Friday after Thanksgiving marks the weekend tradition of putting up the decorations for the next holiday.  And each year it's the same ritual - the kid's tree gets decorated while I make homemade hot cocoa and cookies.  When the last of the ornaments have been arranged and Honey places the topper where it belongs, the cocoa makes it's entrance, room lights dimmed, christmas carols in the background, and the tree becomes charged.  And all in one accord, drowning out the tunes being played, we all OOOOO and AAAHHHH over the same lights that were lit the year before.  And we sit, happily, as a family, sipping the hot cocoa with miniature marshmallows - reminiscing - and being thankful.

For the first time since we've been on the move ~ I'm able to put up the "mommy tree".  A tree that sits in the living room area that is decorated [like I want].  You know, the kind of tree that doesn't look like the Charlie Brown christmas tree :o)  However, don't get the idea that I don't want a Charlie Brown christmas tree in our house - or that it won't be missed in years to come!  It just means that for right now, we have two trees in our house and I love it!   

The kid's tree in our house, however, tells so many stories!  Each year since the girls have been born (and other off the wall events) we've bought a hallmark type ornament that they get on christmas eve.  When the girls leave our home and journey on to their own - they will each journey on with their own box of ornaments to start their own tree. 

And those other various ornaments (i.e. - the RV ornament to signify the year we spent living in ours and the "first christmas together" picture frame ornament for Honey and I [from more than ten years ago] that just, last year, finally got OUR picture in it.  Before that it had the stock photo in it of the two models ~ and hung on the tree that way :o) 

And it's tradition - each year the girls and I go out for the post christmas sales and each of them gets to pick out one more (frugal) decoration from those sale aisles to put on the tree the following year.  From garland with stars to gumdrop strands their tree is becoming more and more overloaded.  And each year as I hand them ornaments to put on they tell the same stories, sing the same songs, laugh about the same instances that each ornament triggers.  And it makes my heart happy, each year listening to those same stories, same songs, and same laughter.  Oh what the walls of our home could tell :o)

And it's by this tree, each year, no matter where we are, that the santa plate and cup sits.  Ladybug has never believed in santa - we just never started that with her, but our oldest, Ladybird, believed for quite some time - and each year she painstakingly left out goodies accordingly.  The cold buttered carrots left for Rudolph - after all he needed his strength too - to pull that heavy sleigh :o)  I think the dog got the carrots that year (ssshhh!)

In recent years, I find myself enjoying decorating for winter rather than christmas itself.  I love to use things I can find (for free if possible).  Below - a bucket from a job Honey just finished that was getting thrown away, sticks that needed picked up from the yard, and a peppermint candle from a garage sale "free" box.

And for each year another memory is made and each christmas is one less that I will be able to share with my blessed little family again - so I hold tight to these memories and savor the essence they bring forth from my heart - that of pure Joy.  Just as faith, memories too are built one upon the other...

"...precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little..."  Isaiah 28:10

Favorite Hot Cocoa (found on Hershey's Cocoa)

• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/4 c. cocoa
• dash salt
• 1/3 c. hot water
• 4 c. milk
• 3/4 tsp. vanilla extract

1)  Mix sugar, cocoa and salt in saucepan; stir in water.  2) Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture boils; boil and stir 2 minutes.  3) Stir in milk and heat.  DO NOT BOIL.  4) Remove from heat; add vanilla.

♥l.ann

As of lately, trusting and knowing God will provide has been something that I have really had to put all my effort in.  Scripture says "faith is by hearing, hearing by the word of God" ~ so I've kept telling myself God will provide, God will provide [over and over and over].  Just like anything else, I'm at the point that I've heard it so much that I believe it.

Honey being out of a job has really been stretching for the faith, but understanding how faith in such an awesome God works has been the saving grace!  I have, over the past two weeks, watched mountains move!  From being no earnings coming into the house all the way to there being an abundance.

Honey put flyers out around the neighborhood ~ advertising that he can do just about anything that needs to be done.  So over the past couple of weeks calls have trickled in - here and there - but this past week is where the rubber has met the road.  He has been so busy - mowing yards, cleaning yards, weed-wacking dog kennels, fixing leaky faucets, updating antiviruses on computers, etc....with more work to keep him busy the next little while.  But one job in particular, God decided to really showoff.

A railing needed to be built for Mr. Neighbor.  It was such and easy job ~ Honey didn't even know how much to charge ~ so he prayed about it (leaving in the Lord's hands) and told Mr. Neighbor he would leave it up to him to decide what the job was worth to him.  It took about two hours, but Honey built the railing to the satisfaction of the man and was given an envelope with his payment in it.  Figuring there would be fifty dollars (or so), he opened the envelope to find a stack of twenty dollar bills in the sum of tHrEe HuNdrEd DoLLaRs!  With tears in his eyes and wet cheeks, he came in to me asking what he should do?  It was a blessing, no doubt, but he didn't feel right keeping such a payment for such a small job.  We prayed together and walked over to Mr. Neighbor's house, knocked on his door, and asked to speak with him for a moment (he had family there).  Mr. Neighbor inquired if there was anything wrong (i.e. - that wasn't enough payment for the job).  When Honey started speaking of his concern for the amount included in the envelope, Mr. Neighbor cut him off and said "listen here, the contract between you and I was that I would pay you what I thought the work you did was worth, you provided a service and filled a need that could not have been filled otherwise so quickly - I held only to MY end of our contract, now it's your turn."  Daniel shook Mr. Neighbor's hand, including a very masculine hug.  Mr. Neighbor doesn't realize the magnitude of provision he met that day, but God knew all along what was needed.  The Lord works in such mysterious, unexpected, and wonderful ways ~ always keeping His children on their toes :o)

There have been so many other numerous occasions that God left behind His fingerprint

• Scrap metal trailer coming by just in time to pick up a (HUGE) engine hoist that Honey didn't know HOW he was going to move himself
• Honey needing a ladder for a job, but not having the capital to get one right away ~ and one being provided through another job that was just being thrown away
• Same thing as above but a wheelbarrow
• A free place to take the mesquite to burn
• The girls getting the coolest riding toy FREE (you must go look at it)

This has been a learning experience for me.  I have not, yet, arrived, but line upon line, precept upon precept ~ He is teaching me what it is to lean on Him for those things that I think I'm in control of  :o)

Anyhow, all of this sharing to encourage you in the fact that God is good...all the time.  He takes care of us and if we allow Him the opportunity to [visibly] work in our lives, He will (does).  I know for me so many times I feel that I have to do it.  It's my obligation.  But the truth is, if I had just left the situation alone and allowed God, in His own due time ~ the situation would have turned out so much better.  He doesn't want us to worry.  He doesn't always want us to move our own had to do something, but trust in Him - wait on Him.  And something I'm learning out of this whole situation is that, although it seems as though God's timing is always not "in time", His timing is always precise. 

I am so thankful this holiday season.  Blessings to you and yours!

Happy Thanksgiving!

♥l.ann