Christmas Happenings

Definitely feels like the Christmas season is upon us! The hub is now on two weeks of vacation to relax and work on some of our transition items.  So far the holiday season count has included:

--Two office/work parties for my work.

--The hub's mandatory work holiday gathering.

--The incredibly fun military ball last weekend located 1.5 hours south of here in a casino and including an overnight.

--The local town's parade which were the last pictures I posted. 

--Picked up and decorated our free Trees for Troops tree last weekend.

--The Natchitoches Holiday Lights festival and dinner in our favorite little  nearby town last night.

 

The tree all decorated with a few gifts from Granny underneath.

The main street looking down historic Natchitoches.

The light displays along the farside of the river bank in Natchitoches.

The dogs enjoying their holiday treats!

Our Christmas cards are ready for pick up and mailing out, and this morning I ordered the final two gifts for my niece/nephews. (Yea for Amazong and free shipping!) The hub mailed out the few packages that we actually sent earlier this week. We're not big on receiving nor on sending gifts, although we do gifts for my siblings kids for their birthdays and Christmas each year. We try to keep the consumerism and materialism of holidays to a minimum and I have spent at least two Christmases in tears due to family giving me gifts when there are so many other individuals in the world who actually have needs. We both prefer to pick things up for others throughout the year to fill a need rather than to purchase something for someone due to society telling us that we're supposed to do so. Thus this year we donated money to a preferred charity of my parents and we did send three usable items out--1 to Granny and 2 items to the hub's family.

Somehow this season has not been stressful and each moment has been enjoyed in its own way. I've spent several evenings loving the scent and twinkling of the tree, and we've had Christmas music playing since Thanksgiving. In the midst of normalcy so many amazing memorable moments exist such as last night's hour drive home including a Christmas sing-a-long in the truck with our neighbors. ;) The season is one of the hub's favorites and so I came home mid-week to find him elbow deep in Christmas decorations and preparations!

We're planning on going to midnight mass with our neighbors down the street (why exactly the hub wants to go to mass when we aren't Catholic I'm not sure.....but I'm just stoked to have us planning on being in a church!) and on Christmas Day we'll cook a meal together and invite some of the single guys who didn't go home to head over as well.

Somehow I envisioned this week at work to be slower but so far the schedule looks otherwise! I've got a doctor's appointment on Thursday morning and then I'll be looking forward to a day off on Friday! Woo hoo! The best Christmas gift---besides the remembrance of the gift of the birth of Jesus Christ--will be the opportunity to have three days of rest and relaxation.

Hope each of you has a happy and healthy holiday season! May you be able to enjoy moments of quietude in the midst of the hustle and bustle!