How Lovely are your Branches?

I'm catching up.. we got our tree on the 5th. If you read the blog post above... you'll know why. We have a tradition of getting our tree from this great little nursery near Ron's office. There is a particular Christmas Elf who works there who has scoped out "the perfect tree" for us in years past and put it aside. We were not disappointed. She is, indeed, the perfect tree. Pizza and velvet yogurt afterward made it the perfect evening.

Our personal Christmas logger, Quinn.

Peek A Boo

Sweet Sadie girl.. clean and smiley!

Tea Party

Rosie made the placemats

NOTE: NOT the conservative political movement... This was an all out taffeta and high healed, delicate China, cookie -before- 10am, pretty pretty princess hairdo, "yes, please" and "no thank you, maam," hold your cup with your pinky out, cloth napkin morning. We only had one lovely lady who didn't dine with us as she had originally RSVP'd. She was taking her morning nap. We missed her... but we saved her a spot of tea.

Thankful

We enjoyed another Thanksgiving in Flagstaff... wonderful family, fun outings, a snow day, pleny of great food and treats, great conversations, and lots of hugs. Our hearts are full.

Sadie shows Uncle Doug how to build a fire. Sadie is moonlighting as a UPS driver this holiday season.. you know, to make a little extra cash. "What can brown do for you?"

"Sad face" after landing in Long Beach. See you next year, Thanksgiving.

Shoeboxes

We went last night to church to assemble our boxes for Operation Christmas Child through Samaritan's Purse. I've packed boxes for many years now, but this year was so different. Rosie and I have been talking at great lengths about children in other parts of the world and even right here in our community that don't have the things that they need. As you can imagine, it's quite a conversation to have with a 3 year old... but I think she gets the idea. We spent time shopping for "our kids" a boy and a girl ages 5-9. Rosie decided that the girl would like lip gloss and Carebears and the boy most certainly needed Cars socks and a yellow Hotwheel. I'd offer something I thought might be good to put in the box and Rosie would say, "No, Our Girl doesn't like that." It seemed much more personal this year. We brought all of our items last night to church and put them together in boxes. We wrote "our kids" a note and told them a little about ourselves on a form letter supplied by OCC.

After being prompted, Rosie decided that her favorite color was black.

The note also asked us why we loved Jesus.

Rosie thought for a minute and said, "I don't really love Jesus tonight."

OH GREAT!! I have a hard time even typing those words! I feel like I may get struck with the plague.. or locusts.. or a flood...

Actually, I think My God can handle it :)

(I didn't write that down for "our kids" BTW.)

So we offered our small, small gift to "our kids" somewhere. I prayed for the little hands that would open the box; that these little ones would somehow be safe and warm and that their bellies would be full. I prayed that they would learn to read and write and would live meaningful lives. I prayed that they would find peace through Jesus and love others around them. I prayed that there would be someone in their lives who would relish every giggle and smile and supply plenty of hugs and kisses.

It's no different than the prayers I pray for my own little girls.

If you don't know anything about OCC or Samaritan's Purse, I encourage you to check out their website.

Feasting

Rosie had her Thankgiving Feast at preschool yesterday. I volunteered to be part of the "clean-up crew" but went a little early to snap a few pictures of the pilgrim and her friends.

She's either a pilgrim, or Florence Nightingale...

Irvine Zoo

Nothing beats the Irvine Park as far as the girls and I are concerned. We can visit to the zoo (which charges a $2 admission), ride the train, enjoy the big Oaks and open space, throw some breadcrumbs to the ducks, play at the park, eat at Chik-Fil-A nearby and be home in time for naps. Good day for the Eckert girls.