it's lovely weather for a carriage ride together with you

Through Groupon I purchased a gift certificate to Camel City Carriage Company for a carriage ride in downtown Winston-Salem.  We used it last Friday night and it was a lot of fun.  We bundled the kids up and held them close as our horse took the carriage leisurely down Fourth Street.  Doc was our horse and Ginger was our "guide".  Our carriage was rather full as I guess this is a popular time of year for the company.  There was a group with two adults and four high school girls riding with us.  It was a chilly 41 degrees that day and I'm not sure how low it had gotten by 8pm that night, but I'm sure it was already below freezing.  Fortunately, we had blankets to cover our laps with.  Here are the few pictures we got.

 

on gray (or is it grey?)

A few years ago I noticed my first gray hair.  I think it was right after Julianna was born.  (coincidence? he he heee)  It totally took me by surprise.  Not the hair itself, but the simple fact of how much it bothered me.  I never thought I would mind my hair turning gray.

Anyway, I really, really hated seeing the gray hairs sticking up.  I hated finding one on my shoulder.  I hated seeing them coming up out of my part on the top of my head.  I don't think it was so much the color that bothered me as it was the coarseness of the hair which made them stick up tall and completely noticeable. 

You see, I have never dyed my hair in my life.  I've never had highlights or lowlights or even used temporary home hair-color.  I probably sprayed my hair with some of that spray-paint hair stuff a time or two when I was younger, I don't really remember, but I know I've never colored my hair.

So it's taken me a while but I think I'm finally getting to the point where it doesn't bother me at all.  I get more and more grays every day, but I hardly even notice them anymore.  I could be wrong, but I think I'll like it even more when the majority of my hair is gray instead of mostly brown with some gray speckled throughout.

Now my thoughts are more along the lines of wanting to embrace my natural changing hair color always.  Honestly, I'm pretty disappointed in myself for even flinching at the gray to begin with.  I hope to make it the rest of my life with an appreciation for the beauty in my natural hair.  We'll see.

What do you think about your own hair?  Is it gray?  Is it falling out?  What do you like and dislike? 

Christmas lights

Last Saturday night we rode to Greensboro to see some lights.  Julianna had been begging to return to Tanglewood's Festival of Lights, but we (translate: I) couldn't see paying $15 to take our Suburban through a few miles of lights that we've seen half a dozen times already.

I had heard somewhere about a neighborhood in Greensboro called Sunset Hills that had a lot of houses with some sort of "ball" lights on display so we decided to check it out.  It was beautiful.



Here's my crappy cell phone pics from inside the car.  You can click on the pics to enlarge them, but still.  They don't do it justice

Fun stuff!  Check it out if you're in the area.

North Carolina Digital Library

I love to read. I wouldn’t call myself an avid reader, but that’s just because I don’t have as much time to actually do it as much as I’d like. Nevertheless, there’s not much I enjoy more than losing myself in some sort of fictional story.


Ever since my kids were born I’ve struggled even more with finding the time to finish a good book. Beyond summers at the beach I never could squeeze in even the most casual of chick lit. Then my husband somehow got me hooked up with the audio books provided by our local library.


At first I was skeptical. I don’t consider myself to be an audible learner and I thought I’d have trouble concentrating on audiobooks since I had when I gave them a try once before. For some reason now I find it a lot easier. Maybe it’s because having children made me a better multi-tasker or maybe it’s just because I have given up on catching every. single. word. in every story I read, but anyway the NCDL has been a blessing for me because it’s brought me back to “reading.”


Here’s how it works: Anyone with a Forsyth County library card can go online and check out four audiobooks at a time through NCDL. You can browse the digital library collection in a way that is similar to browsing books online at places like Amazon.com. You can download these things in a matter of minutes and have them on your computer to play while you’re folding laundry. Or you can transfer them to your iPod to listen to while you exercise – actually, who am I kidding? – you can listen to them on your iPod in the car while you shuttle kids around. The point is that the audiobook is just as portable as a hard copy.

Each digital file can be “checked out” for one week. After that the file is no longer accessible. You can add your name to a wait list for the more popular books and most lists are not long at all. You are notified via email when a book becomes available. If you don’t finish a book in the seven days you’re allowed to have the digital file you can always check it out again or if you don’t reconnect and sync your iPod to your computer you can continue to play the file until you finish the book.


At this rate I can easily finish a book in a week and it’s such a stress reliever for me to get lost in that storytime again. One day I look forward to actually reading again, but for this season of my life, digital books work for me.

With all of the eReaders that are becoming popular these days, I suggest giving the NC Digital Library a try first and seeing how you like it. You’ll have access to thousands of books instantly and you’ll save a lot of money in the process. Find out more by visiting http://ncdigital.lib.overdrive.com/.

live nativity

Sunday night we went to a nearby church that had a live nativity.  Given Julianna's love for nativities I knew she would enjoy it.  Plus, this seemed like a good year to find a church with a live one because it seems to be the year where materialism has really clicked with Jules and even with myself getting wrapped up in the presents and other "stuff" instead of the birth of our Savior.

Well anyway, it was cold.  I mean FREEZING cold.  And raining.  We kept hesitating about whether or not we should attempt it or not.  And we were dressed up before going to Jonathan's grandmother's annual Christmas party so when we got there we waited in the car since there really weren't many people out at all.

While we were waiting we kept hearing the donkey braying and we watched the cow eating some hay.  Josh had no idea what was going on, but he was definitely interested in the animal noises he heard and why we were just sitting there in the car.  Then they let the sheep out and Julianna got so excited she couldn't sit still.  She was climbing all around in her seat.

When the characters finally came out and the story started, we tried to watch from the car, but eventually Jules and I jumped out of the car and went to stand with the other people to listen to the story.  Jonathan and Joshua stayed in the car and they could hear pretty well from there, they just couldn't see everything.

As we stood outside the rain turned to snow and it was almost magical.  I'll be honest.  It was almost so cold that my brain couldn't function properly, but I've found myself reflecting back on the story several times since then, thinking about what it must have been like for Mary and Joseph traveling all that way and freezing cold themselves. I've wondered about the wise men following yonder star and King Herod being a "bad man" as Julianna put it, but basically just a man who was afraid of a little baby taking his place as king of the Jews.

We had to get back in the car before the play was over, but I'm so glad we heard what we did.  I am grateful for so many things.  Today I am mostly grateful for a fresh perspective.

For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

for unto us a child is born

Both my mother and my mother-in-law have a nice collection of nativity sets.  We also have a considerable number of aunts, grandmothers, and great aunts who have their own selection of nativities.  Early on Julianna developed a fascination with the manger and the baby Jesus.

When I got out one of my nativity sets from when I was a kid, it entertained her for hours.  She would pick baby Jesus up and kiss him gently.

Julianna's enthusiasm encouraged people to give her more and more nativity scenes. This Christmas we have no fewer than nine nativities around the house and most of them are played with daily.

I often find them like this:

Or like this:

And the ones in my mom's house always get rearranged so that everyone is looking at Jesus like this:

Recently, we got a little finger puppet set from Oriental Trading Company and Julianna would get behind a chair and put on a show for us using Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, and the three Wise Men.  She would exclaim, "What a precious baby!" and then the puppets would give him a kiss.

I don't want to forget these moments.

For to us a child is born,

   to us a son is given,
   and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
   Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
   Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

party time

Jonathan's mother is one of those unfortunate souls with a birthday during Christmas week.  This year she will celebrate a milestone birthday and we wanted to give a surprise party in her honor.  We got the fellowship hall at her church reserved and talked with her Sunday School class about arranging their "Christmas party" for the same night.  We mailed invitations to about fifty or sixty families, ordered a cake, and with Jonathan's grandmother's help we got old pictures of her to display and made lots of finger foods for everyone to enjoy.

waiting for Mamaw to arrive

When she got to the church she knew by the amount of cars that something unusual was going on.  She was hesitant to go inside and once she did, I think she was pretty surprised that everyone was there for her, especially since her birthday is still a couple of weeks off.

There were a lot of people there and I'm pretty sure everyone had a good time. The kids were running around and the adults were eating and talking.

I don't think she was too upset that we pulled one over on her.  At least I hope not!

Happy birthday, Karen!