Welcome to Friday’s Fave Five, hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, in which we can share five of our favorite things from the last week, a wonderful exercise in looking for and appreciating the good things God blesses us with. Click on the button to learn more, then go to Susanne’s to read others’ faves and link up your own.

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas! Ours was great. Here are some highlights of the last week:

1. Christmas, of course. I could make a “fave five” list just from Christmas Day, but I’ll include the family time, great food, presents, and contemplation of our Savior’s birth all in one.

2. My new PINK laptop! I’ve always used the desktop, and some of my portable devices are fine for reading but not so great for posting or commenting. I’ve already put this to good use.

3. The Hobbit, followed by dinner and games at Jason and Mittu’s house with friends. Didn’t like this film quite as much as The Fellowship of the Rings, but it was fun.

4. Swiss-Ham-Ring-Around, one of our favorite Christmas leftover meals.

5. Time off. Jim is off through Tuesday and Jeremy is here through the weekend, so we’re enjoying just hanging out most of the time with some excursions here and there. Yesterday we did something I have been wanting to do since we moved here: we went to the World’s Fair Park and went up into the Sunsphere. I feel much more Knoxvillian now. 🙂

Here’s the view down below of the amphitheater and part of the park from the observatory:

Then we stopped in at the nearby Museum of Art (because they had a sign advertising free admission and because I needed a bathroom…), and they had a really neat display of miniature rooms.

All in all a fun outing.

Hope you’re having a great week, too!

Welcome to Friday’s Fave Five, hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, in which we can share five of our favorite things from the last week, a wonderful exercise in looking for and appreciating the good things God blesses us with. Click on the button to learn more, then go to Susanne’s to read others’ faves and link up your own.

It’s been a busy but lovely week. Here are some of the best parts:

1. Our 33rd anniversary is today!

2. A night on the town. We went to a concert earlier in the week to celebrate our anniversary. We didn’t like the concert so much (left at intermission), but we loved the building it was in, the Tennessee Theatre.

Before the concert started we were turning in our seats, gawking, and taking pictures like country cousins coming to town for the first time, but didn’t care. 🙂

And we very much enjoyed walking around the older part of downtown (I love looking at old buildings) all dressed up for Christmas (the building and trees, not us. 🙂 ) and stopping for a bite to eat at a hippie-ish pizza place. One group of couples looked at us and smiled as we walked in, and I wondered what they were thinking. Maybe they were just being friendly, but we imagined them thinking, “Aw, look at the ‘older couple’ out on a date.” 🙂

3. Christmas films and specials and programs. We caught “It’s a Wonderful Life” earlier in the month and “Elf” this week (I’ve only seen the TV version and it’s pretty clean — can’t vouch for the DVD) as well as “White Christmas” and “Rudolph.” Fun to watch while working on a Christmas stitching project (for a present, so no sneak peeks!) Plus our adult Christmas program at church was last Sunday night, always enjoyable. For the past couple of years instead of a cantata they’ve just done a series of songs and readings from different folks at church.

4. Jeremy (oldest son) came home last night and is here for over a week!

5. A Christmas gift sewing project has been going relatively well. I’m not the best seamstress — I do literally pray over it, especially the trickier sections —  but I have only had to rip out a few stitches so far. I keep telling myself, though, I should have started this way back in the fall!

Bonus: Christmas bonuses from my husband’s company, and a generous husband who shares a portion with his family: he gave us each a bit of Christmas “mad money.”

I am not sure how much I will be online between now and Christmas except for the “Fall Into Reading ” wrap-up tomorrow, so I’ll take this opportunity to say I hope that all your remaining preparations go well and that you have a wonderful Christmas time remembering, especially, that a Savior was born in order to eventually die for us in order that we might believe in and live with Him.

Welcome to Friday’s Fave Five, hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, in which we can share five of our favorite things from the last week, a wonderful exercise in looking for and appreciating the good things God blesses us with. Click on the button to learn more, then go to Susanne’s to read others’ faves and link up your own.

It’s been a busy but enjoyable week. Here are some favorite parts of it:

1. Jim is feeling much better. Still runs out of energy by evening and still has a cough but he is much better than he was last week.

2. Unexpected refunds. One company I ordered from online for the first time sent me an e-mail that they hadn’t gotten my order out when originally planned, so they refunded the shipping charges. Since I had ordered early for Christmas and it wasn’t “crunch time,” I hadn’t even really noticed that the order wasn’t in on time, but I appreciate the integrity of this company. Then we decided that something we ordered from another company wasn’t what we needed, and when I contacted them to send it back, they sent us a refund but said we didn’t need to return it.

3. Another bird feeder. I put a feeder containing suet up just outside the window by my desk, where hanging plants were in the spring and summer. It took a while for the birds to find it but now I see them there regularly and more close-up than the bird feeder by the tree. But I can’t seem to get a picture — I guess they’re close enough that they see or sense movement and fly off when I reach for the camera. Maybe they’ll get used to me after a while.

4. Caroling for “at-home” members. Last Sunday night our church broke up into smaller groups and took care baskets to some of our older members who can’t get out to church much and sang Christmas carols to them. My mother-in-law was one of those whom they went to. I wasn’t able to go but Jim said it went really well. Sometimes she’s too sleepy to interact much, but he said she sang along with some of the songs and enjoyed the visit.

5. Pumpkin Spice Swirl Bread. I passed by a display of this in the grocery store and then went back to pick one up. It’s more like regular sandwich bread with a bit of pumpkin and cinnamon flavor than regular pumpkin bread, but it makes good toast and is a nice seasonal change.

Hope you have a great week!

Welcome to Friday’s Fave Five, hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, in which we can share five of our favorite things from the last week, a wonderful exercise in looking for and appreciating the good things God blesses us with. Click on the button to learn more, then go to Susanne’s to read others’ faves and link up your own.

It’s not been one of the very best weeks — poor hubby has been sick for a week now. Some weeks you have to look a little harder for some good points, but there are almost always some to be found.

1. Medicine. Jim had been holding off going to the doctor, figuring if he had just a cold or even the flu it would just need to run its course. But it had gone on a long time and the weekend was coming up, so we thought maybe he should try to get in in case of strep or an infection. He was given an antibiotic for bronchitis and prednisone for swelling and inflammation, so hopefully once those kick in he’ll start to mend.

2. The Children’s Christmas program at our church Sunday night. They do the exact same program with kids each year (except they may do different songs): a portrayal of Christ’s birth with Mary, Joseph, the inn keeper, shepherds, wise men, angels, etc. The cutest are the little ones in animal costumes made like footie pajamas. I wasn’t even sure I was going to go that night — Jim was home sick, I hadn’t been feeling all that great that morning, I thought, “It’s just going to be the same thing as last year…” But I am glad I did. It was enjoyable and those programs help set the tone for the season.

3. This sweet carol sung by some of the older girls in the children’s program.

4. Cozy books are always a fave, but I just finished an audiobook of At Home in Mitford and started Little Women. They make me want to curl up with a blanket and keep listening, but I try to keep them to when I am driving or curling my hair, etc.

5. Watching Little Women (the Winona Ryder version) with my daughter-in-law one evening when they were here to do laundry. My son was there, too, but I think he was working on something on the computer most of the time. I had been wanting to watch it in conjunction with reading the book (no worry about spoilers since I had read the book and seen the DVD many times before) and because, though it’s not specifically a Christmas story, it begins at Christmas and has another significant Christmas in it. It was fun to watch it with Mittu.

Hope you have a great weekend! I’m hoping to catch up on what I didn’t get done this week: Christmas cards!

Welcome to Friday’s Fave Five, hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, in which we can share five of our favorite things from the last week, a wonderful exercise in looking for and appreciating the good things God blesses us with. Click on the button to learn more, then go to Susanne’s to read others’ faves and link up your own.

It has been a full, good, productive week! Here are some favorite parts of it:

1. Time with family. Jim and Jeremy were both off through Monday, when we had to take Jeremy back to the airport, so we had the entire weekend to just hang out, play games, and…

2. Decorate the Christmas tree. It’s up earlier than usual for us — Thanksgiving was the earliest it could be, but I love doing this all together while Jeremy is here. And now I feel like we have an extra week for Christmas activities. 🙂

3. Getting the bulk of the Christmas shopping done, most of it online– first time ever that’s happened before it’s even December. And I have a great deal of it wrapped already, mainly because I didn’t want bags and boxes cluttering up the closet or sewing room.

4. A lunch date at Cracker Barrel. After we dropped Jeremy off at the airport, Jim took me to lunch at Cracker Barrel, one of my favorite places, but one he’s not crazy about, so it meant a lot to me. ♥ They had a special on chicken and dressing that was really good (except for a few loose bones…), and their Coca-Cola cake is luscious.

5. Mini pink-decorated Christmas tree on my desk. I got this at a little shop where we used to live, and I don’t remember where I used to put it in the old house, but here it fits just right on the side of my desk.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Welcome to Friday’s Fave Five, hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, in which we can share five of our favorite things from the last week, a wonderful exercise in looking for and appreciating the good things God blesses us with. Click on the button to learn more, then go to Susanne’s to read others’ faves and link up your own.

It has been a wonderful week! Here are some favorite parts of it:

1. Having all the family home.

2. An on-time flight. Jeremy’s flight here always seems to get delayed until the wee hours of the morning, but this time it came in a smidgen early.

3. Thanksgiving and everything involved with it.

4. Special foods for the holidays.

5. Our church’s fall festival – chili cook-off, soups, pies, a variety show, and testimonies.

Short and sweet this week — family’s here, shopping to be done, decorating tomorrow. Have a great weekend!

Welcome to Friday’s Fave Five, hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, in which we can share five of our favorite things from the last week, a wonderful exercise in looking for and appreciating the good things God blesses us with. Click on the button to learn more, then go to Susanne’s to read others’ faves and link up your own.

I was thinking I didn’t really have anything to share this week: it hasn’t been a bad week but it has just been fairly ordinary with nothing in particular standing out (And that’s not all bad. I like weeks like that. 🙂 ) But as usual, just a little thought and reflection brought to mind a few favorite parts, one reason I love this meme.

1. A minor earthquake — not having an earthquake but the fact that it was a minor one. We’re not prone to them here in the Southeast, so when the floors started vibrating and windows rattling I didn’t think much of it at first…but when it kept on for several moments, I began to wonder. Turns out there was a 4.3 magnitude earthquake in eastern Kentucky that we felt here in TN. I mentioned an ordinary week above — this was definitely not ordinary but since it happened Saturday I had forgotten to include it in the happenings since the last FFF at first.

2. Cooking and baking brightening up a dreary day. Monday was one of those grey, rainy days that can be a little depressing if I focus on it. My son and daughter-in-law were coming over for dinner and laundry, and as I got to working on dinner and even baked a small batch of cookies (nothing fancy, just something from a pre-made mix) while listening to music, I forgot all about the day outside and felt quite cozy. And having them over and catching up on news with them was fun, too.

3. Sunny days after rainy ones.

4. Finding a new recipe that everyone likes. I tried a new recipe I saw on Pinterest, and it’s a keeper: Poppy Seed Chicken.

5. Adoption. This is National Adoption Month, so adoption has been on my mind for several days. I shared a poem about an adoptee’s two moms and a personal adoption story earlier this week.

Bonus. This — an airline flight briefing with a Middle Earth flavor.

We are looking forward to Thanksgiving this week! Though it seems like it came up more quickly than usual! Both my oldest son and Mittu’s mom are coming!

Welcome to Friday’s Fave Five, hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, in which we can share five of our favorite things from the last week, a wonderful exercise in looking for and appreciating the good things God blesses us with. Click on the button to learn more, then go to Susanne’s to read others’ faves and link up your own.

We had a super-busy weekend, but thankfully the last few days have been a little more restful. Here are some favorites since last Friday:

1. Having a get-together to get to know some folks better. We didn’t sign up for our church’s Dinner For Six this session as Jim was traveling quite a lot in October and it’s hard to fit it in around the holidays. But we did have some couples over last Sunday night after church and had an enjoyable time.

2. Lots of goodies. I thought I had seen the idea for mini pumpkin bundt cakes on Pinterest, but couldn’t find it just now. I did see big cakes done like this there, though. But they also had these in Family Circle magazine this month. Here is how mine turned out for our get-together:

Jim thought one looked a little angry. 🙂

I used my Harvest Loaf cake recipe in mini bundt pans with cinnamon sticks and pretzels as stems.

We had lots of goodies — homemade caramel corn, Choco Peanut Butter Dreams, barbecue meatballs, sandwiches, cheese and crackers from a guest, and Mittu made some great homemade tortilla chips and spinach dip. We’ve been enjoying leftovers all week even after sending a few things to my oldest son and giving some away to our guests.

3. Unexpected help. Some time ago I made a master cleaning list for when company came (not that I don’t do those things when company isn’t coming — I just don’t get them all done at the same time normally). My list was out on the counter when I went to the store: Jim saw it and started working on the things I hadn’t checked off yet. He’s a keeper. 🙂

4. A dinner made by someone else. Mittu offered to make dinner the next day after our get-together, and I gladly accepted. It was nice to have a night off from the kitchen. She made a couple of great cheeseburger pies.

5. Winning a give-away! I won Courting Cate from Leslie Gould during the Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt a couple of weeks ago and received it this week. I’ve never read Leslie’s books before and I am looking forward to trying this one out.

Happy Friday!

Welcome to Friday’s Fave Five, hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, in which we can share five of our favorite things from the last week, a wonderful exercise in looking for and appreciating the good things God blesses us with. Click on the button to learn more, then go to Susanne’s to read others’ faves and link up your own.

It’s been a great week! Here are some of its highlights:

1. An invitation to dinner. Often I am the one who asks if we can go out to eat or bring something in, and I sometimes feel a little guilty when I do, like I’m slacking off on my job. 🙂 But last Friday my husband called on the way home from work and asked if I wanted to get dinner out somewhere. Yes, of course! We went to Red Lobster — love their popcorn shrimp.

2. Safety in the storm. We were concerned for our son in RI when Hurricane Sandy was headed to the northeastern coast, but his area only received a bit of wind and rain. My heart goes out to those who were more severely affected.

3. A false alarm. On Wednesday afternoon I was startled to notice in the mirror what looked like something big on my lower left eye. Putting on my glasses and looking more closely, I saw it was a blood red patch bigger than a pencil eraser but smaller than a dime. I thought it might be a broken blood vessel, looked that up on Google, and it fits the symptoms (subconjunctive hemorrhage, technically). Thankfully it is not a big deal and should go away eventually. Unfortunately it’s spreading, which is normal, too — the tissue in the eye can’t absorb it like the tissue anywhere else in the body could. But though it looks gross, it only feels a little irritated.

4. Making headway on organizing my craft/sewing room. Still have a lot to do to make it more functional, but got a big chunk done this week.

5. A word in due season. Often I listen to music or an audiobook while making dinner, but last night I turned on a preaching program I sometimes listen to on the Christian radio station. The Bible story was familiar to me, but then the preacher drew an application from it that I had never made before, and it really blessed my heart and encouraged my prayers and hopes for some loved ones on my heart.

(Bonus) 6. An overflowing cup. Though all time in the Word and in prayer are beneficial, some days are just…special, and this morning was such a time for me.

Happy Friday!