December Hot Happenings

Hard to believe that 2012 is over! I'm a little late with this post, but before 2013 gets ahead of us, I want to recap what December was like at our house!

Our December was a whirlwind of busy-ness. How is it that no matter how hard we try to keep things simple, it still ends up being a crazy-busy season? A ton of work went into our church’s Christmas program, which ended up going well. We were a few stressful ladies for a while, but its all over now, thankgoodness. We had over 100 people present, and at least half of those were not regular attenders at our church. What a blessing!

Our last week of December {and the first of January} was spent with family in Maine. My 3 youngest siblings had the chicken pox, and we all managed to get a bad cold that our family so graciously “shared” with us. :) Because of that, we just stayed put most of the time we were there. Long days spent visiting with family, playing with cousins, and long hours of card games….it doesn’t get much better than that. So often our trips to Maine are busy, busy, busy, trying to see everyone, go here and there, etc. This time we just visited - and I loved it. It was a refreshing trip that we all needed!

I did so much resting and visiting that I didn’t take hardly any pictures. I know, horrible blogger, right? Here are a few I did snap, and a few I snagged from my cousin {our family photographer - so thankful for her!}

My Grammie's beautiful tree!

Judah took baths in all kinds of new places. :) See the pox on his face?? :(

My uncle and his family that live on the west coast sent their Christmas picture as a puzzle, which we worked on together. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to put your family together? It was quite fun. "I found Jordan's leg!" "Where is Uncle Paul's other ear?" :)

When the rest of us grandkids were little, Grammie always took a picture of us by her Christmas tree. We had to get one of Judah this year! This was the only time he was allowed to touch the tree, and he loved it. :)

If you follow my Facebook page, you saw this basket of goodies...I promise we don't eat like this all the time! :)

Went out to eat with a friend...American Chinese food, yum! Although I decided I like Canada's Chinese rice better.

Cookie decorating contest with my cousins! {Aren't they beautiful ladies???}

Some of the younger cousins decorated cupcakes.

I just did a little bit of light reading during the month, mainly to wind down and get to sleep at night. I clocked some long hours getting everything done, and didn’t need heavy, thought-provoking literature on top of it!


I re-read Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. I have the 7-volume Austen book pictured here, and love that I have all of Austen’s work at my fingertips. It is a big book to handle {and I don’t plan on taking it with me anywhere!} but I love it. It is so beautiful, too!

Sense and Sensibility is a fun, but sobering read. The author does such a great job of giving the characters in the book the same feeling that we so often face day to day. I could relate many times with both Elinor and Marianne, which makes the story seem more real and relevant. It is hard to pick favourites from Austen’s works, but this book ranks up there with the best!



I also read Escape on the Wind by Jane LaMunyon, a short novel based on life during WWII. Part of the four volume book shown here. I enjoy reading books set in that era, so even though this was a re-read, it was enjoyable. Escape on the Wind tells about a young reporter from a wealthy family who is determined to unmask the truth about the new powerful ruler, Hitler. A visit to her Jewish family in Berlin confirms the worst. It is up to Amanda - and the handsome pilot she meets along the way, which never hurts - to get her family to safety before it is too late.


At lunch time we’re still reading Little House on Rocky Ridge, a book based on the life of Rose Wilder, the daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder. We missed a bunch of days this month, but we should finish this book up soon. We’re enjoying the continuing story of the Little House family, but this book is not quite as captivating as the original Little House on the Prairie books.

I already mentioned how much I love my new monthly and weekly goals sheet, but can I just say how much I love my new monthly and weekly goal sheet? :) It is sooooo much more convenient to have a whole month all in one place, and much easier to keep my goals on track!

You’ve already seen some of what I'm working on this month, but here are my official January goals:

Read 3 books

Write 4 letters

Write Christmas thank-you cards

Memorize 10 verses

Go through one storage tote

Create one new shop item {ahh, so excited to show you!!}

Complete one DIY project

Write one post for another site

I’m hoping I didn’t aim too high, since I started a little late in the month, but we’ll see what I manage to get done!


Here is what happened in the blogging world {or at least my little corner of it!} during December:

I updated my Planning Binder for 2013...and made those printables available to you all.

Lots of Christmasy stuff happened in December {funny thing about that!} You can browse decor ideas here, holiday recipes here, and of course the free Christmas printables are all here.

Oh, and we went through the Christmas story with fresh eyes as well. Here are those posts.

Here is one of my favourite projects to date.


So that was December!! A busy, but wonderful month of family and friends. How was your December? Any sickness in your family? What books have you been reading lately?