MISTY'S MORNINGS

Please join me over at Catholic Mothers Online where I am sharing my solution to holiday stress.  I would love to hear your stress-busting ideas as well.

  Sharing here Wordless Wednesdays

outdoors…  The most ideal fall weather has convinced me that November is my new favorite weather month of the year.  The daytime temps are in the 60s, sunny and calm.  Plenty of time for children to explore in the woods while I sip coffee on the deck, soaking in the gentle sunshine and listening to birds twittering.  This is where I do all my meal planning, recipe reading and Christmas daydreaming.   thinking… About the magic of this particular holiday season.  I said to my sons yesterday that this year has been my favorite holiday time since my own childhood.  Nine, eight and three year old boys are SO WONDERFUL. I adore their ages.  They still love all that Christmas has to offer from the Angel Gabriel to Santa's elves. This is my bliss. wearing... Capri exercise pants and a soft green tee shirt and I am barefoot.  The window by my computer is open and I love the cool morning ...

The table awaits.  The table is graced. (BTW -I am not really that tall.  I was sitting on a kitchen stool!) The aftermath. The cousins. The turkey and dressing may be gone but the glow of time spent with family and friends remains .  My sister and brother-in-law departed on Sunday after a week of work and play.  They are the best sous-chefs in the universe.  I could not have pulled off the meal without their help in the kitchen and around the house.  My husband and boys were on tidying and cleaning detail and they, too, took care of business effortlessly.  Thank you everyone!   Our guests made the whole process worthwhile - especially ending the evening with howls over the game Balderdash .  We learned words like whisterpoop and baldersnatch and the memories of our invented definitions still make me grin and chuckle.  The kids were angels and finished their evening playing in the yard well past dark.  ...

Over the past nine years of Christmases we have accumulated many lovely Christmas storybooks for our boys.  From board books to several versions of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas we have more than 25 various titles.  Somewhere along the line I learned of the idea to wrap each book and place them under the tree.   Beginning December 1st, one book is chosen and unwrapped and becomes the bedtime story for that night. The first two years I tried this I had a terrible time trying to get them all wrapped before December 1st.   Just locating them and gathering them together was one year's accomplishment.  Finally, last year it dawned on me to wrap them all before I returned them  to the attic with the rest of the Christmas decorations.  As I wrapped them I also numbered them from favorites first to 'Twas the Night Before Christmas last.  This year they are already under the tree.  It makes the tree look finished and works sort of like a...