And although i didnt know him....

Today, we did a whole lot of well lot!
We woke up nice and early before Jim and Audrey and enjoyed myself a cup o joe...gingerbread, yum!
I have cleaned this house from top to bottom except for closet, one closet in particular...the hoarding closet...LOL! No, I am certainly NOT a hoarder, although I do play one in this closet. Whew-E! I have everything from luggage, an inversion table, my wedding dress and a mattress in this closet. It is utter and total disarray...and it is connected to the room I call my parents room. If they open the door, it will be like an old episode of that show where everything flies out of the closet...I forget the name. Anyway, I have exactly 12 hrs to make that room shine. It is the last of my christmas worries. So, I worked on it a bit today, but found other things that were more important.
This year UAFD adopted a family of 7. 5 boys and 2 parents. WOW! The food drive was a huge success for this family, and even more so, our members just opened their hearts and their pocketbooks to give this family a good Christmas. The boys: 14, 12, 7, 5, and 3, have no idea that we are coming via fire engine to their home to deliver gifts. My job today was to wrap the gifts that still needed wrapping. As I wrapped I prayed for this family. I prayed for the parents and I prayed for each boy by name. I thanked God for the gifts that have always made it under my tree and for the gifts that will be under our tree this year for our little girl. The wrapping is done and I am so excited to tag along and see the surprise on these boys faces.
Before wrapping, I went on a small excursion to buy the boys some hats and gloves and a few more toys.
I had something else I set my mind to do today. I found a wreath that I made this summer on a camping weekend and I decided to take it and place it on the grave of a veteran for Christmas.
I drove into the cemetary and I explained to my little passenger that when people go to heaven we bury there bodies to give us a place to remember them and that we were going to remember a stranger today. I made 3 loops and I finally saw a grave that didnt have a wreath, but did have a flag marker.

Edward Smith was born 1908 and died 1982 and he was a WWII veteran. I placed our wreath and said a prayer for this stranger I didnt even know and then we drove away. Humbled.

We stopped at Paulus Farm Market and snagged 2 sets of our favorite barrette maker, Sunny B's barrettes for the holidays. We stopped by Bed Bath and Beyond and got a popsicle maker( which so far stinks)since Audrey wants popsicles everyday now.

After a nap, we opened up our advent tree and inside was the Angel ornament from the nativity. We hung it on the tree, still 2 more to go.

And, Audrey opened up one of her special advent gifts: a santa music box. She was so excited, and so was the cat! LOL! It plays Jingle Bells, and she is a super Jingle Bells Singer, so she sand along.

I would hope she can keep it safe so we can create a heirloom of the music box.
My parents come tomorrow and the chaos escalates a little, but in a good way.
Our scripture comes from our max Lucado devotional today:
Luke 1:33: His Kingdom will never end.
I believe.