Making a list...

Well hello there!!! Did you wonder if I'd ever be back?! It feels like forever since my last post! Yet somehow the time has just flown by. I truly hope that all of you had a blessed Thanksgiving and were able to spend lots time in the company of your loved ones! I ate my way through the weekend and did in fact spend lots of time with my family. My sister was in town from Minnesota, so all 4 of us sisters "hung out together" quite a bit...playing the usual games and going to the movies (loved The Blind Side). My daughter and I were even able to spend a little one-on-one time together doing some mother/daughter Christmas shopping...

I'm pretty much exhausted, but all-in-all it was a really wonderful holiday week :)

{farmhousewares.com}

I haven't had even a minute's free time to take pictures for you, so for today's post, I have gathered up some pictures of the things on my Christmas list...now mind you, I am one of those that receives complete joy in giving gifts...but since my family is always asking what they should get for me, I figure I should at least point them in the right direction!

{potterybarn.com}

{ etsy: paperhill}

{anthropologie.com}

{etsy: a bushel and a peck}

I'd like to leave you with a thought on gifts at Christmas time and the true meaning of the season...

At the preschool my children attend, there is always a celebration just before everyone breaks for Christmas, and they call it Jesus' Birthday Party...every year the priest gives the same "speech" to the children...and it always puts a smile on my face...

He explains to the children that Jesus loves them sooooooo much, that He wants them to receive gifts on His birthday, and that is why they receive presents Christmas morning! For some reason, this always sends the kids into fits of giggles, but at the same time, you can just see the light bulb go off inside their sweet little heads...I've always thought it's such a wonderful way of teaching young children about Jesus' love...

{first image: wisteria.com}

Tracey