Holiday Time and serving HIM in all things

Well, here we are in December. Sorry (to those of you who are actually reading my blog!) for the long delay between posts. I think that it was a combination of busyness, forgetfulness, and not much to blog about. Sometimes I'll think during my day, "Wow, this would make a good blog!" (nerdy, I know) and then by the time it comes to blogging, I have forgotten what it was. Ho hum. Well, I will try to do better.

I have been feeling the itch to decorate for Christmas this year more than I ever have before. I think that it's probably because it's the first year that I have my own "home" (outside of college dorms/houses) and a husband who enjoys when I decorate. I have been on the hunt for inexpensive ways to make the house look cheery and have "scored" on various levels:

1.) Daniel's sweet Momma let me "borrow" some things of hers that she doesn't really use much anymore now that her kids are all out of the house. So I got some lights, some ornaments, and a few little Christmasy thingamabobs.
2.) Making ornaments out of old pictures and cardstock/cardboard
3.) Searching google for do-it-yourself ornaments....I made a spiral snowman, but I'm not sure how long he'll last (one of his arms has already fallen off...)
4.) Family Dollar/Dollar Tree ornaments, ribbons, and such. Can't go wrong with $1-$2 a pop!
5.) Walmart $1 stockings and $7.50 tree stand. YES!
6.) Tomorrow we will go and get our jolly little Douglas Fir tree from Home Depot for $16.97

A holly jolly AND frugal Christmas :)

P.S...Does anyone know where I could buy a nice creche/nativity set?

In other news, Daniel and I have been talking about what kinds of traditions we want to establish in our family on holidays. We've come up with an exciting plan for Thanksgiving! We want to do a sort of "advent", starting about 7 days before Thanksgiving day. Each day, we will talk about a characteristic of Christ that we are thankful for (for example, we are thankful for Christ's power, we are thankful for Christ's grace, we are thankful for Christ's sufferings, etc.). We were also thinking of making some kind of board (like a science-fair stand up board) and decorating it more each year. We would have it up on Thanksgiving day to remind us of our Lord and Savior, the One that we are most thankful for. What do you guys think?

Thanks for reading :) I pray that Christ will draw you more to Himself today by the love and grace of His Spirit and that you may be able to grasp how wide and high and deep is His love....(read Ephesians 3!!!)

xxoo