Savoring...

We took these two little monkeys to the airport on Monday.
It was such a gift to have a couple of weeks with them.
We certainly miss their voices and giggles. Thank heavens for
skype!

We are savoring the last week of the year. It's so nice that
it feels like time just slows down after Christmas. Our beautiful
valley is covered in a snowy white blanket. The girls and Mark have
enjoyed some really sweet ski days...and Davis hopes to get up there
soon! He has been a hard working boy. We are thinking of the new
year just around the corner. Plans for trips and personal goals and projects are in the works. Life is good.

Reality Check

So begins the countdown. Just 16 days until Thanksgiving and 46 until Christmas. I am making time today to organize my life and see how well I can fit everything I think I might be able to to on nice clean planner pages. I am usually a list maker but with an upcoming trip and family who will soon be arriving, I am taking it to the next level. It will all be written in pencil - that's a given. I actually did a search to see what tips and advice I could glean from the juicy web and came across the following comment. It made me laugh really hard.

"Oh, to have a perfect Christmas!" This potent illusion grabs us by the throat sometime in September. It lifts only on the afternoon of December 25, in concert with the 3 p.m. Christmas post-gift letdown. It's a fancy subscribed to by many well-meaning holiday planners. It sells one heck of a lot of Christmas magazines. To my dismay, it may even have motivated you to join this Countdown! The culprit? The Ghost of Christmas Perfection. This siren song sings as follows: "It is possible to organize a completely stress-free, hassle-free, calm, serene and spiritual holiday season!" In a word, nuts. This Web site notwithstanding. Paying heed to the idea of a "perfect Christmas" will clog your planning and cloud your joy--and it's just not possible. Over the years of my adult life, I've been organized and I've been disorganized. I've been child-free and child-bound, swamped with house guests or all alone. I will tell you: it is simply not possible to create a perfectly organized holiday season. There will always be something. Always.

Well, I won't be joining any countdowns - I'm sure about that one, but I do want to make the most of my time and while doing so, keep things real! The lady is right - there is ALWAYS something. But such is life, it keeps us on our toes. We just need to keep a great sense of humor about us and enjoy the journey. So with one foot into the future and the other on the moment...the clock keeps ticking. Time to prioritize things for the first of many over the next few weeks. Happy planning!

Our Japanese Maple is showing her best colors these days and the snow is falling as I type. November in Cache Valley.

...and a few "peeps"

Emily at dance practice - I'm peeping through the peep hole :)

Our cute little cupie doll - I love finding pics they have
snapped of themselves.
It always makes me smile.