Got It Figured Out!

So, I took the Christmas tree ornament project down from the shelf and got it figured out. My initial "design" was way too complicated for me let alone a 4-year-old. They still need to be embellished with their "ornaments" but take a look... Not bad! They really had a lot of fun stringing the beads in between the tree's "layers". Adam found a skull-shaped bead in the mix and happily exclaimed, "look mommy! I found a pirate bead. I'm going to put this pirate bead at the top of my Christmas tree!" Um, no sweetie. We'll save that "pirate" bead for another project. I finally convinced him that a star would be more appropriate.

On another note, my kids all got letters in the mail from "Santa" this week. They were THRILLED. Santa asked them to remind their mom to leave the "good" cookies and not the "diet" cookies. We have a dear friend who wrote the letters, so he really knows all about the kids and was very detailed about the areas where they've been "naughty and nice" which really floored the kids! Katie was so excited to learn that Santa was going to make our house his first stop this year! Our friend lives in east Orlando, near Christmas, Florida, so He went to the post office there so the letters would be post-marked "Christmas." It was a real treat for the kids and something for the "box o' memories."

The whole Santa thing, I have learned, is unavoidable; and since I've learned to choose my battles in life, I've "allowed" Santa to be a part of Christmas. I am adamant with my kids that Christmas is Jesus' birthday and they each get 3 gifts because the three Wise Men brought Baby Jesus 3 gifts to celebrate Hiss birth. But, how does Santa fit into this? Well, Santa was a very kind old man who wanted to share God's love by giving gifts to little children on Christ's birthday. Yeah! Somethin' like that. I think I'm pretty much done with Christmas shopping except that I need to find something for my dad. He is so hard to shop for. I hate to give gift cards! I want to give everyone something they'll love and they wouldn't get for themselves. Still have 11 days to go. I have to admit, I am more in the Christmas spirit this year than any other year since I've had kids. Although, I still haven't put the ornaments on my tree. I have good intentions to decorate, sing songs, read books, do crafts with the kids, bake cookies, bake and decorate cookies with the kids, etc. etc. etc. But what can I say? Life is out-of-control-all-consuming with just the day-to-day.

The job, AWESOME! The doctor sees about 6 patients a day. I see 9-10 super easy patients. It is so absolutely laid-back compared to my previous job. The assistant and the office manger help in every way possible. I am finally reminded of the definition of TEAM. I could not be more pleased! The doctor and the office manager both say that all of this is "serendipitous" but you and I know that this is God's divine appointment for me.

So, all's well here. I am absolutely going to embellish the tree with ornaments today and hopefully get my Christmas cards ordered - if I can get a picture of these three rascals all looking the same direction and smiling. I have a feeling there'll be some bribery involved...but it's for a good cause.