reminds me! Just the other night in Virginia there was a  rocket launch.
In precisely 10 seconds after it took off the rocket came into view.
I watched it go up, up, up, until the rocket was gone, immersed in the clouds above where my eye could no longer follow.
It was so much fun to watch!
I really hope to watch a meteor shower one day...I still haven't gotten around to that yet.
 
 
I just finished reading "The Curse of the Spider King" today by Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper.
I still can't really decide whether  I like this series or not.
Some parts of the book are questionable and more haunting than I appreciate.
But yet, I still want to see how the story wraps up.
 
 
Until next time!
 
-Stephanie
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

1 comment:

  1. Ya got that right! (your post title) ^_^!

    Ahh I love those moments of quiet and solitude. There was one night recently where I needed a breath of fresh air, so I stepped outside onto our front porch and just sat on the bench, listening to the silence. It was pretty cold out, but I didn't even think about that.

    I think I'll get up before everyone else on Christmas morning and watch the sun rise (if we don't have a *hopeful* snowstorm!). Of course, our wood floors are paaaainfully creaky, especially early in the morning when you're trying to be quiet and every little noise sounds like an earthquake.

    Lovely post!

    I understand about the whole 'happy holidays' thingy. Did you know that if you work at a certain store, they won't let you say 'merry Christmas'? They're afraid to offend customers that might be...offended. Pretty silly, but I guess that makes sense.

    Keep posting!

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