Before Christmas Faves

Well today is the last day of a full work week until after the new year!  Our school district is open on Monday and Tuesday and then we are off from Xmas Eve until January 4th and I am totally looking forward to that!  

For now, I'm sharing 5 blessings from the week and joining up with other bloggers who like to do the same.  We link up at Susanne's so head on over to join in!

FIVE FAVES

• MOVIE NIGHT!  I love that my almost 16 (on Sunday!!) daughter still wants to do our seasonal tradition of curling up on the family room couch together, popping popcorn, drinking hot cocoa, and watching Christmas movies.  We begin on the Saturday or Sunday evening after Thanksgiving and do one movie each weekend until Christmas Eve when we all watch White Christmas. This tradition started when the girls were little and we watched the children's classics like "Little Drummer Boy", "Rudolph", and "Charlie Brown Christmas". As they got older we started watching other Christmas movies and as a family, we've been collecting classic movies such as "Miracle on 34th Street", "White Christmas", etc. This one, pictured above, was a gift to my husband last year.  We hadn't seen it yet! Claire and I kept the tradition going once Courtney went off to college but we save certain movies for when she is home for the holidays. This movie we saw Saturday evening was one we thoroughly enjoyed although it was a little sad in places.  It's based on a true story, too!  I love that we have this movie night tradition.

photo courtesy of Whistling Kettle website

• MOMS ANNUAL TEA!  This is becoming an annual fave.  The small group of moms that I lead love doing social events, so a couple of years ago we decided to do an annual Christmas Tea.  This past Saturday, we had it at a new establishment (pictured above) in the city across the Hudson  River from us. 5 out of the 7 of us were able to attend and we had a really good time!  The food was amazing and the service impeccable! I had a cup of Roasted Red Pepper soup and a sweet crepe of banana and Nutella.It was too big...I could only eat about 1/3 of it!  The tea was soothing to my throat as the waiter recommended a throat care tea due to my sore throat I was battling. Despite not feeling all that well, I ended up having a marvelous time with my sisters-in-Christ.  That's always a fave!

• REST.  I took a sick day Tuesday. Yes.  An actual sick day. I have MANY sick days accumulated as I'm rarely ill and my throat was just so sore and I felt a bit feverish so I called in and rested most of the day.  My throat was being soothed by Throat Coat tea and my soul was being soothed by just reading for pleasure and reading the Word of God.  I had started an Advent devotional on my iPad Bible app and I just loved the alone time in the stillness of the house.  I really needed that day!  In the afternoon I felt a bit better so I did some light housework and wrapped the rest of the Christmas  gifts. I am now all caught up and the throat pain  has eased up and I'm just dealing with a cold at this point.

• SAFELY HOME!  Yesterday while I was pulling into the garage after work, Courtney was pulling into the driveway from college!  She left Boston around noon and made it home in very good time and thankfully with good weather and no incidents.  She's a bit shocked at our gas prices ($2.89 a gallon) as she pays about $2.49 on the north shore.  But she won't need to do much driving now that she's home for the holidays.  It is just so good to have her here!!

• POSITIVE PRAYER ANSWER!  I have been praying for Courtney and her next semester internship in Graphic Design, on and off, for several months now.  And earlier this week, she texted me saying she had had a successful interview with the Return Design Agency on the campus.  You can see what this is all about by clicking here.  AND...they accepted her!!  I'm so excited for her.  She will be doing her entire internship at this agency and won't need to go into Boston every day.  I think she is really going to enjoy this experience.  I had really wanted her to get into this agency as did she and God gave us a "yes"!!  

That's a summary of my week.  We've had very sick kindergartners (yesterday the head teacher of the classroom was out due to his sick toddler so the other assistant and I plus a support staff teacher ran the classroom and we ended up having 3 kids out plus sent 3 home sick!  Hopefully over this weekend, the children will get well and we can enjoy the Christmas festivities planned at school for Monday and Tuesday.  

Whatever your weekend brings you.....most likely last minute preparations for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day......I hope you  take some time to reflect on the Reason for the season!

God bless!!