Week Before Christmas Faves

 It's been such an easier week in many ways as we had NO evening obligations and all of the shopping is done. I'm still waiting for 1 gift for my husband to arrive. All others are here. I had to order his from 2 different companies as I couldn't find them locally. While I'm having my morning coffee, I'm reflecting on this past week and sharing FIVE of the blessings that God brought into my life. Some are small, some are bigger but all are worth thanking God for. 

Join in with us as the blogging community shares the five faves we are thankful for!

FIVE FAVES

• MOVIES:  I'm thankful that the various streaming services we enjoy via our Apple TV had some good movies on this past week. Dave and I had a "in house date night" last Friday evening and it was great fun. We watched the latest Knives Out movie: Wake Up Dead Man and wow!  It was SO well done! Glenn Close is phenomenal in her role! I also enjoyed, while wrapping gifts, a somewhat sappy Christmas movie but it was fun:  A Country Christmas Romance (yes, even the title is sappy) but the fave movie of the week and a somewhat different type of Christmas movie was Man vs. Baby. This just had me laughing out loud all the way through it. There are also some serious aspects to it, too. I highly recommend this one. I also highly recommend the Netflix movie Ripple. I watched the first 4 episodes throughout the weekend and finished the mini series on Tuesday evening. That one was absolutely top notch. I very much recommend it. It's a feel good, sometimes funny, sometime sad but   such a wonderful theme/message for the holidays. It's not a Christmas movie but it's an all around excellent flick. I'm thankful for good movies to watch while doing chores around the house or curling up with hubby in the evening to unwind. 

• CLASS PARTY:  Monday morning had me at the church for the Proverbs class holiday party.  We had 40 people originally signed up for the class with just a little over 20 who made it through the entire class. It was so much fun! Our instructor is really great  and she made a great party for us:  we all brought a dish to share (I baked Cappuccino muffins) and we played silly Xmas games like word scrambles, bingo, and a cross word. I won one of the Bingo rounds and received a $5 gift card to our local ice cream mini market/gas station. We also had one of the church staff members come into the gym  next door to the classroom where we had our class and he took our group photo. I'm so thankful I got out of bed early every Monday morning this past semester and took the Proverbs class. In fact, I'm already planning on signing up for the Winter Semester class which will be based on a book about Job and embracing joy! I'm so thankful our church offers different classes throughout the week, along with Bible studies and small groups. 

our instructor, Joy, is in the front row center, with the short sleeved tan shirt

• XMAS GIFT:  I bought the following parchment calligraphy of our fave song we are singing as a choir for Christmas Eve, put it in a gold frame, and gave it to our young choir director Hannah. It's one of her fave hymns! Hannah is like a 3rd daughter to me, and is in between my own two daughters. In fact, she's a good friend of my oldest daughter and her husband is on the church staff as the Production Manager.  Hannah is a vocal music teacher for one of our 6 public elementary schools here in our district,  and we just love her to pieces. I'm so thankful she loved this Christmas surprise. If you click on the link below, it will take you to You Tube where you can hear the rendition of what we are singing.  We are not doing it in the traditional hymn style but in the version in the video.  We are also doing it a capella and it will be the opening number on Christmas Eve. 

We are singing the Jay Rouse version of this hymn. 

• COFFEE DATE: My sister Joy's birthday was this past Tuesday and I had put together a beach themed gift for her so we met at this fave coffee and pastry shop around 10 AM and spent an hour together chatting, drinking the fantastic lattes and eating a croissant. Joy loved her gift. I did a beach/lake theme because now that she's retired as of August 1st, she was at one of our fave beaches twice a week.  I didn't get a pic of her as she prefers not to do that but she was happy with the gift.  I'm thankful it was a nice morning!

• AWARD!  I finally, after waiting 3.5 months, received the Vagabond Award for completing this challenge!  I began working on the challenge in 2014, the year the book came out, and I finally finished it up this past August with my oldest daughter Courtney. I'm so thankful I got to all 102 villages in the Blue Line of the Adirondacks and that I was able to get the award. I am the 55th person to complete the challenge!  I'm also thankful  to the following people for going with me to some of the towns over the years:  Dave, Courtney, Claire, my friends Cindy R, Ingrid,  Darlene, Cheryl B,  and my sister Hope.

I hope your day is off to a good start and that you enjoy this last weekend before Christmas!  I think tonight we are staying in, enjoying another glass of our fave Riesling and maybe watching another sappy Christmas movie. 

Cheers!!