Christmas Eve 2012...

This year Christmas has come and (almost) gone with breath-taking speed. I'm not certain if this is due to our general lack of organization and time management, or because we are less and less focused on "things", here at the O/W Homestead.
For the last couple of weeks or so, I've been busy working on finding and acquiring household and foodstuff for a friend of mine who has been in the process of moving out of the "transitional housing" apartment and into her Very Own Place. It's been exciting for me, as I've been gathering resources for just such an occasion for many years; a favorite untapped one is a lady I befriended a few years back when we were involved in a group seeking to help out local homeless youth. Miss B is a charming lady, probably not much older than myself, who has an eye for "potential". This includes cast-off items from the local auction house, thrift stores, and possibly even more-so: people. I've been wanting to get a look into Miss B's OVER-stuffed garage since I first discovered her "collection" of "treasures". (Ok, she's a pre-recovering Hoarder, and I can tell you that it's probably my VERY favorite kind!) Given the time and a place, I'm quite sure that Miss B & I could easily do a lot of excellent up-cycling of various kinds of furniture & misc. house wares. She's mentioned doing something like that before, but I'm afraid it's probably just her wishful thinking.
At any rate, yesterday I went to "Christmas Dinner" with Mom, my brother & his family, along with my 2 darling boys. The Big Guy was working, so it wasn't a complete family gathering. His company was sorely missed. My little niece who has been quite taken with the Big Guy, from the first time they met, seemed to be getting by, when she immediately requested my older son to sit by her. She's adorable, and my guys have pretty much always had that effect on girls. My younger son sat with his nearly-twin-aged cousin and they talked about video games for the most part.
We went to a very nice Chinese restaurant and everyone ate their fill. I got an extra big helping to take home for my Sweety, so everyone was extra blessed. Mom said this was her gift to us all, and I gotta say, we were all sorely blessed.
I went to a meeting this evening. The topic was Resentments, but it kinda ended up being more about Boundaries. I suggested a friend check out an Al-anon meeting after he shared about family members and the chaos they'd brung into his home...Thank God I've been willing to get peace of mind, whether it comes from people who are addicts, alkies, or just happened to be the ones who got crazy as a result of them. Ultimately it's the same 12 steps, and I'm grateful to have learned more than one way to apply them to my life.
My Love has finally come home from another 13-hour day, so I'll close now.
I hope that your Christmas is a good one, filled with the Spirit that brought us life. Jesus came to give us life, and that more abundantly. truly, in all of my experiences, I've never felt more alive than since I determined to build my life on the Solid Rock.
Here are some tunes I love, this and any time of the year:

Happy Thursday!

Greetings, fellow Wanderers, Seekers, and occasional Dancers! I've gotta tell you, this week has been fraught with good stuff.
One good thing was that I heard God telling me something as I was telling my sweet hubby something entirely different. It was painful to accept, but the gist was that I need to let go of some "dreams" I've been holding onto for SO long. The lesson was, I'm hoping and trusting, that as I let go of the dream, God will fill the empty hand with something FAR better-something of HIS choosing (-which always turns out better, anyway) I won't be surprised if there are other dreams of my own creation that I need to release, but the one that I was confronted with the other day was a good step, I think.
Another good GOOD thing, is that I seem to have somehow gotten past (translation: DELIVERED FROM) the serious resentments I've held onto towards my ex-husband for SO so long. Somehow, that in itself could have a part to play in some other great developments in our little home. I'll just say that there is a new element to the relationship between the Big Guy and the Little One, which has been delightful for all involved.  :) And it's not even Christmas, yet!!
Meanwhile, in the rest of the world, the onslaught of fleas has not yet been conquered. I've tried everything I think short of bombing the apartment and getting the cats to a vet to be flea-dipped. That's likely to take a large chunk out of the (SMALL) Christmas funds, but it's all I want for a present at this point. Poor little critters are all ate up and they are just miserable. God, HELP!!
Take it easy, kids. Let's meet at a meeting soon, k? : )  

Family & Food

Ahhhh. We had a FEAST for dinner. Mostly finger-food-type stuff, but it was all really good. I know we were all very happily stuffed when it was over. Here's a little look @ what we had...

What a spread!

The drive up was easy-peasy; practically no traffic! The weather was fine, and other than my rear getting a bit numb from sitting for so long, it was a lovely morning! Here's what we had for dessert:

Fruit Pizza! (Yummy Yummy!)

(Every time I think "Fruit Pizza" It sounds like the Wiggles singing "Fruit Salad". Wow. I hate them.) LOL But I do love my Mother-in-law's cooking!!
I've been quite content this Christmas season with not getting much interest in the gifting-buying-selling-chaos. In all honesty, though, my consumerism-downfall is eating. I seriously want to cut down on the food intake. It just feels better to be a lower weight for me.
I hope you're all settling down with a full-ish belly, spending time with family or those you love...
Just for Today, I'm grateful.