He gave all he had - The John Tanner Story

I am amazed that I can call John Tanner kin... he would be my great great great great grandfather. This short movie highlights some of the most significant details of his life.

(For some reason I cannot embed this particular video.  You can watch it here.)

He is the epitome of love

Merry Christmas!  Take a moment and watch this sweet video about our Savior, whose birth we celebrate today.  I love these accounts of how He can change us and how his love is light that cuts through the thickest darkness.

My husband spoke in church last Sunday and focused his message on the miracle of the change of heart that only Jesus Christ can facilitate.  He pointed out that the concept of change is a theme that we seem to focus on at Christmastime, whether consciously or not.  Think about a few Christmas movies and can you see how a change of heart is very often the theme?

I am grateful for his birth, his life and his love.

I hope you have a wonderful day!
-Stacey

The one thing I want

Funny how our wants change over time.  Our changeableness is beautiful to me.  Sometimes its painful of course but ultimately it proves that we are not necessarily destined to be anything but that which we choose to be.  I like that.

For example.  When I was little all I ever wanted seemed to arrive on Christmas morning.  Barbies, new clothes, My Little Ponies, and a banana seat bike.

I love the memories but oh how my wants have changed.  My boys keep asking me what I want for Christmas and they are bummed that they get the same, seemingly boring answer time and again.

I want to see them smile.  Can words express how much I love being a mom?  

What one thing do you want above all this year?  From the gut, first answer that pops into your head.  Please share! 

Christmas Tree Inspiration - 2010

I fell in love with this Anthropologie window display and thought that it would be fun to try and recreate it on a Christmas tree.

Well, it was fun and I do like my tree but I reaaaaally wish I had been able to find some of those orangey bulbs.  The closest I got was a peach/pink color.  Let me know if you ever see them anywhere!  I tried to get plenty of white bulbs but I thought I needed more so I brought in a strand of white bulb lights that I had.  I like how it looks personally.

The other challenge was to find those honeycomb paper balls.  They are all over the net but not the right color or size.  And they were surprisingly pricey too.  I found a three pack of white wedding bells at the dollar store and simply cut them before opening them up.  I was unable to make them into circles but the oval shape kinda grew on me.

The boys helped me to make "groupings" where they combined random colors and shaped of bulbs with several strands of ribbon that I had on hand.  Each grouping shared one hook.  The paper garland was easy of course and I only used around 12 sheets of paper.

{yay toy camera effect}

On to something totally different next year!

Pile of Life

Hello.

I am writing this from underneath a giant pile of faux Christmas tree branches, boxes of ornaments, baby food containers, messy crockpots, unfolded laundry and four sleeping children to report that I am alive and well and that I found a bag of chocolate chips in here, so no need to worry.

I do have my cell phone and I am intermittently placing calls with a very placid and calm voice, reassuring various committee counterparts that things are clipping along and getting accomplished.  I am very aware that my greatest skill may not be to oversee committees but rather my ability to KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON in spite of it all.

Highlights of my day:

• -Witnessing a rather intense 3-boy verbal battle about who "did it."
• -Reading The Friend magazine to my kids and enjoying a sweet Christmas story, but not before we played a "make up your own caption to this picture" game.  (ie: "Dad, why is there a giant dialogue bubble coming out of your mouth?  Ack, its happening to me too!)   Try it.  Its fun!
• -Watching baby Oliver beg for more sweet potato puffs by clapping his hands together and chanting, "mo mo mo mo mo mo."
• -Jared home from work.  Always my fave.

Yeah there were more but its hard typing with one finger from under this here pile.