Our family is in full-on Christmas mode and has been for the past few weeks. We've decked the halls. We've made the cocoa. We've watched a slew of Christmas movies and played the music. We've made holiday crafts clad in festive pj's. We've baked cookies. We've decorated five Christmas trees at three different houses. We are thoroughly enjoying holiday prep with our family and friends! I only wish the Christmas season lasted a wee bit longer!
I LOVE getting e-mails from my readers! Tell me how you and your loved ones are celebrating the season!
Here are just a few photos of ours, thus far:
This tumbler from Aldi was just $6.99! I've not had to put more ice in it for two days! It's festive and effectively functional! Win/win! They also have all of their seasonal German treats as well as outdoor holiday doormats for under $8! I'm just a tiny bit of a Grinch geek so these rugs had me giddy!
This week is Thanksgiving week, here in the U.S., for those of you reading in other countries. One room in our home was decorated for that event. "Was" being the operative word in that sentence, as my darling fella decided it was time to get rid of those decorations, even before we've to celebrate that holiday, to replace it all with Christmas. I've not YET taken photos of the dining room since taking down Fall decor and putting up Christmas. Nevertheless, here is a before photo:
We recently went on our annual visit to Callaway Gardens for their Fantasy in Lights experience. Unlike our holiday visit there last year, the weather was not too bone-chillingly frigid to enjoy the trolley ride this time around. And enjoy it we did, y'all! The music. The lights. The food. The fake snow. Our family had a jolly good time! FYI, their hot cocoa is rich and creamy and the giant soft pretzels are perfection! Each are satisfactory treats for warming your belly after that exuberantly festive trolley ride. If you're able to visit the gardens this season, we highly recommend!
If you go, don't forget to visit the walk-thru portion of the festivities! I've discovered that some folks don't even realize it's there! That's my favorite part! For future reference, the walk begins at the tunnel of lights in front of the beach. Ella and I opted to walk through it a second time and actually had the place completely to ourselves through that walk! We took our precious time going through it, taking advantage of the fact that nobody else was there, ogling at the merriment of it all, in captivated awe!
Here are some photos of our visit to the Fantasy in Lights at Callaway this year:
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I just want to add a little something off topic. I've shared this before, but I am often told, "You look so happy, now!" When I've shared this here, in the past, this notion was misconstrued as disrespect towards my late husband, Darrell.
This screenshot is from a recently shared IG post:
My response sums it up perfectly, y'all! If that upsets you or you feel as though that is saying something negative about my former life, pre-covid, reach out to me so that I can give you my testimony and tell you about how good our God is!
Christmas Day is just TWENTY-EIGHT days away!!! I'm looking forward to filling all twenty-eight days, and a few possible weeks thereafter, slap full of cheerful merriment in celebration of the birth of our Savior! Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you and yours, sweet readers!
