Getting Ready For the Holidays - Inside and Out

With snow falling in the mountains all around us I couldn't help but focus on art for our school today.  We enjoyed making three batches of cinnamon ornaments.  Each child got to make numerous shapes and sizes of  random shapes to eventually hang on our tree.





While on the road we have spent Christmas in Florida, Arizona, Wisconsin, Missouri, and now Utah.  Each place has had different terrain, climate, family, friends, customs, and fun.



This year is different and special in its own way.  Instead of visiting family or trying to cram a small turkey in a crock pot in the camper, we are renting a cabin for a few months.  I've always wanted to rent a cabin in the mountains for the winter.  And now we get to stay in it for the holidays.









Of course, with all plans and dreams, things try to destroy them, change them, or take away the hopes you had.  

Sometimes we have to fight to keep our joy, hopes, and plans.

We've already begun celebrating the holidays.  We started Advent early and began to make ornaments for our little tree.  Now that we have a big oven in the cabin, not like the tiny one in the camper, we can make home made bread, three turkeys already, and lots of cookies.

I try to focus on my husband and kids this holiday season.  I am so blessed and I refuse to let other distractions come in and ruin my holidays.  Every moment I have to chose to enjoy the day I have been given or to join in the wide range of emotions that try to pull me from the inner joy and contentment I should have.

Whether in a cabin or a camper, 
north, south, east, or west,  
happiness and joy is a condition of the heart - not a circumstance.