Chasing Life

I have definitely noticed a trend this holiday season...lots of people are looking to simplify Christmas. Some are more money-conscious because of the economy, some are looking to make the holidays less stressful, and some are feeling convicted to put more Christ into Christmas. Whatever the reason, I support them 100% since we did the same thing 5 years ago. Quite a few people have asked me over the past couple of weeks how we do Christmas with the kids, so I decided to write a blog post about it. It's quite long, but I wanted to show how things progressed into what we do now so bear with me. In 2005 we left the Midwest (where we both grew up) and moved to the east coast for my husband's job. We also had our first child that fall. We were fortunate enough to be able to fly home one month later to spend Christmas with our families, but having a new baby and flying back home for the holidays drastically changed our attitude towards Christmas. I was still trying to get the hang...

I love having a real Christmas tree, but how ridiculous is it that I have to hire a 'tree-sitter' while we go on vacation for a week?!? There is no way around it if I still want our tree to be alive when we get back home...    ( 8:51pm yesterday ) On tap for dinner tonight: grapefruit, deli ham, olives, extra sharp cheddar, and baby dills. It's called the 'mama doesn't feel like cooking' special!    ( 5:09pm yesterday ) So I'm thinking of going on a 4-day ice cream diet. Nothing but ice cream for the next four days. Wonder what that would do to the scale. I'm thinking nothing too major if I don't eat any other food...    ( 2:31pm December 6th, 2010 ) Weight loss goal #2 achieved! 20 pounds lost in 3 months, which means all my baby weight is now off and I'm back down to what I weighed on my wedding day. So nice to know this is the last time I'll ever have to do this (unless God surprises us with an 'oops' baby)! One m...