For day 9 of Advent we were assigned to write a letter to a Marine at Christmas time. I could have just written one to my husband Bryce, thanking him for his service to our Country, bravery, and sacrifice, especially for the Chrismas he spent overseas. While I probably should still do that for him, we did our letter a little differently.
We crafted a hand written letter to our friend Lee, a Gold Star Mother. Her son Matthew and Bryce were buddies. Both Marines, the two met in Hawaii, enjoyed weekends and cold beers together often, and eventually deployed to Iraq. While Bryce came back home, Matthew's last day was December 14, 2006. As we approach his 10 year anniversary, our hearts our heavy and we want Lee to know that our thoughts and prayers are with her. We'd gotten in touch with Lee years ago, exchanging phone calls and mailing photos across the miles. Just last year we finally got to meet. We hope to visit her someday in Matt's hometown, visiting his grave and the road named in his honor. We always try to live life to the fullest, for Matt and those who are no longer able to. This Christmas write a letter, forgive, hug, and take that extra group photo. Take stock of those around you and honor the ones who are so dearly missed.
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Last night we invited friends to our house and got busy testing a recipe for Christmas dinner. I learned the basics of ravioli making in Sorrento, Italy, earlier this year. Thankfully my friend Resham is an experienced dough maker and has her own pasta machine.
We're back to the fun stuff and the day my husband has been waiting for. Last night we decorated the tree. We watched and quoted Elf, sipped hot chocolate, and carefully outfitted the tree with garland and ornaments.
It has always been a dream of mine to have many Christmas trees, all with their own theme. We've been cultivating our (fake) green tree with candy and sweet themed goodies for years. It's whimsical, delicious, candy perfection! The white tree is new and will soon be adorned with blue and white Penn State ornaments. I've been collecting them for years and look forward to another masterpiece! Perhaps my Advent calendar activities aren't always picturesque and cheerful, but building in the chores and tasks helps to keep the grinch/stress levels low! As we approach Christmas the stores, roads, and post offices will continually get more crowded so the sooner, the better.
Last night I scooped up 4 "books" of Christmas stamps. We've got our cards and stamps now, addressing and mailing them may be in our near future, according to the ol' Advent cal. Our Advent calendar is so, so cute! It's about a half-mile long so finding a spot for it always poses a challenge. This year it hangs from with the curtains in our dining room. Last night we got together with a group of friends to decorate gingerbread houses. A few weeks ago someone scooped up many of these prebuilt homes from Costco so all we had left to do was decorate.
In all of my years of overdoing Christmas, I'd never before decorated a gingerbread house! It was extremely fun to listen to Christmas carols, sit around a table together, and hear friends exclaim their brilliant ideas and unfortunate accidents while outfitting their tiny, edible houses. I was shocked at how invested we were in the process and I'm quite proud of my adorable ginger people and their colorful abode! My favorite part, gingerbread hands down, is the gumdrop sidewalk stones with rainbow nonpareil cement. |
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