The service of good men

Recently a tree in our neighbor's yard, that died a long time ago, decided to finally fall to it's final death into our yard, bringing the fence and surrounding shrubbery down with it.  I didn't take a before picture, I wish I had.  We had a need for a short notice service project to clean up the backyard and make it safe again for our kids and dogs.  When I woke up this morning the backyard was filled with willing men, ready to serve on a morning so cold the water had frozen inside the hose.  The tree is being hacked to pieces as I type, chainsaws running, green barrels being brought in from around the neighborhood to gather the debris, and even some children being willing to lend their skills of jumping on the barrels to pack the material down as tight as it can go.  I am in awe of people's willingness to serve; when it's inconvenient, it's freezing, it's their weekend and their day off.  Thank you to all who showed up, I can't express my gratitude adequately.

William, the barrel jumper

It's the least we could do

Locks of Love

Ember donated her long beautiful hair to locks of love a few weeks ago, and she inspired me.  I decided I would do the same.  Ember donated almost 15 inches, and I didn't have quite that much.  I donated 10 1/2 inches, just barely above the minimum requirement, but I still made it!  I now have short hair for the first time since Grace was a baby, and I LOVE it!  :)

Before

After!

Merry Christmas

Our Christmas was amazing, everybody got something they were excited about and we all enjoyed the blessing of giving.  My favorite gift was something that cost no money, only my husband's time and talents.  He's a software developer, and he wrote a program for my computer that displays a pop up box every few minutes that contains some compliment that he wrote about me.  He likes when I play the piano, he thinks I'm a good cook, he thinks I'm sexy, he appreciates my thoughtfulness, he remembers our inside jokes from 24 years ago... so no matter what I'm doing on my computer, I'm reminded of his love for me every few minutes.  It's perfect.

Here's a few images from that day (and a few from the various nativities the kids participated in):

The stage is set

Kids got their Christmas jammies, Santa ate his treats and drank his rootbeer, Ellie the Elf is staying on to hand deliver Santa's gifts, stockings are stuffed, kids are in bed (sleeping?  who knows).  The scene is set for a perfect Christmas morning!