5 things I'm looking forward to this Christmas

1. The brother and the sister being here from FL and NY
2. Family Christmas celebration at church
3. Holiday dinner with friend
4. Mom's cooking
5. The celebration of the birth of our Savior

No pain, no gain

I'm not one for confrontations.

I get all tense inside, worry about what to say and how to say it.

Confrontations are even harder when the one you are confronting is sensitive. You want to make your point without dashing their emotions to pieces.

Today at work I had to have one of these confrontations. I almost let it slide. It's always easier to claim ignorance, right? ::Sigh:: Just not ever right. And that leads to a whole slew of other issues.

Anyway, a situation occurred and I prayed for the right words and timing to address it. Funny thing about prayer, it is usually answered. The right time came and the right words fell out of my mouth. I say fell because until they actually came out, I didn't know I was going to say them.

The result: all parties were satisfied with the least amount of pain . . . I think. :-)

Wednesday

I enjoy Wednesdays.

Not because it the middle of the week and the weekend is almost here.

But because Wednesday evening I get to spend with kids.

Not being a parent, Wednesday nights give me the opportunity and the responsibility to influence the lives of the next generation. I pray that I am able to productively use the gifts and the time that I have.

It is amazing how much kids grow and change in just three months. It is amazing to see the different ways that kids learn and respond to experiences. I have one girl who memorizes like a whiz but has to be in constant motion, one girl who is smart and can memorize but it comes a little harder and needs a little more encouragement, and a boy who loves constant attention.

All the kids seem to be more encouraging to those around them as the year goes on. During our game time there is less "smack talk" and more cheering and advice for teammates.

We have a couple more weeks before Christmas break. I am looking forward to them -- to seeing the spiritual growth.

Dads are the best . . .

So today I took my lunch to work so I wouldn't have to walk home. I was about 5 minutes into my meal (pbj--mmm!) and I hear my purse start singing. My cell phone was ringing. Since it rarely rings I can usually expect to see on of my family members' names on in the caller id. It was my dad . . . he called to ask if I was coming home for lunch because he had just finished plowing out my driveway!

Wasn't that nice!

I got home at three to see my beautifully plowed driveway . . . it was beautiful!

I shoveled off the loose snow and voila!

And . . .

It is snowing the way I like tonight! The gentle kind with no wind or sleet. It was a nice walk to and from work this evening.

Nice and quiet . . . ::sigh::

Did I say that?

On Friday, I mentioned something about liking snow. I was extolling the gentle snow, the quiet it brought.

On Saturday we got the snow I don't particularly care for: the sleeting, no wait snowing, sleeting again? kind.

I was scheduled to work at the library for a couple hours in the afternoon and in the morning I planned to work at church. I knew that if I drove to work I would never get my car back in the driveway. So I packed a lunch and my change of shoes and walked to church to work for a couple hours. Then at 12:30 I walked to the library.

Not the easiest of feats as there was a good three inches of wet snow on the ground. But I did make it there before it started sleeting!

The way home was not so nice. I was walked into the sleety wind (or windy sleet?). Either way it was cold!!

Sunday, I went nowhere -- church was canceled due to the road conditions. So I slept in and did some things around the house (like make cookies -- mmmm). I liked this part. If I never had to go anywhere I would love this weather!

And I am getting exercise walking to and from work -- due to the fact that my car is snowed in.

I did attempt to shovel Sunday -- attempt being the key word as it is very, very difficult to shovel four inches of snow with an inch of ice on top.

Here is my driveway today:


Notice the pits that seem to be covered with snow? Those are my footprints from Saturday. You can't even see where I walked today because I walked on top of the snow/ice. On the left you'll notice the gravel-like substance where tossed ice melt. It kind of worked. I fell through when I walked on it tonight so the ice melt must be doing something.

It's a little sad for me to think about but the brother is experiencing 70s today -- in Florida.

We're supposed to get more snow here tomorrow.

I hope it is the gently falling, quiet kind . . .