{Thirty Days of Thanks~Day 19}

WOW! I can't believe it's November 19th already. Have you done any Christmas shopping yet? I have done a little, but not much. I am so happy to see this weekend here---I have been waiting for this weekend for awhile now......I have all of next week off! YEA!! It is a beautiful thing! I have time to get some things done around my house and start getting ready for Christmas. The next two weeks after Christmas are pretty crazy, so I'm really looking forward to having some time to do this. I know that many schools don't have the entire week off, so I'm grateful that mine does. SO, TODAY, I'm thankful for my week of rest and preparation for the beautiful season in front of me. Here is a list of things I'd like to get done before I head back to school on November 28th:

• Clean and rearrange Hannah's room (on a small scale---I sort of messed it up when I stole her desk to put in my room, so I'm working that out.....yeah.......)
• Finish Advent gifts
• Take some pictures for Christmas cards--everyone LOVES this, btw
• Enjoy some family time---Hannah and Caitlin and Carson will be in for Thanksgiving, so I'm looking forward to some family time.
• Start decorating for Christmas---yes, I know, Thanksgiving is next week, but I really won't have time if I wait until I go back to school, so I'm starting early. This is new for me---excited about that!
• Get into the attic and make some headway rearranging, throwing out, giving away----I'd like to just take everything out and start over, but the walk in is in Hannah's room and she will be home, so this may have to be a January/February project---
• Go to Goodwill with a load of items to donate---look for a few things to help in Christmas decorations---boots for the front porch are on the list........
• Oh, yes and blow more leaves---I took a picture one day after I had posted about mowing and making up words to Adele's big hit---yeah, you wouldn't have known I had ever mowed---SO.MANY.LEAVES!!!

That's probably more than I'll get done, but it's a worthy list! Oh and we'll eat some and watch some football and probably do some other things. I'm just looking forward to being together. And if nothing gets done except cleaning Hannah's room, I'm OK with that, too. I will have rested and had a week of family time, and I'm always thankful for that---God is good.