seatbelt money

if you have ever ridden in the car with me, you probably know how important wearing your seatbelt is to me.  one reason is because of my experience in a very serious car accident as a little girl.  i was reminded of the second reason during my visit home for christmas.

i spent an afternoon visiting with my uncle kenny and aunt shirley.  technically, they are my great uncle and aunt, but we grew up spending a great deal of time with them and my cousin, keith.  they also provided for my family more than i could ever repay them.  in fact, we lived with them for a period of time when my mom was recovering from our serious car accident and my dad worked second and third shifts.

as i was saying my good-byes, aunt shirley slipped some money into my hand..."gas money," she said.  some things never change.

when we were kids and visiting, she would walk out to the van with us to make sure we put on our seatbelts.  once the seatbelt was buckled, she gave us a dollar.  seatbelt money.  as we got older and started driving ourselves, the seatbelt dollar quickly turned into gas money.  here i am, in my mid-twenties, and i'm still getting aunt shirley's seatbelt money.

so this is christmas

merry christmas, friends.  i find these lyrics express christmas beautifully and will allow the songs to speak sing for themselves.

"o come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant.  o come ye, o come ye to bethlehem.  come and behold him, born the king of angels...born this happy morning, o jesus!  for evermore be thy name adored.  word of the father, now in flesh appearing.  come let us adore him, o come let us adore him, o come let us adore him, christ the lord.  broken nations, broken dreams.  we need a savior and we need a king." {o come all ye faithful, owen pye}

"the future was bright and clear with hope and a promise made.  the light of the world was near, choirs of angels sang, heaven's exalted king in a manger lay.  cause a baby came and everything changed.  when our dreams grow dim and hearts grow cold, he is never far from our broken soul.  gloria!  our god is with us!  gloria!  he has come to save!  mercy and love now for every generation for the savior came and everything changed."  {everything changed, eddie kirkland}

"then let us all with one accord sing praises to our heavenly lord, that hath made heaven and earth of nought.  and with his blood mankind has bought.  noel, noel, noel, born is the king of israel."  {the first noel, josiah james}

"joy to the world, the lord is come.  let earth receive her king.  let every heart prepare him room.  the hope of every heart comes alive in emmanuel...joy to the world, the savior reigns. the heart of god that heals us, his name is jesus. and the wonders of his love!" {joy to the world, jason gray}

"angels we have heard on high, sweetly singing ore the plains.  and the mountains in reply, echoing their joyous strains.  gloria, in excelsis deo!  come to bethlehem and see, christ whose birth the angels sing.  come, adore on bended knee, christ the lord, the new born king.  hallelujah!"  {angels we have heard on high, eazy tiger}

"and the first time that you opened your eyes, did you realize that you would be my savior, and the first breath that left your lips, did you know that it would change this world forever?  and i, i celebrate the day that you were born to die, so i could one day pray for you to save my life."  {i celebrate the day, relient k}

...i celebrate the day that you were born to die, so i could one day pray for you to save my life.

"for unto us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called wonderful counselor, mighty god, everlasting father, prince of peace."  {isaiah 9:6}

disclaimer

i started typing a christmas post just now and started, "sorry for the lateness..." and immediately stopped typing.  here's my official disclaimer for all future posts:

most, if not all, posts will be posted late. 

there, now that should avoid me having to apologize for my lateness at every post.  enjoy.

pouf-tastic

prepare to be jealous, friends.  seriously, jealous.  about two grand jealous.

rumor had it there may or may not have been some furniture up for grabs at the m&g warehouse sale. {the roommate and i went to the sale last weekend.  i'd give you more details, but i wouldn't want you stealing my deals next year.  a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do.  truthfully, you can figure it out on your own.  just put google to work.} and that furniture may have included some poufs that would look beautifully in chezmk's living room, especially with the new couches.
with the number of people in and out of our house, extra seating/footrest options would be a welcomed addition.  mission on.  we met some friends to stand in line early because we had our hearts set on a pair of those poufs and knew we needed to get there before the crowds. being the twenty-ninth and thirty-first individuals through the door, we quickly made our way past all the bags and purses to the furniture, found the poufs, and claimed our prize (a cream leather pouf and a purple suede pouf).  mission complete.

each pouf originally cost about $1200 and we claimed those beauties for $25 a piece.  that's about a 98% discount, folks.  whether you earned an "A" in math class or not, i think you can figure out that that is a great deal pouf-tastic deal.

oh, and they do just look so lovely in our living room.  things are a tad bit crowded right now with the christmas tree in the living room, too, but i think we can manage for a few weeks.

{i am going to try to remember to take some close-ups tomorrow and will update with more pictures!}

1, 2, 3, 4, 5

five golden rings.  truthfully, there are no rings involved in this post, but it does share about the first five days of my christmas, so it seems somewhat relevant.  pretend with me, folks!

{golden ring one}

christmas shopping trip at short pump mall.  if you know anything about lynchburg, you know the shopping racks do not necessarily provide the best options.  after scoring some good deals at the m&g warehouse sale, a few friends and i jumped in the car and traveled to short pump in richmond for an afternoon/evening of christmas shopping.  the gorgeous weather allowed us to enjoy the beautiful outdoor mall.  they also have a beautiful christmas tree!  though i did not get everyone checked off my list, i was able to make some progress.  [last year i waited to do a majority of my shopping until dec. 23, so this start is good, really good!]  we finished the night with a stop at the cheesecake factory.  i order the ultimate red velvet cake cheesecake.  always my favorite option!

{golden ring two}

the annual lynchburg christmas parade never disappoints.  it gives the macy's day parade a run for their money.  okay, maybe not quite, but this year it certainly raised the bar for next year's parade.  i'll tell you why in just a moment.  it was another gorgeous day, so there was no need to bundle up this year.  the turnout for the parade is always fun, even if it is just lynchburg.  one of our favorite times at the parade involves us cheering just as loud as the kids around us, so we can get candy from the parade floats.  i think the unspoken goal is to get more candy than the kids.  all of our loot gets thrown on the group blanket.  this year, we were wonderfully surprised with real, yes REAL parade balloons.  add that to the favorites list!

{golden ring three}
let the christmas movie watching begin!  at monday night dinner, the crew decided to watch a christmas movie.  to my disappointment, i was struck with the realization that chezmk simply does not have a large collection of christmas movies.  we have exactly three movies that would fall into the christmas category?  three?!?!  this is entirely unacceptable.  life lesson of the week?  invest in more christmas movies.  with our limited selection, how the grinch stole christmas was played on the screen.  call me the grinch, but i decided i'm not really a fan of this version of the grinch.  stink.  stank.  stunk.

{golden ring four}
another movie night.  just not from my movie shelf.  i found the classic rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer on tv.  winner.  just fun and classic christmas!  i mean, who doesn't love the misfits?!?!  that rudolph, he's going to go down in history.


{golden ring five}
day five was another lynchburg favorite.  the virginia christmas spectacular.  years ago, when i was originally introduced to this performance, it was known as the living christmas tree.  people sing in a tree.  a friend of mine had a speaking role this year, we'll refer to her as #twitterlessemily.  she's so precious and talented.  good job, emily!  chuckie b had a few performances throughout the night, too.  and that man can sing.  i mean, really sing.

merry christmas, friends!

me + kitchen don't add up

because i simply cannot say it better myself:

take a few minutes to read kate conner's blog about woman vs. kitchen.  i can empathize with her passion for not cooking.  i just do not like cooking, period.  fortunately, for me, i have a roommate who enjoys cooking, so every now and again i get to enjoy real meals!

christmas is coming

christmas, christmas time is here.  time for toys and time for cheer!

friends, christmas is coming!  the season is upon us.  i already have so much christmas fun to share and it's only the fourth day of december.  but first, i must get some grading completed.  tune in soon (hopefully real soon!)!

just in case you were wondering, though, i don't want a hula hoop.