Happy Birthday Jesus!

On the 25th Day of December my daughter gave to me...... ( my gifts to Jesus)

ME!  .........silly girl, wife, mommy, mother-in-love, daughter, sister, friend, sinner, lover of Jesus, child of God!

As we get ready to welcome family into our home and sit and open presents, I look at the wrapped gifts. Some are so pretty with perfect bows and glistening paper and some are fancy gift bags with tons of tissue paper billowing out the top and others are more simple and plain with a name written on the tag or the ones in a trash bag with a bow (because they're too big for a gift bag or paper or a man wrapped it...lol) In the end it doesn't really matter what the wrapping looks like, because the gift inside is what matters. Sometimes I feel like the fancy wrapped gift and other times I feel like the trash bag. But inside, my heart is what Jesus wants and loves.

Happy Birthday Baby Jesus....thank you for being so awesome and not being picky about my wrapping paper!

(manger in the barn next to the Inn of Pinterest)

Merry Christmas to you and your Kin

The 24th day of December my daughter gave to me...... (my gifts to Jesus)

My Family.......  my handsome hunka hunka burnin love, my precious sonshines, my gorgeous daughter in love,  fun and loyal four legged fur babies....

I am a blessed silly girl...I truly don't deserve the wonderful people God has given me but I accept them with heartfelt gratitude. I hope I have handled them well and treat them with His grace and love. I know that sometimes when I look at them I well up with emotion, my heart filling up with so much love and pride that I think I might burst. (sometimes I do burst and it oozes out thru my fingertips and onto your screen!)  But Today I give them to Jesus for I know He will continue to bless them and keep them in the palm of His hands. That He will guide them thru life with it's ups and downs so that they may grow and learn to lean on Him and love Him more deeply.

This Christmas Eve may you feel the deep love and pride and grace that God has for you as you celebrate the birth of Sweet Baby Jesus.  He really does love me....and He really loves you too!

Merry Christmas....... may you have Joy and Laughter and oodles of Blessings in the coming year!

from my almost Mayberry little family to yours................. barra     oxoxoxoxoxo

BONUS POST! Bath Salts

Ok my peeps.... I was busy this morning making some bath Salts for gifts to people I love.

Here's a celly pic of them ...

Nighty Nite

bath salts

Epsom salt,

Baking Soda, Sea salt

Lavender, Valor,

Vetiver,  Cedarwood

 Feel Better

bath salts

Epsom salt,

Baking Soda, Sea salt

Lavender, Thieves, Raven, Peppermint

I use only Young Living Oils as they are the only ones I trust completely.  Stay tuned for more recipes and info throughout the year on my oily journey!! 

No time like the present....

On the 23rd day of December my daughter gave to me........ (my gifts to Jesus)

My focus.... scatterbrained, ADD head, easily distracted, never finish my projects, there's got to be an oil for this!

So as I sit down to write this blog post today I have a million things that need to be done yet..(don't we all on Dec 23rd?  please say yes!) I have started on 999,998 things and have only finished 2 so far. Ugh!  I am so scatterbrained and ADD ( no offense but I truly believe that had ADD/ADHD been a diagnose-able issue in the mid '70's I could've been a poster child!) Ok that being said I made a decision to get my mind together and get stuff done in an orderly fashion today so as not to be in Tazmanian devil mode tomorrow. Well........I did get 2 things done so far and it's only 2 pm.  There is hope for me yet! I find that this rings true in all areas of my life even the times I try to spend with Jesus. I am so easily distracted. Like an ostrich and shiny things. I have figured out tho that my best times to talk to Jesus is in the car with the radio turned off... can't get distracted by too much in there. But I'm not in my car everyday. We need to find what works for each of us in bringing our focus back to Jesus. Our nation needs to figure that out... our schools need to figure that out... our families need to figure that out.... but it starts with me and you and each individual. Bring the focus back to Jesus and love and grace. Bring the focus back to the present... what can I do to focus on those things this minute or this hour or this day because if I don't then....squirrel!

(a beautiful mantle sign that brings me back into focus in the living room of pinterest)

Seriously tho, how could this cute little Flickr squirrel not distract you? 

PS. about an oil for my scatterbrainedness.. actually, there is one... it's a young living oil called Vetiver...seems to be helping today... it's a little stinky tho..  but hey! If it works, right? 

Short but sweet.....

On the 22nd day of December, my daughter gave to me......(my gifts to Jesus)

My baking skills....... non existent, I'm no Betty Crocker, not much of a sweet tooth,

It is no secret that I do not bake. I do not have the skills required to do so. That is the skill of following directions. You have to follow a recipe to bake or it doesn't come out right,  right?  I can cook you under the table but will lose the baking contest every.single.time. I love cookbooks and will peruse them (or pinterest) all the time but rarely will you see me use it to actually cook a meal. I use them as "guidelines". You know, now that I think about it I'm not that way in real life. Or am I ?hmmmm....weird. I am a crazy, cuckoo, rule follower. I color inside the lines and freak out if I break a rule. But only in certain areas... like traffic laws or no trespassing signs.. other areas? Not so much. I have blue in my hair and ink on my skin and I am an old lady..perhaps too old for such shenanigans. Perhaps in cooking and other personal things, since they are not a life or death or incarceratible offenses (is that even a word?..ok I looked it up, it's incarcerable... I like mine better) anywho... since I can't go to jail for making bad cookies or meatloaf or having blue in my hair, I choose not to even follow the "rules'.  Haha..I'm such a rebel!  Well there is only one rule to follow when it comes to Jesus and that is to love Him with all my heart, mind, soul and strength. You know what? That is the easiest recipe ever! So while I attempt to bake some sort of Christmas confection and have it turn out edible I will remember that some rules are meant to follow or they won't turn out right. I have turned out right! Have you?

(cookie for Santa in the pinterest household)

Fear not...for I am with YOU!

On the 21st day of December my daughter gave to me..... (my gifts to Jesus)

My Fears........ crazy emotions welling up inside me, feelings of dread, being out of control, incapacitating, overwhelming, always in the back of my mind....

I know I touched on this 2 days ago but with certain circumstances coming up in the news, my fears are in overdrive.  I cried most of yesterday evening.... my heart gripped in incapacitating fear and overwhelmed with sympathy. The craziness of the society we now live in is unfathomable to me and yet I'm forced to live in the middle of it. It makes me angry. It overwhelms me. To be honest, it takes the air out of the room and it becomes hard for me to find the joy in anything. I can't let it do that .... I have to again, give it to Jesus. He knows my heart and how it so wants to live in Mayberry. He also know what I can deal with and grow from... knowing it will be rough for me but also knowing that I can handle it IF I ask Him to help me. So without further ado I will resume Christmas... I will let the fear die down into the depths of my being.... for it will never be squelched forever ....well maybe not until I do arrive in Heavenly Mayberry. People still need hope and joy and love and by golly I'm gonna try to spread that around instead of my fears allowing me to lock myself in my room. So.. here I go on wobbly legs..... smiling thru my fears!

(peaceful, beautiful barns that calm my soul found on Pinterest ranch)

Childish things....

On the 20th day of December my daughter gave to me...... (my gifts to Jesus)

the Magic of Christmas......... Santa, Elves, Christmas Trees, wrapping paper,jingle bells, Christmas Carols, mistletoe and of course the best one, Baby Jesus!

I am a child at heart. I am pretty easy to please with silly things. I love all the fun little things, the magical things that Christmas brings. I know..... some of you pass up the ideas of Santa and Christmas tress and such and that's ok for you .... but I love all of it. I'm not going to get all scientific or historical on you about the various traditions and how they came about. I just want to tell you how much I love them ...all!
For me, Santa embodies the jolly part of the season..His whole "get-up" just makes you smile doesn't it? Like a fun old Grandpa who takes the time to listen to your wants of toys and presents then quietly, while you are sleeping, delivers them.  The Elves? well they are Santa's helpers and bring the world of fantasy (ok Santa does too) and mischief to the season. What's not to love?  They also make sure we behave so Santa gets a good report so we make the nice list.  Some genius parent thought that one up and by golly it has worked, hasn't it mom's and dad's out there with little ones? Wrapping paper, Carols and jingle bells just add prettiness and music to our lives that bring happiness. Christmas Carols are enjoyed by all ages and music genres... it's unifying throughout the generations of a family. Mistletoe....well, who doesn't want to be kissed.  Does this take away from the "Reason for the Season", a cliche at best? In my ever so humble opinion I say nope.. not for me anyway.  By embracing the "secular" side of Christmas in no way diminishes my celebration for Jesus birth..in fact it makes it even more intense. Of course Baby Jesus is the reason for the season but he is the Reason for Everyday, every moment, every breath I breathe and I celebrate it daily. Don't you? So today I give Jesus my love and affection for the season of Christmas with all that it brings.... people loving on others, donating to those less fortunate, feeding the hungry, looking at Christmas lights with friends and family, buying for friends and family and opening presents selected just for you, watching for the impish elves to show up on shelves and listening on Christmas Eve for the sounds of Reindeer hooves on the roof, sitting in the quiet of the night with only the Christmas tree lights on and contemplating life and what Jesus has done for me. Knowing all the while that without Him coming to earth as a teeny tiny baby to save us none of this would matter because there wouldn't be any Christmas season to celebrate! So there you have it.... a silly girl who loves Jesus and delights in the sights and sounds of Christmas..... Take it or leave it...Fa la la la la la laaaaaaa!!!

(Santa walking his reindeer one Christmas in California on Pinterest beach)