We just returned from another successful James family Thanksgiving in High Point, NC. I missed my parents this year–they usually attend but are currently moving my brother into his apartment in So Cal–but still had a great and relaxing time.
Unfortunately, I worked three shifts in a row so I could have the entire weekend off and must have caught a bug because I came down with a nasty cold. The cold kept me from Black Friday shopping, playing football and going hiking. That was disappointing but I still had a nice time curled up by the fire eating pie, watching Star Wars, and reading The Lord of the Rings (which I finally finished!). Not a bad way to spend a holiday.
As cliche as it may sound, I am thankful for the gift of family. The older I get the more I realize what a blessing it is to have two families who love and support us the way they do. We greatly look forward to visiting both of our families and always return home refreshed and renewed. Our families also get along so well that we usually all spend Thanksgiving together (as I mentioned earlier). I have no doubt that if we all lived in the same state we’d all spend every holiday together and Jared and I would never have to choose who to visit!
True to my nature, I did not take a single picture of our Thanksgiving festivities, but everything was delicious. As holidays usually do, it all went by too fast and now it’s back to the grind.
I start working the night shift this week and will continue to do so for the month of December (until Christmas week). My first shift of the week is tonight and I’m not really sure what to do. I plan on taking a nap this afternoon before I go in, but it’s weird…like, I’m not sure what to eat. Should I eat dinner before I go in or breakfast? I already had breakfast this morning so that would be two breakfasts.
I guess I will have to figure this all out.
Jared and I began our annual advent tradition last night, the Jesse Tree readings. This is something that I started doing in India and hope to do every year (we actually didn’t do them last year because I was too stressed with school to pull it all together).
There are lots of different ways to observe advent. Some people do daily devotions, some do weekly and lighting candles. I like using a schedule of daily Scripture readings that I found on the internet. Rather than devotions, it just lists verses, a theme, and a symbol for each day. In India, I drew and cut out all the symbols by hand. Now, however, I use pictures of all the symbols that I found on the internet and printed off.
For example, yesterday the symbol was a crown and the readings were the anointing of King David and the passage in Isaiah about the Rod of Jesse. I really like this system because it takes you through the entire bible and you see how all of it points to the coming of Christ.
We usually sing a carol together afterwards too. It doesn’t sound too pretty (especially my part) but it is a joyful noise.
The Jesse Tree is something I hope to continue no matter how big or small our family is. I will never be the mom who is really crafty and creative. I will probably never have elaborate decorations or fancy parties. I am lucky if I can get our tree set up, watch one Christmas movie, and bake one batch of cookies before the holiday comes. Honestly, the entire Christmas season can often remind me of my failure as a female.
But my failures run a lot deeper than bad Christmas decorating. That is why we need Advent. We need Christ. And he came. That is what I want my family to celebrate. And we will.
But we’ll probably still bake some cookies 
.
Below are a few pics we took while walking through a state park near our house last week. I am so mad at myself for not taking any pictures while the leaves were still on the trees, but what can you do? The glories of autumn are fleeting. That makes them all the lovelier.
