The countdown begins

Whew, Here we are friends- in the midst of the hustle and bustle of Christmas! I can not believe that it is already December, let alone December 4th.!!! Every year I say I'm not going to get so busy that I don't have time to sit back and enjoy every moment of my most favorite time of year. This year especially, I desire to take in every little moment spent with my loved ones..especially with this little one

Don't judge, I have no make up on, was putting up Christmas lights, and am sick to boot.
Oh, and spending time with him too!

I am happy to report that I'm well on my way to relaxing a little bit more and enjoying the season because for the VERY 1st. time EVER I got my Christmas cards in the mail on December 1st. ! That has been a l-o-n-g time goal of mine for a quite some time and this year I did it :) :) :).
I don't know what it is about Christmas cards but knowing that they are sent out is such a huge relief for me. Speaking of cards, I'm in the midst of conjuring up a cute way to display your cards (pics. coming very soon ;)

In the mean while, I'm counting down the days until December 25th. How do you count down the days? There are so many C-U-T-E advent calendars out there. Speaking of which, I've been on a mission this year to create a new advent for our family. Some of you who have been friends for awhile, may remember this one I created a few years back

Well, this year I desired to have an advent that not only counted down the days but also was a daily reminder to our family of the true meaning of Christmas=Christ. A friend of mine had mentioned that she had seen an advent that had scripture on it and that got my wheels turning. I couldn't find anything like the vision I had in my head so I set out to create my own. It's been quite an undertaking the past few days but I'm almost done. In fact, I did finish one...
this one is a Christmas gift for a very dear friend (I knew I would be seeing her last night so I rushed like a madwoman to get it finished so I could give it to her so she can use it this year). Mission accomplished, she loved it and I do too..now I just have to put the finishing touched on ours (will show a pic. soon but it's going to be pretty similar). Each day you pull off the magnet, open the card and read the scripture that tells the Christmas story.
Once all the cards/verses are pulled off, you are left with this
A reminder of what this season is all about!