Of Gypsies and Cowboys

Hello friends :)

Can you believe we're nearing the end of November? Wow! Our one-year anniversary of our 'new life' is nearing. It's startling to realize that it's almost being a year since that fateful (and wonderful) evening conversation that put feet to our ideas. Who would have thought that now, 11 months later, our little family would be living in this life? But, I'll save those reflections for next month :)

Our preparations for the Advent Season are almost complete. While pregnant, I learned that the only way for me to truly relax and enjoy the season was to have all my busy work taken care of wel ahead of time. With that in mind, I have baked and frozen more than 200 Christmas goodies, roasted and packaged over 20 pounds of amazing GreenValley coffee, ordered most of the extra gifts to be given, and am soon to pack and ship my little parcels to our loved ones around the country. But, even with all this, I still feel a bit behind. There are still some gifts to find, floor boards to scrub, days to organize. The day-to-day doesn't often pause and I am forever pursuing the balance of rest, creation, work, and solitude.

How are you preparing for the coming season? One month from today is Christmas Day! Are you employing any new traditions or events? How do you respond to the swirl of plastic toys, crowded malls, and extra trappings? What are you most looking forward to as a family?
For us, we're looking forward to our first days in our new home. We're hoping to find a beautiful tree from our own forest, string it with popcorn and dried chinese lanterns from the garden, and read by the fire. We're going to watch Narnia on one of our first evenings, sip white hot chocolate, and hang the pictures and personal treasures that have been boxed away for the past year. It is going to be the most perfect Christmas ever :)

Anyways. Sweet Jemah is napping. I'm going to check on the progress up at the cabin and then begin dinner preperations for the guests pulling in this evening. Tonight: spinach, artichoke, and ricotta calzones with caesar salad. Yum!

Note: As most of you have read, I have entered the Blog to Inspire contest. Many of you know of my love of writing and sharing life through this medium. Creating, sharing, processing, and pondering, for me, is best achieved through writing. While I feel that I've somehow misplaced my former awareness of grammar and structure (would you believe I was a writing instructor in my 'former life'??? My word.) since giving birth and leaving sleep behind, I cannot neglect this beautiful form. That said, winning this contest would be a phenomenal and indescribable gift and inspiration! This is the kind of opportunity I have been searching for and desiring. So, if you support this blogging mama, continue to interact with me on the previous post and share the link wherever you can. Honestly, if you are so inclined, I welcome you to post it on your Facebook status, 'Tweet' it on Twitter, email it to people who might find it of interest, paint it on a bus... just kidding! The finalists will be chosen, in part, according to their engagement within the online community. Thanks!!!