My office....

Tonight was our annual office Christmas gathering. I love all the gals (and guy) that I work with (and for.)

Our waitress, Shannon Dean, as in Jimmy DEAN. She was hilarious!

Dr. Harkins and his wife, Julie. Love them.

One of my Christmas presents from Betta. Love me some Southern Living cookbooks!!! Thanks, Betta.

I also got some Christmas hand towels that were too cute and some mulling spices.

Ha, Betta also got a Southern Living cookbook from her secret gift pal, Elaine. Can you tell we all love to cook and collect recipes?

Betta is so excited!!!

I love Elaine! And this was one of her gifts from her secret gift pal, ME!!!

Her other gift.

Betta's Koozie from Elaine.

Tess's gift from Paula.

Paula opening her gift from Tess.

Our two favorite hygienists, Betta and Elaine!

Paula's gift from Tess.

Another gift from Tess.

Dr. Harkins opening his gift.

Good times.

The whole gang. So thankful for such wonderful coworkers who all work so well together. The best dental team EVER!

Dr. Harkins and his two favorite assistants!

Just for fun....

A - Age: 29

B - Bed size: Queen

C - Chore you hate: Dusting, mopping, and organization.

D - Dog's name(s): Dixie

E - Essential start your day item(s): Toothpaste/toothbrush then coffee, and more coffee.

F - Favorite color: Pink (as in pink Cadillac)

G- Gold or Silver: I like gold for decorating and silver for wearing.

H - Height: 5'8"

I - Instruments you play: HA! I attempted the clarinet and piano. Was not successful at either.

J - Job: Wife and mother first. Dental assistant second.

K - Kids: Brennan, 6 and Ethan, 2

L - Living Arrangements: I live with my husband and two boys and my sassy dog.

M - Music you love: I have an eclectic taste in music. Give me anything but rap and heavy metal, and I am all over it. Like the more mellow, melancholy tunes mostly......

N - Nicknames: Mandy

O - Overnight hospital stay, other than birth: Unknown. Never could figure out what was wrong with me.

P - Pet Peeve: Laziness, people looking for handouts, complaining, drama, and tardiness.

Q - Quote from a movie: Movies? What are movies?

R - Right or left handed: Right.

S - Siblings: Two younger brothers. We are each 26 months apart. My parents were insane.

T - Time you wake up: 12 a.m., 2 or 3 a.m, 4 a.m. and finally 6 a.m.

U - Underwear: The one thing I splurge on for myself......

V - Vegetable you dislike: Carrots.

W - Workout Style: My 2 year old.... Enough said.

X-rays you've had: Teeth, stomach, hand, back.

Y - Yummy food you make: There are many things..... I love to cook.

Z - The best place to visit: I'm sure wherever it is, I haven't been there yet. However, I have been to Nicaragua and think it's amazing.

THIS is what it's all about.....

So, there really are no words to be able to describe what I was able to experience last night.... just an ordinary Saturday night in the rush of the Christmas season.... with some great, loving friends.....

We have been a part of a new Sunday School class that was "birthed" from another young couple's class recently. Our good friends, Adam and Kelly, felt led to head up this class and Adam felt led to teach. As a part of the ministry of this new class, we decided to serve the older member's of our church. Our church does a lot of outreach to the community, to growing families, and to young families, single parents, ect. Sometimes it seems as though our older members, the senior citizens who have been the backbone of the church for decades, get overlooked. Not necessarily on purpose, but it does happen. I feel very strongly about reaching out to our senior citizens, and I am so glad that our class unanimously agreed to be an outreach to our older members.

So last night we went and decorated 2 widower's houses. They both lost their wives in recent years. I keep imagining the loneliness that probably consumes them during this time of the year. Decades from now, it could easily be one of us in their shoes: No children around, a spouse who has gone on before us, and declining health. It's hard to imagine as Chad and I shop for our children in the Christmas rush, and get upset when our toddler breaks an expensive ornament, or when one of the kids plays with the breakable baby Jesus in the expensive nativity scene. Or as we stress about the lights not working right, or the yard decorations blowing over, or worrying about the kids finding Santa's stash. But one day, that could be us.... lonely and sad over Christmases that have come and gone.

As of last night, my Christmas season was made complete. I have no desire for anything materialistic or anything else for myself. Because I allowed God to use me, not only were others blessed, but I myself was blessed beyond anything words could ever describe.

Hope you enjoy the pics. I know many of you know these 2 sweet men. Mr. Williams' wife died about 2 years ago. His health is in pretty fast decline, yet somehow he manages to live alone. We went to his house first. And neither one of these men had any decorations. So, 2 trees were purchased and came with decorations in hand.

Mr. Fields is where we went next. I was the flower girl in his wedding 22 years ago (which, by the way, today would have been their anniversary.) He, too, is in declining health and has Parkinson's that has taken over him almost entirely. But, there is no way to describe this man. He is humble, always thankful, always joyful, and sings and worships his heart out. There are some days I wish I could just sit behind him in church and watch him and be reminded what worship is all about.

Kelly, Jennifer, and me decorating Mr. Williams' tree.

David and Mr. Williams. We brought David along to entertain Mr. Williams.

Kelly doing her thing.

Turned out beautifully if I do say so myself.

Us girls and Mr. Williams.

That is Mr. Williams' neighbor in the green. She checks up on him daily. As we left, Mr. Williams' broke down and WEPT. I am not one moved to tears very easily, but seeing him weep over a small act of kindness melted and broke my heart at the same time.

He said, "You all just don't know what this means to me" as he broke down and cried.

This is at Mr. Fields' house. The kids tagged along for this one because Mr. Fields loves children.

Mr. Fields showing them his Christmas bear.

Adam came bearing FOOD!

Jennifer making Mr. Fields' door look like a present.

Getting ready to eat.

Silly Kelly. It's funny how strangers always ask if we're sisters. We're not related, but I'll claim her.

Reagan (Ronnie and Kim's son) and Sadie (Adam and Kelly's youngest daughter)

Mr. Fields is enjoying that pizza!

Sadie and Mr. Ronnie.

Angela and her daughter, Lexi.

The finished product.

Mr. Fields and Cadence. (Angela's youngest child)

You see who did all the work???? What a rough life.

This is Allie (Kelly and Adam's middle daughter). She had an extremely wiggly front tooth. For lack of better terms, that thing was flappin' in the wind. No one could convince her to go on and pull it out. She finally agreed to go in the bathroom with me and let me pull it. So, in the midst of the chaos of decorating, this dental assistant was put to good use on the weekend.

The one next to it is loose, too. So, she may be singing "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" before the holidays are over.

David, Mr. Fields, Chad, Ronnie, and Adam.

Jennifer, me, Mr. Fields, Kelly, Kim, and Angela in front.

Mr. Fields and the few kids there. Between all of us couples there are several more kids. Mine were not there.

Mr. Fields and Kim

Mr. Fields and Chad and me.

Mr. Fields and Angela.

Mr. Fields and the Peoples.

Allie and Sadie.

Lexi and Cadence.... and Reagan over there on the side.

Christmas songs....

Once again last night, after the boys went to bed, Chad and I found ourselves sitting in front of the Christmas tree listening to Christmas music. We actually sat there for 2 hours just totally relaxing. I have certain songs, as I'm sure all of us do, that really bring back some memories of childhood and years past. When I asked Chad what certain songs made him think of he couldn't bring up anything specific. He just kept saying "Christmastime". Well, not so much for me... So, here is a list of my favorite Christmas songs, and what they make me think of....

• "Away in a Manger" Reminds me of being about 5 or 6 years old and singing with our children's choir at our church in our great big beautiful sanctuary.

• "Frosty the Snowman" makes me think about a time that my grandmother came over to our house when we lived in South Jackson and helped us decorate for Christmas.

• "Up on the Rooftop" and "O Little Town of Bethlehem" makes me remember the years that we spent Christmas Eve at my grandparent's house in Terry. We always had dinner then we all opened presents. The kids ate the fastest and sat near the tree to see which gifts had their names on them. My grandparents had an old console record player and they would play Christmas records.

• "Christmas in Dixie" makes me have flashbacks of driving home on Christmas Eve from my grandparents house in Terry to await Santa Claus.

• "Silent Night" reminds me of Christmas in the house we lived in in South Jackson. It also makes me think of being over at my other grandparent's home in S. Jackson. I used to help my grandmother decorate for Christmas and we'd always bake some goodies and we were like sidekicks with an age span of 50+ years. I wish I would have had the sense to keep some of those decorations. I remember hanging garland across the mantle of their fireplace with multi-colored lights and I remember some cardinal birds she brought out for Christmas. There was also an antique ceramic or porcelain Christmas tree with marbles as the lights. It was beautiful. My uncle has that now. At least I hope he still does.

• And last but not least, "O Holy Night" is my FAVORITE Christmas song. It just does something inside me and makes me feel warm and fuzzy. My grandmother used to sing that every year and then one of the most wonderful men to ever exist, Mr. Bob Dreding, sang it in church every year. He quit about 3 years ago because he said he was getting too old and it was getting too hard for him to sing it. He has been begged repeatedly from LOTS of folks (including me) to since it just ONCE more. He politely declines. I don't think anyone can sing it like my grandmother, Mary Clayton, or Mr. Bob Dreding.

• This isn't a Christmas song, but it is on our Kenny Chesney Christmas cd, so I feel I must mention it.... The Oak Ridge boys sang it originally back in the 80's. I love this song and how true it is. I have been listening to it a lot the past few days to remind myself how good I have it. Here are the words:

If it weren't for kids have you ever thought
There wouldn't be no Santa Claus
Look what the stork just brought
Thank God for Kids

We'd all live in a quiet house
Without Big Bird or a Mickey Mouse
And Kool-aid on the couch
Thank God for Kids

Thank God for kids there's magic for a while
A special kind of sunshine in a smile
Do you ever stop to think? or wonder why?
The nearest thing to Heaven is a child

Daddy how does this thing fly?
A hundred other where's and why's
You really don't know but we try
Thank God for Kids

When you look down in those trustin eyes
That look to you, you realize
Its love that you can't buy
Thank God for Kids

Thank God for there's magic for a while
A special kind of sunshine in a smile
Do you ever stop to think? or wonder why?
The nearest thing to Heaven is a child

When you get down on your knees tonight
To thank the Lord for his guiding light
And pray they turn out right
Thank God for Kids

Thank God for Kids

What is your favorite Christmas song? And why? I'd like to know what certain songs make people think of.....

Welcome to my world....

I am constantly reminded why I don't leave the house with my entire family on a school/work night. Sometimes it's okay to be a homebody. Especially when you have "luck" like mine.

I decided tonight would be a good night to take the boys to have their pictures done with Santa at Bass Pro Shop. (I love the Santa they have every year!) Well, it all started out smooth. Too smooth. You know how it goes..... when something seems too good to be true.... well, it probably is.

The fact that we decided to eat dinner in an actual restaurant with both kids was the kiss of death. Santa's elves were handing out free kid's meal tickets to the restaurant inside the store. We decided to eat there, since.... well, we were already there. Sheesh. People who work in the restaurant industry need to realize that there is about a 30 to 45 minute time frame that most kids have before all hell breaks lose. And for my kids, 30 minutes is a GOOD day. Well, the service, quite frankly, STANK. But, that's not really the dramatic part.

While were in line to see Santa there was this family in front of us that consisted of a mom and what looked to be her dad (although it could have been her husband) and a CUTE little boy in a wheelchair. He reminded me of that kid from Jerry Maguire a few years ago. Only this was a curly-haired, dark headed little boy. Anyway, he was just precious. Well, when we sat down to eat, they were about 3 tables behind us. Out of the blue, it occurred to me that I wanted to pay for their dinner ANONYMOUSLY. (We all know what that means, RIGHT?)

Fast forward to a week later, right before we get our food finally (I'm telling you the service was AWFUL) and I pulled my waiter aside and told him what we wanted to do. Well, instead of inconspicuously looking for the table I was referring to, he stood up and looked around and all but pointed at them. Yet another week later when it was time for them to bring this family's ticket, apparently there was a lot of confusion over the fact that someone else was paying for their meals. At this point, the waiter might as well have stood up on the table and pointed at us and made us give some sort of dedication speech. It was insane.

Finally, they got up to leave after their waitress went back to their table about 3 different times explaining something to them (not sure what). As they were getting their coats to leave and standing up to walk out, here comes our waiter. Instead of discreetly putting TWO tickets in ONE tray, he carries out TWO trays with TWO tickets (one in EACH hand) and starts explaining in a very audible voice that he was not able to put them both on the same ticket, so he had to ring them up separately. SERIOUSLY????? I don't mind the two tickets thing, but really? Did you have to come waving them both out as these people were able to see all that was taking place? I literally wanted to crawl under the table. I then try to refrain from being rude, but I was also trying to pry these out of his hands before he could finish talking so I could stash them together. That didn't happen. Who knew doing a good deed could be so stressful?!

Meanwhile, my kids time frame of good behavior was way gone. Then Brennan decides he wants a to-go box just for his french fries. We told him no. I knew a meltdown-free evening was too good to be true. So, here he goes into meltdown mode while Ethan is screaming because he didn't want to be put back in his stroller. As Chad is paying for our food, I have two children screaming while I look over at the oldest with my teeth gritted and my best "Mama has HAD it" face and tell him we are marching RIGHT back to Santa Claus and he will see exactly how Brennan was acting. I could see a couple of people getting a kick out of the whole scene as it was unfolding. Did the threat of Santa work? Nope. Did I march him back there to Santa? Yep. He turned the corner and dried his tears. Until we got to the front door and decided to start up meltdown mode again. If I had to find humor in the situation at that moment is was the fact that my child was carrying one lone fry in each hand, and holding them up in the air as he was acting like a toddler.

*sigh* But, I must say.... overall, it was a good night........

It's that time of year.....let's enjoy it....

Yesterday on the way to work, I experienced a very traumatic situation. I know it would probably not have been very traumatic to others, but it was for me. I had every intention of leaving for work 10 minutes ahead of schedule, especially since it had been raining nonstop and traffic is always a nightmare after rain. (It seems even if there is one cloud in the sky, people tend to suddenly forget how to drive.) Well, of course my INTENTIONS are always good, but it usually doesn't work out. So, as always I'm running out the door, spilling my coffee, stressing, and then wouldn't you know it? No police on duty directing traffic during school/work rush hour. Anyway, I finally made it to the other side of the city where my job is. As I'm pulling up to the last light before our office, I see what I think is a little leaf blowing around in the same spot. As I get closer, I realize it's a tiny little bird. It was obviously injured.

See, here's where I start to get worked up again. Tears are building up in my eyes and my palms are getting all sweaty as I type. Something told me to stop my car and get out and pick the bird up. There is a veterinarian's office right past the light. I could drop it in there and continue on my way. Then I thought, nah, it's not injured, it's just confused. I kept looking in my rear view mirror and it just sat in the same spot trying to hop away, yet for some reason it couldn't. Then I kept watching cars not pay one lick of attention to it. Then, I finally saw it get run over. I literally was torn with guilt at that moment. The little thing was so helpless. I could have done something to help that cute little bird, yet I was too busy to get out of my car and take an extra 5 minutes to help something so innocent and helpless.

I thought about that little bird all day. I tried not show any sort of emotion and I tried not to even think about it at work, but that little bird kept showing up in my mind for the entire day. I felt sure that there was a reason that I had that experience with that little bird, and I wanted God to be able to tell me why He allowed that to happen with the bird and why I had to be a witness to something that traumatized me. I am too soft-hearted things like that.

I'm still not sure why that happened, and if there was really any reason for it. But, while I was thinking about that little creature, I was overcome with guilt because I was in too much of a hurry to stop and help it. I didn't have time to deal with it and try to dodge traffic on one of the busiest roads of that part of S. Jackson.

But it did occur to me..... I'm always rushing. Always in a hurry. And I'm always stressing out because I'm always in a hurry. This time of the year is my absolute favorite. But, it's also the busiest. I really think this season has truly lost it's focus. That's one reason Black Friday bothers me. People become obsessed with finding good deals and staying up for 2 days and standing in line in the freezing cold and rain and pushing and fighting and being overcome with the desire to get the best price on material possessions. I'm all about saving a few bucks for sure, after all I am the coupon queen with the binder to prove it, but Black Friday just overwhelmingly rushes in the shopping season. Then people just continue on their mission to find the perfect gifts. Expensive gifts. In a blink another shopping/Christmas season has come and gone, and then before we know it, another year has slipped by and we wonder where the time went.

I've been reading about the Booth family (John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln) and reading about life in the mid to late 1800's just got me to thinking. Did life pass by too quickly for those people 100, 200, and 300 years ago? Did life even really pass people by so fast as recently as 50 and 60 years ago? I wonder if we have just gotten so caught up in the modern era and the advancement of technology and material possessions, that we just let life pass by without truly enjoying the things we were created for.

As I was thinking about that bird, and my guilty conscious, my boss out of the blue started talking about how much he would give to go back about 25 years and do it all over again. The only thing he would have the desire to change would be to actually enjoy the life he had. Instead of doing what Chad and I find ourselves doing now as a younger couple with small children.... wishing our lives away. Such as: I wish we had a little more money in the bank.... I wish Brennan would quit back-talking......I wish Ethan would hurry up and decide he's tired of wearing diapers..... I wish we had a bigger house.....

Then before I know it, we may have a little more money in the bank one day, but Brennan will no longer be his 6 year old self and instead of back-talking I may have to worry about him marrying the wrong girl. Ethan will be potty-trained one day, but he will also being going to high school, driving, and dating one day. He will no longer be his cute little 2 year old self. My kids will be gone in the blink of an eye.

One day Santa will no longer be magical to them. It will be just another holiday for them to EXPECT something expensive and ridiculous. So, I've decided that this Christmas, I'm not going to let it fly by in two blinks. That I will soak up every ounce of memories I can make. I'm going to stay home and sit by my Christmas tree and watch Christmas movies with my children as they are snuggled in their warm pajamas. Last night we ordered pizza and watched "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (the original cartoon) and I even let us all eat in the living room. It was fun to just not care about the fact we were sitting in front of the television stuffing our faces with pizza. Brennan loved it. It was fun. Then after the boys went to bed, Chad and I just sat in the living room staring at our tree and listening to Christmas music. I refuse to let this Christmas slip between my fingers. Making memories, being with my family, and showing my children the REAL Reason for the season is what life should be all about.