Charlie Brown Christmas

White lights, red ribbon, Point of Grace . . . it's Christmastime again! So along comes that warm, homey feeling that transpires with the dream of forgetting life for a while and going home to see my mom. It's different than going home any other time of the year . . . maybe it's Jeff Kiel's roaring fires, or perhaps it's the decorations and warm lighting. It's almost magical the way that hope can make these cold December days a little more bearable. And this year there's even more to hope for because we get to celebrate Christmas together with both of our families.

Even though we're far from family for now, we've tried our best to bring Christmas cheer to our little home. However we're working with the holiday decoration collection of newly weds. Stores are selling Charlie Brown Christmas Trees for $20 this year, but our budget's gonna have to stick with authentic Charlie Brown decorations. It's a little sparse, but we've scrounged the yard and I think what we've come up with is quite lovely.

Christmas stars made out of sticks. They're hanging above Alex's head in the photo below.

We have a holly tree in our jungly yard that is absolutely huge. I never even noticed it until some holly clippings showed up on our doorstep one day. I'm not sure why they were or how they got there, but I'm glad they did!

It's subtle, but nice.

I clipped these fuzzy fern things in October for fall decorations, and as they've dried out they've gotten even more fluffy. I really like them! I didn't want to throw them out just yet, so I hung them upside down, tied them with red ribbon and ushered them right into Christmas.

And to make things feel a bit more like Christmas, it's expected to snow this weekend! Of course, I think the Floridians are the only ones looking forward to that. The weather here has been absolutely wonderful! It's been sunny for almost a week, which means that it's been cold! Apparently, it gets colder when there are no clouds in the sky. So with the abnormally cold weather now and the rains on the way. . . the forecast is calling for snow. Hopefully it won't last too long and we'll still be able to fly out on schedule!

Merry Christmas!