30 Days of Thankfulness; Day 30

Dear November,

It's been good.

No, I mean it. It's been really, really good.

And oh, how you chose to go out! What a marvelous wintery white day! -A snow day in which the boys awoke on their own (the joy of not being awakened by mama hurrying you around!) and the curtains were pushed aside to show them the wonder that their world had become. No school was certainly icing on that cake!

This day has been a sweet representation of this month.

November, you have taught me much about thankfulness. I thought I was thankful before, and I was -  in a "oh, we always have food on the table" kind of a way.

But the past 30 days have been more about pausing, reflecting, and finding the beauty in all of it.

Today: Thankful hardly comes close. It was beautiful! I was up at 5:45 and soon after, got the message that all area schools were closed.

I got some laundry done and had some sweet time with my Bible, highlighter, journal, and pen (*happy sigh*).

One by one the boys began to get up. Those bed head sporting, eye rubbing, little men bobbling down the stairs with confusion on their faces, as to why mama had not awakened them, made my smile wide.

I just turned around and opened the curtains. The sun was arising with these glowing beams of pink and a tangerine orange color. It made the snow sparkle - as if it just couldn't wait to reveal itself to the boys of the house.

And I thought my smile was huge.

After telling the boys there was no school,

 ("At all today?! Are you sure?! NONE?!"), 

I whipped up some baked oatmeal. There was such a festive excitement in the air.

Oh, and it was pretty loud.

The Green girls risked their lives out on the highway to come see us and our kidos played together out in the lovely winter wonderland.

It was good. And I am thankful!

Visiting with a dear friend, sipping warm beverages, talking about thankfulness... How very fitting.

When Dave got home we waited for Kai to wake up from his nap, and then headed out to a Christmas tree farm down the road. For the first time we picked out our own growing tree, and cut it down. Fun stuff!

K loves all things Charlie Brown. You can probably deduct why this photo was taken. No, this did not end up in the back of our truck. :)

Poor Lil' Kai was nearly hip deep in snow, in some areas, so I picked him up and we made a big deal about every tree we saw.

The sun was setting and the entire area smelled like Christmas.

Thankful. It's becoming more and more like a heart beat instead of a choice.

Our next stop was to buy more lights, giggle at the silly santas, and ogle the sparkling pre lit trees at Lowes. We finished out trip to town by swinging through the Little Ceaser's drive through (You gotta love a hot n' ready pizza on paper plates some nights...).

After dinner I started in on the second half of the 8 dozen cookies needed for our Mom2mom cookie give away and cookie exchange tomorrow morning.

Insert fact: Eight dozen is alot.

The boys helped cut sugar cookies out for a while, but then it was bed time, and since we can't count on every day being an enchanted winter wonderland of sleeping in and no school, they really needed to get to bed.

I just watched the lighting of the Rockefeller Christmas tree and am in process of painting all of these cookies.

I have much to be thankful for. And the past 30 days have given a jump start to some really important things in my heart.