Give without remembering. Take without forgetting.

I believe with 100% of my heart that it is better to give than to receive at Christmas.
I make a list of everyone I want to buy a gift for or do something special for, and I get to it, with vigor.
I love to surprise people. I love to show a person that during the holiday season and always they are not forgotten and are appreciated.
We have alot of planned giving on our to do lists from now until Christmas.
We started the first of our GIVING plans today.
Audrey and I went to the grocery store and bought 1 bag of dog food and 1 bag of cat food. We drove to our local animal rescue and dropped it off. We are fortunate to have a safe dry place for our dog Molli and our cat Jagger. Audrey loves animals, so we decided that would be a great holiday giving idea.
If you want to give to your local animal rescue leagues, they are always listing their needs on their websites, or you can call and ask. Often, they need old newspapers, blankets, etc....so anyone can give.
NEXT, we went on a little fun necessities shopping spree and we made a Care package for one of our favorite military friends. We can't wait for Christina to receive her special surprise package( hopefully, she isnt reading the blog...LOL) We sent her candy and lipstick, a christmas book about home, a snowglobe and some little makeups, soap, etc... Merry Christmas Christina Burdge and thank you for serving our country. Christina is one of my best friend's daughters. She is in the navy and stationed in Italy., We couldnt be prouder of her and we wanted to share our appreciation by sending her this surprise. SO, Christina, if you read this before your package gets there: SURPRISE and ENJOY! We love you!
God so loved the world, that he gave his ONLY son. That is the greatest gift of all.
That is our scripture for today.
No pictures for todays blog, just a notion that I hoped is placed into the hearts of all my readers. Tis better to Give than to receive. God Bless you!

Letters to Santa

When we arrived home after Dickens, we settled into our Advent routine again.
Audrey opened her Advent Tree to find a tree finger puppet.
Then, Audrey wrote a letter to Santa Claus. I think it said, a pony! LOL!
She even got help from daddy with her letter.

Audrey was so blessed to open so many beautiful gifts from our friends.
we needed to say Thank YOU! in a big way, so we made reindeer thumbprint Thank You cards. Unfortunately, her little thumbs were so small, we had to use my thumbprints, but they came our really cute!

Today is a busy day of Advent giving. Read more later!

Celebrating Advent...Dickens style

We headed to my parents for Dickens of a Christmas this weekend.
We didnt take our advent tree, but we still managed to celebrate.
We thoroughly enjoyed our annual gathering.
Audrey spent her morning with Mom Mom. Our family and friends spent the evening at my parents playing games, eating good food, and exchanging presents.
It is certainly my favorite time of the year.

Lost in the mix

When I woke up this morning, very early thanks to my little girl, came downstairs and something silly caught my eye. THIS:

In the midst of all of the Little People christmas sets, there was baby Jesus. Right in the middle, reminding me what advent is really all about.
Funny, how that happens! How I catch myself being reminded in some unlikely spots. God has a sense of humor.
We have special plans for this evening. We will be heading to Williamsport to see Summer Street aka Christmas Candy Lane, a whole street of houses that celebrate the holidays by decorating every year. Nobody bows out( I dont think that they can, I think it is part of their convenance as home owners). I can remember it being there as long as, well as long as I can remember.
That will be our family activity. Aunt Jen will be coming along and Mom Mom.
We had leftover red and Green Pancakes this morning. I guess I will be putting food coloring into pancakes for quite a few years now. They still tasted as good as they did yesterday.
We opened day 2 of our advent tree and inside was a fingerpupppet snowman. Audrey took him over and introduced him to the Little People.

.
Then, we read Rudolph to the Rescue.

. They should have stopped with Rudolph Book....this one was weird. LOL...yep I said it!
We sang Silent Night as our song this morning.
Then,

I dressed Audrey up in her Snowflake best and we decided to take some time to write our names and santa's name on the cold front door.

Our scripture this morning was actually part of my devotional Girlfriends in God.
Psalm 96: Sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Sing to the LORD, praise his name;
proclaim his salvation day after day.
3 Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
In the midst of your crazy day, think of that picture and stop and give thanks for God's sense of humor.
Happy 2nd day of Advent!

Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders that are unseen and unseeable in the World

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.
He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas, how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus.
If you havent read this beautiful response written and appearing in the New York Sun on September 21st, 1897...stop what you are doing, google: Yes Virginia AND, visit here to read some history.

Today, was the first day of the Salter's Advent Adventures.
Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus was our story for this morning.
When Audrey awoke this morning, she stood at the top of the steps, as I stood at the bottom and yelled up to her the myriad of things we would be doing to celebrate Advent. Jim yelled down: "Tell her...Mommy, you are freakin me out!...I just woke up" and Audrey mocked his words to me, "Mommy, you freaking me out!"

Perhaps, I am a little overzealous in the morning.
But, I was so excited to start our new annual tradition.
We are anxiously awaiting the birth of Baby Jesus. Through advent, we celebrate in remembrance of the birth of a baby born in a manager. I want my little girl to understand why we truly celebrate. We love Jesus.
I have many friends whom choose to celebrate the true Christmas and not incorporate Santa.
I choose BOTH.
Growing up in the little village of English Center, my dad WAS Santa for many years.
He would dress up every Christmas eve and make his way around our little 1 horse town. every child got a present, every old person got a visit.
I knew it was my dad and not really Santa. He was Santa's helper...and I BELIEVED!
To me Santa Claus is someone who abided by God's commandment to LOVE one another. He is a man with a spirit that God wishes each of us to have.
He is God's servant, just like you and I.
As a child, I would go to our little church on the hill in White Pine and there I would hear the real story of Christmas, about the King born in just a manger, born to save the world....and I BELIEVED! Under that roof, with candle light dancing on the ceiling and walls, and silent Night sung softly, everyones eyes closed in praise....there was nothing to do but believe.
To me, Christmas was magical. I want that for Audrey; that feeling of magic that you can almost smell in the air.

After reading our 1st of 25 Christmas stories, we opened our Advent tree and she received the first of her little advent gifts. Today's gift, a green and red snowflake bracelet.

Before she and Jimmy woke, I went downstairs and cooked up some red and green pancakes with snowflakes( coconut flakes) as our first fun advent activity. They were a hit! The little girl who doesnt like to eat, scarfed them down!YUM!

Next, we sang our first christmas song: We wish you a Merry Christmas. Audrey LOVES to sing, so we had to sing the song twice. LOL!

NOW, we are snuggled up on the couch and watching a Muppets Christmas Carol.

She doesnt love the movie, in fact, she is asking to watch Calliou. LOL!
In all of this activity, I took a minute to pray: Dear Lord, bring the christmas spirit to us, let us remember the birth of your son, born in a manger, born to be a king, born to save us. Please help us to always remember this holiday season that we should be more focused on giving than receiving. Please help us to insert your name in to every praise that falls from our lips. Please place opportunities to be YOUR hands and YOUR feet into our paths.
Our scripture for today:Luke 26-30
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, (27) to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. (28) And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” (29) But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. (30) And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
God Bless each of you during the first day of our advent season!

Getting Ready for the Holidays

The Holidays are here. At Just So Stacy Photography, it has been quite the busy season~! What a blessing, but wow, do I need a break. So, I am taking off from December 11th thru January 15th to enjoy the holidays and live everyday of them to the fullest. In our plans, an advent calendar with a scripture reading a bible story, a christmas movie and, most importantly, a family activity everyday.
I look forward to sharing each day of this season with you all.
So far, we have decorated the house, strung the lights and blew up the santa and snowman inflatables outside. We have 75% of the Christmas Shopping done.
Jim played Santa at Paulus Farm Market while I snapped pictures this weekend.

Audrey wasnt so sure of Santa holding her, even if Santa took his beard off and showed her it was just Daddy. LOL! Our pictures are always the hardest to snap, but we did manage a few great ones that My mom did and our christmas Cards went out yesterday!
We are ready to Jingle, Bake, Sing, and have the best holiday ever!
Tomorrow begins our Advent adventure. Join US!

Playing Catch up

Arent I always? It has been nearly a month since my last post. I remember a time when I would post 2 or 3 times a day! My how the times have changed. It is busy season for Just So Stacy, just a few more weeks and then i am taking a much needed long few weeks off. I am grateful for the business, but it has made me fall behind in everything else.
Jim caught pneumonia so we have spent just over a week at my parents while he is quarantined.
So, it has been a little harder to catch up then usual.
I am getting ready to enjoy the holidays!
Audrey spent some time helping Mom Mom get the tree ready for their house.

Needless to say, she knocked the tree over a few times, and she keeps calling it Jingle Bells, but I think she is ready for the holidays too!