What is that I feel in the air?  Could it be?  Surely not… Moi?  Feeling … Christmas-y??  I hope it isn’t just a 24-hour bug or something.  I mean, what if the Grinch’s heart really does grow 3 times its normal size?

The tree is up.  Not only is it up, but it is decorated!  Pig-Farmer and I started to assemble the 10 foot tree that came with the house.  It was one of those artificial trees that needs each branch poked into a color-coded slot on the “trunk.”  We made it to the second level before we decided that dismantling it was going to be even worse.  We took it down and got our favorite, a “real” tree.  10 foot tree, anyone??  Going really cheap.

Then, we discovered every 4th or 5th light bulb was out on our old light strings.  We made a “quick” trip to a local store but they didn’t have colored lights that twinkled.  Pig-Farmer insisted that the %@$# lovely lights must twinkle.  It was beginning to look a lot like Christmas-preps past.  Fine. We drove a half hour and got multi-color, twinkling lights.  Christmas tree woes over.

Bubbles helps dislodge any loose needles.  And I had been thinking it was dropping needles because it was dry.

Oh, don’t get worried that I’m too ill with this Christmas bug.  Plenty remains to be done!  I would really like to find the book my best friend got me last year about how to be organized and have an un-frazzled Christmas.  It’s in an unpacked box somewhere.  Maybe her love for all things Christmas is what I’ve caught – even without reading the book.

Or maybe it was something slipped into this early Christmas surprise from another bestie.  The friend that embraces my Grinch-y heart.

I had yet to try the Peppermint Bark coffee I had purchased when I came home one day after work and found a cheerily gift-wrapped box propped at my door.  My furrowed brow lifted into a smile that warmed my whole heart when I unwrapped my Grinch mug.

My wish for you, friends, is that you make time to stop and smell the coffee, or the Christmas tree, or a scented candle, and reflect on celebrating the birth of our Savior … and enjoy the twinkling, multi-colored lights.