So, I ran in a bookstore, today, to look for a devotional book for one of our friends for Christmas. I'd been helping a customer with Christmas decorations and had some time to kill before my next appointment. I'm not sure if it was fatigue, the dreary, unChristmas-y weather, or just preoccupation with other stuff going on, but I was feeling kind of blah. You ever have those days? You ever just feel flat? Not really sad or mad, but just blah.

Anyway, I took my book to the checkout, where a very kind and cheerful lady met me at the register.  I spoke but, let's just say, I wasn't running at the peak of my cheerfulness potential. She asked my for my phone number and I gave it to her in a less than enthusiastic manner.   

Well, after she asked for my phone number and found my name in the system, she asked, "Aren't you the muffin top lady?"  Eeeeeek.  There I was feeling like I had on my grumpy pants and the sweet lady had recognized me as the writer of a "lighthearted and uplifting Christian blog". Dang it.    

Well, the moral of the story is that your Mama was right. You never know who's watching you. Of course, my Mama said that after someone informed her that they'd spotted me smoking a cigarette when I was 17. I've smoked one cigarette in my entire life....ONE.....and in the 1 minute and 20 second time span in which I held it between my two fingers and pretended to know what I was doing with the billowing carcinogen, someone spotted me in the passenger seat of my friend's car and called my mother. But, I digress. 

To the sweet lady at the bookstore, please, accept my apology for being less than engaging.  I looked for your name on my receipt but didn't see it. You inspired me. Thank you for your kind words. Sometimes, I feel like it doesn't matter if I post or not but you stirred up my waning desire to write in the midst of this frazzled and frenzied yet most holy time of year.  Quite possibly the most exhausting year of the 49 which I've spent to date.    

Now, let's talk about Thanksgiving.  If you were like me, you ate entirely too much. Like enough for 3 pilgrims and a couple of Indians. I'm trying to pace myself, though. I mean, I ran all those mailboxes for the wedding and, well, I don't want to undo it all it once. I'd prefer to spread the undoing over the course of the whole holiday season which has only just begun. So, easy now, Joni.

We had the usual house full of people with the usual spread. The dressing, the mashed potatoes, the caramel cake, and the coconut cake were some of the showstoppers. We invited our friend, Jim, who's from China, as he'd never indulged in the traditional American Thanksgiving dishes. He'd never even eaten turkey, which we explained was just an overgrown, dry chicken which somehow has become the obligatory mascot meat of the season.  He also told us that no one in China knows about baking and that cakes and such are always store bought. Well, I believe the women in Mississippi introduced him to a whole new level of cake.  He seemed pleased with his take home plate of this newfound thing called homemade desserts. 
Along with John Samuel's parents, we got the newlyweds moved, last weekend, too. If this keeps up, we may need to look into the rent to own program down at the U-Haul place. But, that's done and my list of work is getting whittled down, so now I've got to get our house decorated for Christmas. I counted and I've decorated about 14 trees so far, none of which are at our house. Last night, I did get so far as to launch the pumpkins off the front porch and into the woods next to us.  So, this weekend, I will decorate the house for the season.....or die trying.

Well, I just wanted to say hello.  Like me, I know you're busy with your shopping and cooking and planning and your celebrations of merriment.  Let's just meet up when we can and know that I'm praying that you won't lose your spirit of joy in all the holiday racket.....like I did today.  It's so easy to get exhausted wanting to make everything perfect for our families.  We need to try and keep the Pinterest expectations in check and just bask in the light and hope that the Baby brought to us. The world tells us that other stuff is so much more pressing and so necessary. But, really, it's all just a distraction from that one holy night that changed our eternity.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend with your family and friends!

Thank you for stopping by.