Decorations

Here are a few decorations in our home...

Living Room - Our Family Tree

View from the front door

Our First Christmas Tree!

Lots of lights!

My Gone With the Wind ornaments

Longwood University - Class of 2005

No tree (at least in the Smith household) is complete without Duke and Panthers ornaments!

Lucy LOVES the tree!

Dining Room - with our red and gold themed tree

I've been buying red and gold ornaments on sale for the last few years to have enough for a themed tree!

Candy and decorations

My Christmas dishes matched Michael's glasses!

Outside pictures to come!  :)

PINK at Daddy's house?!

McKayla came home last night to a well-lit home decorated for Christmas.  She was so excited about all of the lights and having TWO trees!  It was dark when she got home, so I don't think she noticed the Christmas flags outside until we left for school this morning...

McKayla:  We have pink flags!

Me:  Yep! Do you like them?

McKayla: They're PINK!

Me:  I know.

McKayla:  Of course I do!

Lucy Meets Hermie

When Lucy and I moved in a few months ago, I was a little worried about Hermie the hermit crab.  Lucy is a sweet cat, but she's not a fan of other animals.  Hermie lived in the laundry room until it got chilly, then I moved him into the pantry (I know this is not ideal, but I wanted him alive!), until I finally moved him into our bedroom.  Hermie has been pretty inactive the whole time I've known him, so Lucy didn't pay much attention to him.... that was until I dropped poor Hermie's cage... right off of the tall dresser... and onto the floor. Oops.  Hermie fell out of the cage and I was really worried about him.  We moved him into McKayla's room and bring him into the living room from time to time to "hang out with the family."  Ever since his great fall, Hermie's been pretty active.  I really think he's just terrified.  Lucy started to notice Hermie since he's been moving around so much.  Here is the first meeting.  I think it went pretty well.

Thanksgiving

As the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays approach, I am trying to constantly remind myself what is important.  It is so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the season, the gift giving and decorating, the running from house to house to make sure you get a visit with everyone.  Tonight, we didn't get home until 10PM, but I decided to let McKayla stay up anyway and help me bake a pie.  I'm glad I did; even though she got peanut butter all over her little fingers and I had to keep reminding her to not touch something, it meant a lot to both of us.  We put on our aprons and I was able to teach her something.  She said I was making her a baker - that no one had done that with her before.  I never knew what a blessing a step-child could be.  She has truly become my daughter and I love her so much.

This Thanksgiving, I truly have more to be thankful for than I could have ever imagined.  I have a wonderful, loving husband.  We have a beautiful daughter.  I have the best family ever.  I have a warm, cozy home and a good job.  I really have no reason to complain, although I admit that hasn't stopped me.  I have SO MUCH TO BE THANKFUL FOR.

Here are some of the lyrics to one of my favorite songs. It comes from Josh Groban's holiday cd and is called "Thankful":


Some days we forget
To look around us
Some days we can't see
The joy that surrounds us
So caught up inside ourselves
We take when we should give.

So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be.
And on this day we hope for
What we still can't see.
It's up to us to be the change
And even though we all can still do more
There's so much to be thankful for.




Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Shower Talk

Last night, I started running the shower for McKayla (it takes a bit for our water to get warm!).  She called me into the bathroom and told me her water was too hot.  After adjusting the temperature, I asked if it felt better. Her response was, "Yes, I love it! That's my temperature! You got it, Lindsey, you got it!"