Was it the End of the Season?

Last Thursday I wrote a post wondering if it was the end of the season for my friendship with some ladies...Mostly, I was wondering if I should cancel a lunch I planned for Friday...

It turned out that as I was feeling overwhelmed and debating whether to cancel the lunch or not, my friend who cancelled because she was sick e-mailed me and said that she was now well and available for Friday. So, I did have my luncheon.

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It actually turned out to be a nice surprise. Since I was so caught up in preparing for the luncheon, it didn't even dawn on me that this would probably be our last gathering before Christmas. However, these friends did think about it and brought along Christmas presents. I received a soup cook book, some tea cups and matching saucers, a scent diffuser, a book about being an at home mom by Donna Otto, and a Christmas wall banner (which turned out to be my favorite gift of everything I received). I was very overwhelmed by the kindness of these ladies as well as drained from the preparations that I did not have the opportunity to bring up my burden about the "group". Well, it was ok, this time, that I let my thoughts pass because I made the luncheon gathering my Christmas gift to the ladies. It had been awhile since we all had gotten together and if it weren't for my initiating the lunch, this would never have happened. So, the ladies did appreciate my efforts in coordinating the lunch and providing the food.

On to other concerns that I had...

Well, it did take me several days to recuperate from Friday's luncheon. In fact, I just got the last of the dishes done today...Yet, despite the loss of time from the luncheon, I was still able to do some Christmas shopping, planning, and decorating...

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I put up 99% of the decorations on Thursday. I have 2 bins worth of Christmas decorations, but I knew that since DearDaughter1 would probably get into them, I decided to keep everything very simple, which made decorating easier. So, I probably only used 1/3 of my decorations. My favorite decorations that I put up this year are our family stockings! I bought really cheap Christmas stockings and stenciled our names on them and hung them up in our entryway. Above our stockings is a Christmas ornament with "Jesus" written on it to signify that Jesus is above us all and He is the provider for all our gifts. This decor makes for good Christmas greetings for all that enter our home. The last thing I need to do is make a set of pillow cases for the couch pillows. I bought some material on sale at Wal-Mart and hopefully by the end of the week I am able to just hand stitch the material together with red thread for a more Christmasy feel.

On Saturday, I went Christmas shopping at a Christian bookstore. Here's what I've determined so far about gift giving...

For our family: 3 gifts per person (large, medium, and small) just like Jesus received 3 gifts

I got most of my shopping done on Saturday and I felt quite relieved. I sat down today to make out the rest of my "list" and where I will purchase them. The rest of the week will be trying to run those errands to get these gifts.

There's a lot running through my mind about Christmas time. These thoughts started formulating last year and I'm still working through them. I will need to dwell on them a bit longer and when I've come to a "clear" conclusion I will jot them down.

Well, this is the end of this post. Maybe now I'll spend some time making those pillow cases...

I'll start work on our Christmas cards too...