Man, I'm tired. Tired but energized. Can those two exist simultaneously?

Last week was crazy. Atlanta to meet PW on Monday, Tuesday to Asheville for an all day meeting, and back to Asheville on Thursday for a full day of shopping. All fun.

Last night we cooked up a heaping portion of Low Country Boil for several good friends and this Saturday we are hosting a church wide Christmas party. Fun times!

While I am inbetween events I thought I would join in on the Christmas Home Tour going on at The Nester and Hooked on Houses, along with "holiday linky Friday" at The Inspired Room.

This year I have aimed to keep things relatively simple. The only thing we have purchased is the tree and my "Joy" sign over the fireplace. Apart from our Christmas stuff packed away in the attic all other decor was pulled together from around the house - inside and out.

So, let's begin shall we. Here is the front entrance. I'm just going to show you around and skip the commentary.

Hope you enjoyed some of my imperfect Christmas accents. Go check out here and here for more holiday fun.

Oh, and I might have eaten an entire can of Pringles while uploading these photos. But I'm not sure. Does it count if no one saw me?

but, inside

the fire is burning

the lights are glowing

handel is playing

and the drink is warming

I had a bunch of burlap laying around.

So, in order to help with my goal to not have an explosion of red and green this season, but, rather, have a more natural and warm feeling throughout the house I found a few ways to use it.

December is going to be busy for us here at Waldenhouse.

I know, big deal.

Who isn't busy in December?

I don't particularly care to have every square on my calender filled.

But this year?

I'm not sweatin' it.

I'm going to do what I can.

Let go of what I can't.

I'm going to scale back my to-do list so that I can be with people.

I am not going to send out family Christmas cards this year.

I am going to Atlanta for a day, with my friend Caroline, to meet Pioneer Woman.

I am not going to dress a "perfect" Christmas tree.

I am going to hang Spinner's homemade garland around the tree.

I am not going to feel guilty about missing workout's.

I am going to spend a day in Asheville with dear husband.

And then I am going back to Asheville two days later with my mom and aunts.

And I am not going to worry about being away from the boys.

I am not going to worry about my home looking perfect for our annual Christmas party.

It is what it is.

I am going to let my boys be boys.

I am not going to worry about the unknowns in our life.

I am going to be thankful for all the knowns.

I am going to enjoy the season.

I am going to celebrate Christ.

We played. We toppled. We laughed on our Rody's.

We went to the Zoo and took a spin on the Carousel.

I hope you, too, enjoyed Christmas, your family, and your friends!

Happy New Year!

1. Last week we pulled out the Christmas decor. Over the years we have had to make some changes with little one's roaming the house, always looking for new ways to wreak havoc in our home. Last year we decided that we should forgo a tree altogether. I had visions of Timothy pulling it down, Wil being trapped underneath, Timothy climbing all over the fallen tree yanking ornaments off, Wil getting tangled in the lights as he tries to make his way from under the tree, Luke in a state of panic over the whole affair. . . and on and on. You think I am overreacting? Please stop by one afternoon, say around 5.30, when the boys are at their wildest and you will understand. So last year we did this. It was fine but it wasn't the same. So this year we went back to a tree.

It was an awesome win for the Gators which caused James to giggle and cackle a good solid hour after it was over.

4. A common phrase around here, as of late, is "Timothy, leave your clothes on." Here is the sequence of events we now deal with on a daily basis.

After he frees himself of his pajamas and takes a victory lap around the house he stops to remove his diaper.

When we talk to him about keeping his pajamas on he just laughs and laughs. I think we need a padlock to keep him from unzipping.

5. We are officially underway with the new church plant. It has been a very encouraging time for us. We have a solid group of folks eager to see a healthy, bible teaching church planted in downtown Columbia. We have an advisory board made up of pastors from respected, healthy churches within our denomination. And we have supporters that are committed to sticking with us through this next phase in our ministry. For those of you that don't know what I am talking about, I apologize. I haven't shared, here, about all that has gone on over the last six months because I haven't felt it was appropriate. Maybe one day I will share the whole saga of our move to SC to plant a new church in partnership with a local congregation and how we ended up parting ways with the leadership of that congregation. For now, I will just say that the last six months have been challenging and confusing while simultaneously being encouraging and faith-building.

Have a great week!

Okay, here it is.

What is it you ask? why it is a vase filled with cranberries crammed with woody branches. I made it as a centerpiece for a church function last night. It worked quite well. Is that the best you can come up with for your substitute tree you ask? Yes. Yes it is.

You see, I'm tired. I know. You are tired of hearing me say that I am tired. But it's true all the same. And here we are at the end of another round of rotavirus for Wil. It's been a bad week for him. And he ended with a bang today. He got it all out (do ya know what I mean? he cleared those bowels big time - it musta felt good!) this morning in our front room. I was upstairs changing Timothy's poopy diaper when Luke started screaming ( he is mildly dramatic) that Wil had stinky everywhere. Yup! James got him upstairs to the tub while I finished with T. I then finished up with Wil so James could get to work. I dashed downstairs to gather our things only to find poop everywhere. On the rug, on the sofa, on the books. All discovered as we were loading up to take Luke to pre-school. I couldn't just leave it because that is Wil's "therapy" room and his PT would be arriving shortly after we returned. Fun times. Here is Wil's pitiful self the past few days.

Luke has been keeping himself, and us, entertained by drawing on his socks and providing puppet shows.

And speaking of Luke. He does have some concerns about the "tree." "What if Santa doesn't know what it is?" * "Santa won't know exactly where to leave the presents." * "What if the cranberries go bad?" (good point - I will change those my bright young child) Of course, two days ago Luke came to me and exclaimed, " I don't think that Santa is real." "Oh no?" I say. "No, I just don't think there could be such a person, you know doing all that stuff in one night." "uh, huh, did you talk about that with someone?" I ask "No, I was just thinking it," he shrugged.

Ahhh. . . more good news just came by phone. Our beloved jeep that has been in and out of the shop for the last few weeks must go to the vehicular graveyard. sigh.

So back to the "tree" - yeah - that's the best I can do this year. Sorry kids. :)