Maybe my favorite holiday.

I love New Years.

The holiday season flies by at the speed of light, stress and angst at every corner.

In October, there's Halloween, in which the part of me that grew up Southern Baptist can never be comfortable celebrating, and the part of me that is a health food nut can never be okay with the candy consumption. But we jump in with both feet, costumes, trick-or-treating, candy and all.

In November, there's Thanksgiving, in which I feel the need to prove my domestic fabulousness, even though I'm the only one who really gives a rip, and my kids don't like anything but the turkey and dinner rolls. Oh yeah, and try to remember to um, be THANKFUL and stuff. But we count our blessings at least twice, three or four times if I'm really on top of it, and I try not to feel too guilty about whichever family we're not with this year.

In December, oh, it's a DOOZY! In December, I try to manage our budget while simultaneously buying or making a thoughtful gift for every single person we know, feel guilty about the not-thoughtful gifts, try not to give in to the stress of imperfections in the thoughtful gifts, forget to make dinner, forget to buy food in general, feel angsty about the whole Santa thing, forget to even PLAN a gift for at least three people, second guess the plan... And yell at my husband a lot for not being psychic. Oh yeah, and teach my children that WE LOVE CHRISTMAS because JESUS! YAY JESUS!

Dude. Here's why I love the new year:

Tomorrow, life will be boring.

For a couple months, we will work on re-establishing a rhythm. I will forget a bunch of minor holidays and shrug it off. Sometime in February, all the stuff we've been working on since August will start to come together. I will take deep breaths.

The days will start to get longer. Flowers and trees will bloom. I'll be able to find God in the slowness of not trying to make everything perfect for celebrations he never commanded anyway. Every New Year, I remember what faith feels like. What hope and optimism look like.

A New Year. Welcome, 2013.

Benjamin's Quilt

Last week, as I was thinking about the kids' Christmas gifts, I needed to come up with something for Benjamin. As the poor fourth kid, there is absolutely nothing he needs, but obviously we want to mark his first Christmas with something special.

I decided to make him a small quilt, just as fast as I possibly could... And I busted this sucker out in just a few days:

Sunday, I bought the fabric,
Monday, I cut and began piecing it,
Tuesday, I finished piecing it and made the quilt sandwich,
Wednesday, I quilted it, cut the binding... AND.... My iron died. IRON FAIL.

We left for Brian's company meeting, and my sweet sister gave me my kids and her iron on the way home, so Sunday, I bound it.

The quilt is backed in a cozy flannel that I found on Joann.com on Black Friday for $1.98 per yard. Score!

Finished size is 38x48

Happy Birthday, Isaac!

Isaac has hit that phase where every little thing that goes wrong, no matter how minor, warrants the Death Scream. He'll outgrow it soon, I'm sure; the others did it too. In the meantime, I have about three heart attacks a day, and inevitably, DON'T come when he's actually hurt.

On the other hand, Brenna has figured out how to make him laugh really quickly, and its such fun to see her step into that role on behalf of her pesky little brother.

In related news, last night, the kids were being SO LOUD in bed, what with the cackling, bouncing and merry-making, Brian made a sarcastic comment about it clearly being time for sleep. I responded, "yeah, but they really like each other."

"Yeah, I guess they do," he said, and we sat there for a bit and just enjoyed that idea.

Animals are people too, I guess.

"Benjamin, you have so many people who love you!" I told him.

"Yeah, you have me, you have Paisley, you have Brenna, you have the chickies...." says Nathan.

Thankful

This Thanksgiving, the blessing that stands out to me most is the gift of exceptional friends. While my friends have always been amazing, recently, I feel that we have turned our attentions to spurring one another on to holiness so much more than happiness.

Thank you, ladies. For helping me grow, for demanding it. For not being content to stay the people we are, but also for loving, unconditionally, the people we are. For turning my eyes to Him.

I am thankful for you.

Beards

Says Brenna:

There are two people in our family with beards now. But Paisley can't get rid of hers.