Revolving Door

I should be cleaning my kitchen, which includes sweeping under Nate's seat. I have already cleaned the kitchen once today, which included sweeping it in its entirety. However, to spice it up, tonight I will add mopping to the mix. Agh. Repeat outloud: I am thankful for a home to clean, food to cook and a family after whom to clean.

Chip just told me that he would mop!!!

Atti-two-de

I have been meaning to post this for a while. I had to now since Nate was screaming at me for an orange. He will ask nicely once, maybe, and then it turns into an all out scream-fest until he gets the object of his desire. I try not to give in but you know sometimes I just want to stop the screaming at all costs. When you tell him to say please he says No! We were having a staring contest earlier today seeing who would cave first. Suddenly he broke into a smile. Each day he is creeping closer and closer to TWO. I think I may get to experience my first bought with the terrible twos. Hold me Lord!

Simple and Sweet

We chose to eliminate Santa from our Christmas tradition. Early in the holiday season Streed said something about Santa. I simply said, "what if he doesn't come to our house this year?" He asked why and I just said "Lets just get presents from those that love us and Celebrate Jesus rather than focusing on gifts." It should not have been a big deal. We really never spoke of Santa much and they only got one thing "from him" last year anyway. It was fine until about two days till Christmas. Before bed, in his extremely tired state, Streed was crying because Santa was not coming. Probably because everywhere you go people ask what Santa is bringing you. It is awkward for a 5 year old to say "He's not coming to our house." It was awkward for me to have to explain it after they would say, "Sure he is." Streed was fine once we talked about opening presents in a few days and then by naming everything he got in Mobile the previous weekend.

In December we briefly spoke of the real St. Nick. Next year we will do a better job with that. We did buy for one Angel Tree child. Maybe next year we can celebrate St. Nick by combining his generosity with our Angel Tree giving. Just a thought. Anyway, we decided to open presents on Christmas Eve morning and focus only on Jesus on Christmas day. We loved it. The kids got a few small gifts from us. So, we opened presents and ate breakfast. We laid low most of day and went to a Christmas Eve service that night and a friend's house after that.

Christmas morning Ella and I were up first. We set up a nativity scene on the kitchen table with candles all around it. Then we went and got Daddy and Streed and told them baby Jesus was born. We all came to the kitchen and read the nativity story and sang some carols. After that Chip and the older kids went outside and saw the new swing set that Chip's parents got them. It was still in the box so they looked forward to playing on it that afternoon. (We would have given it to them Christmas Eve as well but the weather was horrible and it would have been torture to have to hear about it all day.) At 10:30 that morning we went to our church for a brief service. It is by far one of my new favorite traditions. It was sweet being with our church that we love on Christmas morning reading scripture and singing a few hymns. After that we came home and cooked. Chip and the kids and I ate a simple meal: turkey, corn casserole, grammy's peas and rolls. For dessert we had a Jesus cake. We spent the rest of the day watching Chip put together the swing set. A few friends came and ate leftovers that night. Chip and I agree it was our best Christmas thus far.

Grammy's Peas
Le Sueur peas (reserve some juice)
cream cheese
pimentos (for color)
salt and pepper
Heat in a sauce pan, add juice as needed till consistency desired

This is my grammy's recipe. It is a Christmas must for our family.

Jesus Cake
chocolate cake (represents sin)
white icing (purity and the forgiveness of sin)
wrapped in evergreens (representing everlasting life)

makes me smile

Pearl, why don't you get us some of that bologna cake out of the ice box.

thought i would make you smile too

Merry Christmas from The Crooms

awestruck wonder

Shane preached at Grace on Sunday in Mobile. He preached on Matthew 1:18-25. So, the focus was on Jesus as Immanuel (God with Us) and Jesus (Our God Saves). The final song was The Revelation Song. I could not get it together. For me, this song really captures who Jesus is and why we worship Him.

irony

Jesus had no servants,
yet they called Him Master.

Had no degree,
yet they called Him Teacher.

Had no medicines,
yet they called Him Healer.

Had no army,
yet kings feared Him.

He won no military battles,
yet He conquered the world.

He committed no crime,

yet they crucified Him.

He was buried in a tomb,
yet He lives today.

the mall

I worked today from 10-3. It is really the greatest shift. It goes by so quickly and you do not miss much of the kids' day. But, being at the mall is challenging. I never go shopping. This is good because I do not know what I am missing. Jill's mother's mentor years ago said, "Do not go the the mall and you will not want." It is so true. Our counter in itself has lots of tempting products. However, it is also right by the jewelry department. I care nothing about jewelry. I think it is pretty but it is not something I need. But, staring at it as I wait for customers makes it so appealing. It brings to life the truth of the verse about fleeing temptation. If you stare at a forbidden object too long it becomes a desire, and then something that occupies your thoughts and eventually something you will pursue, often at all costs, while disreagarding the consequences. So, as I work next Monday thru Friday, I will be faced with the temptation to buy. I pray I will not only fight it, but also that I will see the things as just that, pretty things.

Bawl Bag

I have been really emotional lately. Not to the point of crying, but probably only because I stop myself. I get choked up on the strangest things. Some of them are not strange but some really are. I noticed it in November when I was giving Streed's teacher a thanksgiving book. She was so excited that I was giving it to her. I love both Streed and Ella's teacher. I don't know what it was but I felt a lump welling in my throat. The other day I was asking Nate if he would stay a baby, if he would just stay a little two year old. I had to quit talking. Earlier this week I was reading the December newsletter for the kids school and for some reason getting choked up. I was reading it out loud to Streed and totally had to stop at the end of the Director's letter when she quoted "Unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord". I know that is a reason to get weepy but the first part of the letter wasn't. Today I went with the 4 year old classes to sing at a nursing home/retirement center. I knew this would be rough. I was fine inside but we started walking outside through the Assisted Living area. A sweet couple came outside and were waving and singing too. I had Streed walk over and give the lady a book mark that he had made at school. She was saying how sweet he was and how thankful she was. I was about to lose it. Thankfully it was freezing and it just looked like the weather was making my eyes water. Immediately I thought about the scene in The Notebook where the mom is reminiscing and starts crying. She gets herself together and says something like, "Well look at me. I am a stupid woman. I am a big bawl bag." This cracked me up.

Winn-Dixie

I am assuming this is a national ad. I went to Winn-Dixie today to get the Buy One Get One items that I needed. They also had an amazing deal that I had to share. Buy a Stouffers Party size Lasagna-- AND Get for FREE a bag of Steamers vegetables, a Pepsi product, Pepperidge Farm Garlic Bread, an Edwards Pecan Pie!!! I know that is a lot of food. But it is great if you want to have people over for dinner and not spend much at all.

I usually go to Winn-Dixie and Albertsons when I get their ad in the mail and see what is Buy One Get One Free. It usually is cheaper than Wal-Mart. Today, just to make sure, I went to Wal-Mart first to check the regular price against the Buy One Get One price. It was cheaper to go to Winn Dixie. So, since I was by myself, I went straight to Winn-Dixie. My total before the sale was $101. Once the cashier keyed in my WD card number my total was $57. I bought only sale items except $1.99 grits. I am not patient enough to figure out all of the other sale websites or bonus bucks etc. So, this form of saving money makes me feel good about my capabilities :)