On this December Monday, I'm taking a few minutes to join Sandra for this link party over at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.
The Weather:::
It's 25º and cloudy, with fine snow flurries in the air, at 8:20 am. Snow was not in the forecast, but it appears to be sticking to the ground ... which may impact my plans to walk later on.
As I look outside my window:::
Snow-covered ground, leafless trees, an icy driveway. Snow flurries in a cloudy sky.
Right now I am:::
Working
on a blog post.
Thinking and pondering:::
About
many things, including a few gifts I still need to figure out.
As I am reading Glad and Golden Hours, I of course started at the beginning, so I am late when it comes to Advent preparations. More about that later, but one thing I am pondering is that, if the Lord tarries, next year I will do better. In addition to wise spiritual counsel, Lanier Ivester offers much practical wisdom, and here is some of what spoke to me:
"November is the time I like to start thinking about which Advent devotional I'd like to use that year. [Me, too.] It is also when I begin to make space in my calendar for a few simple household tasks which will facilitate easy hospitality in the weeks to come, like cleaning out the back hall coat closet and taking stock of my candle supply. I always organize and scrub the larder shelves before Thanksgiving in advance of all the extra ingredients ..." She adds that she clears the freezer of freezer-burned vegetables and ham bones and the like, "to clear the way for cookies and cakes, casseroles, bags of pecans, and pans of cinnamon rolls."
Now I have done some of this. But we did not remove the frozen turkeys we've had in the freezer much longer than we should have, and I did not "organize and scrub the larder shelves", all of which would have simplified my life greatly as we began the holiday baking and even now as we are fully into it.
On my bedside table:::
A lamp, 2 books a mint, and a pen
Listening to:::
Literally, silence.
On the Breakfast plate:::
I
do intermittent fasting so don't have breakfast. Lunch will be a salad
of leaf lettuce, cubed ham, and provolone.
On the dinner plate:::
Planning to cook a pork roast in the crock pot.
On the menu for this week:::
A few meals on my menu plan:
Hamburgers, roasted Brussels sprouts
Chicken divan
Taco pie, green beans
On my reading pile:::
On my to do list today:::
Spend time cross stitching
Write some Christmas cards
Bake a coffeecake and make some granola for a friend who's having loads of family for Christmas
Maybe bake some cookies
Switch out some of our regular artwork for Christmas pictures
Wrap some gifts
Work on some Etsy listings
Crochet a square for my temperature blanket
Add a completed row to temperature blanket
 |
The Cranberry Coffeecake I'm planning to bake
|
Ironing
Take a bag to the thrift store
Blogging
Start a pillow quilt
Christmas cards
Baking and candy making
Wrapping gifts
What I am creating:::
⛄ Winter cross-stitch projects⛄ Need to start a pillow quilt
⛄ A granny square temperature blanket
This photo was from back in April, about 3 months into the project, but it gives you an idea:
Bible verse, Devotional, Quote:::
Another quote from Glad & Golden Hours. Lanier Ivester urges that we "prepare not only our hearts, but our homes, offering clean rooms and a stocked larder alongside a newly swept conscience and gleaming motives." She writes:
"This is no time to compare our 'best' with someone else's, or to start making frantic lists; this is the time to pause and reflect upon how we might actually welcome Jesus into our lives and our celebrations, and how we can welcome others in His name ... Above all, how are we going to protect that 'better part' (Luke 10:42) of an attentive, listening heart in the midst of our planning and preparations?"
On my prayer list:::
Friends & family
Church family
Missionaries
Our country
And there's the Happy Homemaker Monday for this week!
