After staying up late and wrapping gifts last night, I got a good laugh out of this ecard my mom sent me.
Check it out here
Merry Christmas!

OK – I am on my way out the door for breakfast with my husband before we pick up the kids at my mom and dads and I don’t have time to post but I will do a quick link. Here is a little bit about High Country Lights. We went and watched the show last night. Check it out on Mike’s blog.

Last month my blogging friend, Ainsley at Chattahoochee Mama, had the great idea for an online book club. We all read the same book and then post our thoughts.
The book for this month was “The Letters” by Luanne Rice and Joseph Monninger. It was great pick for December. The book is less than 200 pages so it wasn’t overwhelming with all the holiday rush. The setting for the book is December and letters are written between a husband and wife, one in Alaska and the other in a little lobster town in Maine. Not only are Sam and Hadley seperated by the miles, but the pain of losing their 20 year old son, their only child, has also has driven a wedge between them. The letters are initiated by Sam as he strives to explain to his wife why he feels he must visit the place of their son’s death – a plane crash site in the Alaskan bush. The letters they write to each other give them the freedom to say to each other what they have been too afraid and too hurt to share as their marriage has slipped to the point of their upcoming divorce.
In the letters they share their every day events – Sam’s adventure to the crash site on dogsled and Hadley’s renewal of her love to paint in the artistic coastal town – intermingled with deeply heartfelt pain and love.
The book had just enough twists and turns to keep it interesting and the right amount of feeling and emotion to make it authentic. It wasn’t at all overly romantic or sappy but real love between two people that had experienced one the hardest things life can bring – the death of a child.
I enjoyed reading it and look foward to seeing everyone else’s thoughts.

I created one of these last year and had fun with it. This year there are new songs and my kids look a bit different so I did another one. Enjoy – elf yourself and share it. I’d love to see it.

Mike and I are headed down the mountain to Winston in the morning for a day of Christmas Shopping. I still have a lot of shopping to do and wrapping to do. My goal is to be done by the weekend and have everything wrapped and under the tree. Next week -NO SCHOOL!!! Hopefully we will spend time baking, playing and celebrating and have all the shopping and wrapping behind us. How about you – are your presents wrapped and under the tree?

We were at Barnes and Noble last week and picked up a Polar Express pack with the book, CD, and a bell. It was a great deal – just $10. We opened it and the kids listened to the story while reading along and looking at the incredible pictures. It sparked this conversation about Santa.

http://www.facebook.com/v/50927010967

I ordered this card that the 4×6 slides into from Expressionary

Cool website with lots of personalized cards and gift ideas.

I finally sent my Christmas card picture to Wal-mart photo this morning and will have 60 prints before lunch today. It takes a lot of pictures and patience to get the perfect one. Here is the photo journey to the right picture. I started a week or so ago outside on the front porch. I liked the idea of outside but didn’t like any of those. Last night I did the standard in front of the Christmas Tree. I would have loved to done something a little more creative but my kids are so darn cute – it doesn’t really matter.

Last night was the Galax Christmas parade. We opened up the church during and after the parade. Everyone enjoyed watching the parade from the big windows upstairs. We had a ton of kids and adults walk and toss candy and hand out cards inviting people to come by the church and warm up after the parade. We had a sweet couple from church and their newborn set up a live nativity in the display window on the street. Tyler borrowed the snow machine from the Conservatory for Dance and we had the street lamp covered in snow. Kids loved the snow!!! We had a TON of people come in for hot drinks, cookies and some live music from Chad and Richie.
Here are a few videos we shot with our new video camera. I’ll post some pictures soon.http://www.blogger.com/img/videoplayer.swf?videoUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fvp.video.google.com%2Fvideodownload%3Fversion%3D0%26secureurl%3DqAAAAJRKzAPfu3a7ks9WIkYJqTGE5EFPGmezOy0vvcTnrAAZjd3MnF1GOSR5EjcT3kElPnlYKK4sQev9GgWaF_m-Eks-tbSGUSvsrWHKPQ3vMf2pTcz2K-VX2dJm2q0GxiaGuADN2V5URzc4c3zSONPodRXkGDDJPrFHnHRTenuxjdvZU1GmFoYoWXacxPmxeE0G2g_wuBTwynyRf-m6m0cYOEidQlZEkEITYLrIHK21tJ_j%26sigh%3DOLWBFGxm7x3EZWBjqDKlxx2VqeI%26begin%3D0%26len%3D86400000%26docid%3D0&nogvlm=1&thumbnailUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.google.com%2FThumbnailServer2%3Fapp%3Dblogger%26contentid%3D1b2a28cbf80d6e11%26offsetms%3D5000%26itag%3Dw320%26sigh%3D4Ugcua5gqm-56xPufOCgISWoBZs&messagesUrl=video.google.com%2FFlashUiStrings.xlb%3Fframe%3Dflashstrings%26hl%3Den

Here is where we will be on Thursday. We are going to the morning show but there is a 7pm show and you can get tickets and help a good cause. The Rooftop of Virginia has tickets for $10. They are $30 tickets and were donated to Rooftop so all of the $10 goes to support their community outreach programs. Great opportunity to go see a fun show and leave early and do a little Christmas shopping in Greensboro.