The Circle is Complete

2010…one more thing I need to let go of…

I think I will bottle it up in the jar with Christmas. Tonight a brand new circle will start spinning…I’m in hopes that it brings many good and necessary things to my life and yours. First and foremost I will put it all in the Lord’s hands…His will be done.

May I be pleasing unto Him.

Hope to see you next year...

The Happiest of New Years to you and yours,

Cora

Not Wanting to Let Go....

As they say… all good things must come to an end.

Sometimes I just want to take life and put it in a jar...hold onto it forever so I can pull it out and look at it again and again.  This wonderful holiday season came with laughter, tears, joy, happiness, bright shinys, warmth, ribbons and bows, family and friends, and lots of good food and fellowship. The reason for the season was felt, captured and cherished. Holidays come and go…family comes and goes…good food comes and goes…well… some of it stays on the hips after it passes by the lips!

None the less…everything has come to a screeching halt.

The house is quiet again…
But I hope happiness and love found you this Christmas and that it lingers on forever like the Christmas spirit in your heart which should never end but live within you always.

I know I have been missing-in-action through the past week or so and did not get to personally express my Christmas wishes for you…but just know; I did think of you often as I spent precious time with my family. I wanted to hold on to those moments so tight and not let them get away…well…reality set in and I came to my senses.
I let go…
Life is scattered in the living room ready to be cleaned up, put up, boxed up and readied for what the new year will bring. I know there will be challenges, big moves, happiness, sadness, new experiences, skinned knees and boo boos.

The circle has been made; 365/24’s have marched by like a parade, and we are all another year older and hopefully a wee bit wiser. I can look back on 2010 and honestly say it was better than 2009. I hold onto each memory I made, not wanting to let go but also wanting to welcome something new and fresh. I thanked God for each day that  was given to me as a gift, I accepted it when I woke each morning…I left it as a memory when I laid down to rest at the end.
I thanked God again.
Another circle will soon begin to form…the circle of life that sometimes will get out of shape and off course, but it will always make it around as time allows.
Some days I will not keep up…others I will see it through.

The circle of life…
Round and round we will go, like a carnival merry-go-round…we choose which ride we will take but sometimes we have to take the one that is left and make the best of it. To the end of this journey we have come, the music has stopped and we exit the ride, only to jump on for another round as it starts up again to begin anew…with hope, great expectations, dreams, sparkle, a song in our heart, and a purpose.

Keep it real and uncomplicated…be true to yourself with what ever life gives you, throws at you, is handed to you…Go With Faith and hang onto the Happy!

Wishing everyone the happiest New Year to come with many blessings.

Cora



The reason....

Who can add to Christmas?

The perfect motive is that God so loved the world.

The perfect gift is that He gave His only Son.

The only requirement is to believe in Him.

The reward of faith is that you shall have everlasting life.

~Corrie ten Boom

I will be spending time with my family. Holly, Richard, and their fur babies will be home later today! Jackie is off until the new year….Excitement is in the air~~~~~~~

Living more with less. Living more on love and

happiness and less on material things~

From our house to yours…Warm Christmas Wishes to you all…for a safe and blessed week filled with joy, love, peace, happiness, and Jesus!

Merry Christmas

Cora

White Chocolate and Toilet Paper

Hello….

Are you enjoying your Christmas holidays?…I am! It’s still very cold outside…everything is Christmasy and I have begun my baking and cooking. Yesterday I took a long list to the grocery store. A list a whole lot longer than my own wish list!
I bought things that I do not normally buy…cherries, chocolate, nuts, candy, dried cranberries…more chocolate and more nuts…of all kinds. I forgot the white chocolate and the toilet paper…Can’t do without either! The white chocolate is for cookie drizzle and well…you know what the other is for.

I have been sewing on some cute little treats that I will share later, because they are for Christmas gifts and some of the recipients read or rather look at my blog sometimes!  I have stuffed the stockings...even Holly's fur babies have a stocking and I have filled them with toys and treats. ^..^

Have you been good this year?

I have Crock Pot Candy going and it smells so heavenly…YuM YuMmY! Next I will crack open my pumpkins from Thanksgiving and toast the seeds for the Nutty Berry Mix that I make and gift in cute little jars. Busy busy…but I still have to find time to come here and be with you!
I also have to find time to snap a few photos~swoon~my love.

I hope you are having a wonderful season, making, baking, giving, sharing, honoring our king and just trying to stay warm and cozy where ever you are. Please pray for and remember others that are less fortunate than us, those who are fighting for our freedoms, all little children and the elderly.
They are all precious in His site.

Blessings, Peace, Hope and Joy be yours!

Cora

My Some What Grown up Chistmas List

Baby its cold outside…and we actually had a few snow flurries in south Alabama a couple of days ago.

Yes, Virginia it is beginning to look, feel, and sound a lot like Christmas. The heat pump is running and running…The halls have been decked, wrecked, and prepared. Menus have been thought out and planned. The sweets have been pondered and drooled over. A few cards were written and sent to loved ones…some of which are far far away in an unknown unfriendly place. Beds have been freshened for my little family to return home for the holidays! The stocking are hung…although they may fall if something is stuffed inside them…! The heat is running. Baby Jesus was laid in His manger. Music is being played, hummed and sang to. The chestnuts are roasted for the dressing…Cozy Christmas blankets have been strode around the room for cuddling up. Christmas movies are watched over and over and over… The holidays have been wrapped up…in pretty papers, big fluffy bows, handled with love and placed under the tree in honor of the special guest who is having a birthday…the Great I Am; the Holy One. The heat is still running… Brrrrrrr….its cold!

Now I sit and reflect how fortunate I am and think of others who are cold with no heat, hungry with no food, lonely with no love, and lost with no Jesus. My heart cries and prays for them.

I know everyone has their very own Christmas wish list…I hope you get everything you desire, deserve, and hope for and that you have a blessed, special and happy Christmas as you celebrate with your loved one. Here is my list:

My Grown Up Christmas List

…well some not so grown up…

To hear and see peace

To have Christmas here in Dixie… at Home

To see the end of all wars and fighting in our world

To feel the spirit of Christmas flow within our hearts and let it sing

To be filled…with warm and healthy thoughts

To laugh and have others laugh with me even though we may not know what we are laughing about

To see Christmas through the eyes of a child again

To feel that flutter of sheer excitement in my stomach, the one that takes my breath away

To give whole heartedly with love

To have snow on Christmas day…

To have family surround my table enjoying fellowship

To steal a kiss under some mistletoe

To sit in wonder, watch the twinkling, hear the jingle, and BELIEVE in things I cannot see.

To have my faith grow and burst wide open so that my little light might shine brighter

To have compassion for others first, to offer blessings, and give them hope and joy

To build a snowman and throw snow balls

To be able to pay the electric bill when it comes…the heat is still running

To entertain angels

To remain in awe of that miraculous birth which occurred many many years ago, in a cold stable with only the sweet animals to bare witness of its glory. To think that they knew who He was at the time…To look at the heavenly stars above and remember that first and brightest one that sent the wise ones on their way…

For everyone to know Jesus

Simple Christmas

Christmas is not a holiday, a date on the calendar, or a week off work.

There is no need to get flustered, stressed, and bent-out-of-shape.

Christmas is a feeling...

One down deep inside the heart; an emotion that expresses love and kindness.

It cannot be found in the lights, the tinsel, or in all the hoopla of shopping and running around.

It’s a celebration of a gift that was given to each and every one of us.

It was the best gift that could be given and one that cannot be matched or out done.

It was wrapped in a swaddling wrapping, tied up in a bundle of joy and hope.

It did not cost any amount of money but remains priceless to this day.

It can be opened by anyone just for accepting it and is offered with no expectations only that we share it with others.

We only have to receive it, open our hearts, and let it fill us with its spirit…

The Christmas Spirit.

The love that came in a small package is such a great and simple Christmas pleasure. The simplest of pleasures given and seen and even felt at Christmastime.
As simple as…

A mother’s joyful tear as she watches her child
Colorful twinkling lights that shine in the night
The warmth that removes the winter cold from our hearts
The pure innocence of a little child
Believing without seeing
Homemade gifts, stitched, baked, crafted, loved
The wonder, excitement, and jingle
Carefully thought out Christmas lists and wishes
The unwrapping of love
Aromas that make the heart warm up
The reason for the season
A peace that passes our own understanding
Giving with no expectations
The gift, the ultimate gift

May you find that gift, not under your tree, but in your heart this Christmas!

Christmas Blessings,

Cora

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more. ~ Dr. Seuss