New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve is tonight! We're a pretty quiet family; we spend lots of time at home just doing normal things like watching t.v. and reading. Tonight, we are going to be with some friends. I think I heard a rumor about "karoake." I'll let you know what happens with that. Not much on my part, I can assure you! We're taking the girls' p.j.'s although I don't know if we'll stay long enough for them to fall asleep there or not. I imagine we'll come home before 12. It's just easier that way.

It's been a good week.

~Chris only worked Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday, so that was nice.

~I got to visit with a friend who has moved. She was back in town getting her house packed since they recently sold it. It was good to see her again and I was once again reminded how happy I am to have unlimited long distance so I can talk to her often!

~The house is pretty much "Christmas decoration free"~and has been since Monday~except for the outside things which got taken down just yesterday and one lone little hanging decoration that I happened to notice last night. I thought I had gotten it all, but I guess it's inevitable to find one or two things hanging around.

~We left the house early yesterday morning to drive to a neighboring city. I had a doctor's appointment and then we did a little "spend the Christmas gift cards" time aftewards. I also took a long nap which was nice because next week it'll be back to the school routine of taking Gracie to school early & picking her up mid afternoon.

~I went to the movies alone last night. It was really kind of nice! I saw "Family Stone." Although there were quite a few things in it that I didn't necessarily "approve" of, it did have quite a bit that pulled at my emotional heartstrings. I will admit to enjoying it.

~Chris has been painting our toy box. He even let Gracie help him. scary! My grandfather built this toy box for me when I was 3 and I've had it ever since. It has been white, pink, yellow and now it's kind of a maroon. He's put a primer and 2 coats and it still needs at least 1 more coat. Since we don't have a playroom, we have a "play area" in our den. I needed the toy box to match the room better, so we finally got around to getting it done. I picked out the color, so at least I helped a little! Chris is also going to put a different hinge on it so the top won't slam on little fingers like it did at Life Group year before last.

~Today I went to Wal-Mart and stood in line to return a couple of things. Sad thing is that it wasn't even a Christmas present. I had bought the cutest little matching overall outfits for the girls and the 5T I'd gotten for Gracie absolutely swallowed her whole. I thought about keeping it and letting her grow into them, but I just decided to take both of them back. The line was long but moved rather quickly. I picked up a couple of things for tonight and also for our traditional "fajitas & black eyed pea" New Year's Day meal. My family always had black eyed peas~for good luck~and Chris grew up eating fajitas, so we've combined the 2.

~This week, I read a book called "Simply Christmas." It was a collection of 4 different stories by Pamela Dowd, Wanda Luttrell & Christine Lynxwiler and was really quite good. An easy read. In one of them, called No Holly, No Ivy, there was a quote that I liked. The lady was talking about being friends with someone who was not of the Christian faith. Here is a little excerpt:

...."I'm giving my Jewish neighbor a small taste of our Christian Christmas."

"Really?" His eyebrows rose. "I'm surprised that she's willing. I mean, I'm aware that our Christian faith is built on a firm foundation of Judaism, but doesn't she believe the Messiah is yet to come?"

"Yes," Loraine answered, "but other than that, our beliefs are almost exactly the same. And I enjoy her company," she added

"Oh, there's nothing wrong with being friends," he agreed. Then a frown wrinkled his forehead. "But if a person is wrong about Jesus Christ, it doesn't really matter what else he is right about," he said. "Your friend needs to know the Savior, Loraine."

I like this excerpt because I think it boils things down to Jesus needing to be the most important part of our lives. I need to share Him with everyone I know. If someone doesn't know Jesus, then nothing else really matters in the long run. I hope I remember this now and in the coming year.

~Happy New Year everyone. Be safe!