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Grateful for…

• Surviving the morning taking each of the boys Christmas shopping so they could buy presents for their siblings.
• Weather that is cool enough to feel Christmasy but warm enough for the boys to play football in the driveway.
• A few moments to myself to sit down and blog after a month hiatus.
• The love of family and friends.
• Food on the table, a roof over our head and material blessings we often take for granted.

Praying for..

• Many special intentions from friends.
• Those who have lost loved ones recently.
• Those who are out of work or homeless.
• Those who find the holidays more depressing than cheerful.
• Victims of violence, racism and abuse and for the conversion of their oppressors.
• For peace in the heart of all men/women.
• All pregnant moms (especially family members), those trying to get pregnant, those who have lost their babies and for moms contemplating an abortion.
• The souls in purgatory, especially family, friend and those most forgotten.

Pondering…

I already shared this on IG and Facebook for anyone who does not follow me there, I am posting it here as well because it seemed to touch a nerve with many. It was written on Tuesday.

This morning as I was coming home from dropping my kids off at school, I starting thinking about a happy memory of my father-in-law and then a deep sadness filled my heart because this is our first Christmas without him. I tried to hold back the tears until I got home and could let them pour out. After a good cry I sat down to read today’s Blessed Is She devotion. I had to laugh when I saw that they were my own words (since I wrote the devotion this day) talking about feeling pain during a joyful season. Ironic. So I am taking my own advice and pouring my pain out to God and letting him embrace me in his peace. I’ll also be offering up a rosary tonight for all of you who are feeling a heaviness of heart. If you’d like me to pray for you by name, feel free to comment below.

 

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Around the House… / Family Chit Chat…

Although there have been some moments of tears and the usual loud chaos, there have been some sweet moments this Advent/ Christmas season.

Quiet time with God. Confession – I did a lot better when Advent started. I need to get back to this with one week left of Advent!

This is hands down one of the kids’ favorite Advent activity.

Tree decorating is one of my favorite Christmas activities.

The finished product. 🙂

I’m a sucker for old school handwritten Christmas cards.

We celebrated the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe with sweet bread. 🙂

Confession: I HATE when people just rip open Christmas presents and there is chaos. I like to watch as each gift is opened. My joy is seeing their face as they get something they really wanted. However, the family doesn’t want to have to watch one person at a time open gifts. As a compromise, I came up with a system of wrapping the gifts in coordinating paper so they can each open the gift with (for example) the red paper and snowmen. All those are the sport gifts – a football, a soccer ball, hockey sticks. It means I take a little longer to organize before I start wrapping gifts but the joy I get on Christmas morn is worth it. ( Yeah, I know. #nerd.)

Family Chit Chat…

We are all dong well and feeling very blessed this Christmas. The beginning half of the year was really rough for us but it is ending with a lot of joy.

Over Thanksgiving, we enjoyed a couple of days at Disneyland then we spent Thanksgiving at my parents’ house.

Matthew and I helped Grandma/ Mom cook in the kitchen.

I spent time with my new nieces and nephews. (I overheard two of sister’s kids say, “Which one is Aunt Bobbi?” The other said, “She’s the one that looks like mom but with the crazy glasses.” LOL!

Photo credit: My bro Rob

The boys loved play time with their cousins.

Photo Credit: Felicity Photography

It was especially touching because my mom was happy and healthy surrounded by the ones she loves most, including my parents’ 15 grandchildren. What a blessing!

 

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In the Kitchen…

It’s leftovers week. I am trying to clean out the freezer and fridge so there’s a lot of breakfast dinners and weird combo dinners. 😉

 

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Reading…

I’m almost finished with the Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge.

This month I completed a book you should have read in school. – A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

…and a book published before you were born. – Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

For “A Book I Own but Never Read” I dusted off The Christmas Shoes by Donna Van Liere. Shall I admit that I sobbed at the end?

Only one category left. 🙂

• A book you can finish in one day.

 

Watching…

(TV)

The usual faves including: This Is Us, Speechless, Big Bang Theory, Lethal Weapon, Designated Survivor and American Housewife.

I watched Gilmore Girls with great expectation and came away with mixed feelings. Parts of it – I loved but the whole Rory/Logan storyline sucked. Seriously? 10 years have gone by and there is no growth in maturity. Rory was content to be the “other woman” again with a man willing  to cheat on his fiance? Ugh. I hated that and not because I am #teamjess.  I would have been happy if she was with Logan under more committed circumstances. Well, I do hope they decided to continue the story. I think there is definitely an audience for it!

 

We are almost done with The Crown. And last night we re-watched The King’s Speech as a tie in.

 

Listening to …

Although I am a sucker for Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole, the boys love my old Relient K Christmas album. Sleigh Ride is one of my favorite non-religious Christmas songs. (Even though I have minimal experience with sleighs or snow) 😉

 

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Recent Posts:

Ive been on a holiday season hiatus!

However, some upcoming posts will feature my new Blessed Is She planner and how I use it na d a bullet journal.

Plus I will have some end of the year link ups! Including –

• Favorite Entertainment of the year – books, shows, movies and music.
• Top Lessons Learned in 2016
• 2016 in 12 Photos
• Top Posts of 2016

I’m hoping to have them up by next week so stay tuned.

 

 

From the archives…

When All You See Is Your Advent Fail (December 2015)

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Slow Cooker Rotisserie-Style Chicken (December 2014)

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“Most” Posts of 2013 (December 2013)

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Pinned…

Source: Blessed Is She

How gorgeous are these Blessed IS She gift tags!!

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Source: carlsbadcravings.com

 

Around the blogosphere…

I’m sorry to say I haven’t been reading online at all. I hope to catch up this week!

 

~ 7 ~

All the feels. 🙂

 

So that’s what I’ve been up to lately. What about you? What’s currently happening in your life? Any book or movie recommendations? Do share.

I’m linking up with Kelly for 7 Quick Takes.

Have a great week!

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd, or Spotify, 😉

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