A Busy Day

We had such a nice day today welcoming December. For some reason that last week of November seemed extra long and I found myself eager to turn the page on each of my calendars. Xavier and I woke up early this morning and went back to the pond to watch the sunrise. We had fun exploring things back there until it finally peeked over the mountain. We watched the wind blowing the water, found an old hunting fort up in a tree, and discovered that those green walnuts that fall off the trees in summer sink, but once they turn brown in the winter they float. Xavier tested this several times and we watched a whole fleet of them bob down the creek. We talked about the heavens declaring the glory of God, how the Bible says the sun runs its course with joy in worship to God and that he deserves to be praised from the time it rises until it sets, and sat on the bank singing The Heavens They Preach. Here are some fun shots from our special morning.

When we came in Xavier was pretty cold and asked for Hot Cocoa with breakfast. So he "ate" it from his favorite Toy Soldier mug.

This one is a sunset from last week.

My sister Jill, her boyfriend Andrew and my mom joined us for lunch and then we headed over to the Poinsettia Show at Glick's Greenhouse! That's becoming a new family tradition for us and I really enjoy it. They do such a nice job decorating and drawing a crowd, then displaying the gospel. It's really neat! We got to hear two Mr. Drago's and one Mr. Eder play and visited with some friends from church. Xavier enjoyed farm toys with Nate, Jeremiah, Benny, Rachael and Ashlyn. Then we found the Candy Land room! Xavier said to a boy next to him, "I wish I could eat all of this stuff! Except the paper and wood."

We also tackled some decorating at home. Over the summer we had some water damage in the basement and lost most of our Christmas decorations. I hoped to buy new ones as the time approached, but God has made it clear that's not where my money is to go right now. So my mom brought me a real vintage tree from my Nana's attic. It's at least 40 years old. I was a little skeptical, but we had fun and it looks better than I expected. It is a metallic tree with a "Color Wheel" and spot light that you shine on it rather than stringing lights. I think it's funny, Xavier thinks it's pretty cool. In case you don't get over to see it I thought I'd share the visual effects. Where do people come up with this stuff?