Editor's Note: It seems there is an error in this post as noted by "You Know Who Said" (See Comments) ... and it seems he is right (as usual). So wherever you read "Fed-Ex" in this short post, it should actually be "Priority Mail." I stand corrected!
I've been working all week putting the boxes together to ship to El Paso for the early Christmas I'm going to celebrate with Jesse, Diana, and the grandchildren two weeks from now. My goal was to get everything ready for shipping by this Saturday. Last year as I was shopping for gifts I really didn't keep in mind what it would cost to SEND them all the way to Texas, and it ended up costing a lot more than I had ever dreamed. So this year, I decided to be more careful and plan ahead as much as possible.The Post Office has had Federal Express pre-paid boxes available for a long time, but only a few limited sizes are available. I think it's a good way to go if you have SMALL but HEAVY items to send to someone ... because you can cram as much stuff into these boxes as possible and it's all the same price ... no matter how much it weighs. But the problem is ... the SIZES of these boxes are pretty limited. Anyway, I ended up using just one of these Fed Ex boxes and then for the items that wouldn't fit, I bought a large white box from the Post Office (20 x 15 x 10) and shipped it Parcel Post ~ a huge savings this year ... less than HALF of what I spent last year! I'm so pleased. PLUS, I beat my deadline and mailed everything today ~ a day early!
Also, to help keep the weight of the boxes nice and low, I made my own wrapping paper. Actually, this was not a NEW idea. Last year when Rachel and Nicolas decided to do an Old Fashioned Christmas at their house, they requested the gifts be wrapped either in plain brown paper or some kind of decorated tissue paper ~ it was fun to do this last year for them and I decided to try it with these gifts to El Paso. I just used plain white tissue paper and got out my Christmas themed stamps and ink and went at it! Sabrina has been "stamping" for years. She makes beautiful cards and books for folk ... PLUS she has very fancy stamps. So this is nothing new. I had a lot of fun decorating each gift for each grandchild from these stamps, using markers to color and write personal messages. In this age of trying to be "green" as far as the amount of waste we consume, this is perhaps LESS wasteful than a whole bunch of brightly colored wrapping paper.While I was at the Post Office writing out the mailing labels to El Paso, the customer at the next window was mailing a book to a publishing company. I couldn't help but overhear his conversation with the Postmaster. It turns out this fellow is a writer.When questioned about his book, he responded that it was some drama vignettes he had written from the Bible, specifically the life of Abraham. He said that one of the area churches was going to perform these at a dinner theatre they were hosting this spring. And the church? MY church! 
So I reached over to shake his hand and he introduced himself as Steve Trott ~ what?!! This is the same fellow who has written the play our church is doing for Festival of Lights this year: "Christmas at Mac's Diner." So ... how random was that? I just happened to be in the Post Office at the very same moment as this fellow. He does not attend our church, but I got to meet and greet him anyway. I thought that was very fun!
I'm about a week later than usual ... but I finally hauled out my favorite Christmas cookie recipes this afternoon and ... got started! 
I've told you before how my Grandma Mary baked the most scrumptious and beautiful cookies every single Christmas. All of us looked forward to going to her house Christmas Eve to see the cousins who had come to town and were staying there with grandma. My grandmother decorated her house just like ... a fairy land almost ... sparkling and so ... beautiful! I wonder if she knew how much it meant to us that she went to all of that trouble. 
This is my grandma's version of a Russian Tea Cake recipe. It is the best I have ever tasted and it was always .. ALWAYS ... my favorite every single year (a "half" recipe calls for TWO cups of BUTTER ... what's not to like?). Except my grandma rolled each cookie into little logs, perfectly shaped and uniform in size! I've tried rolling mine into logs, but I never seem to keep the size consistent ... some turn out fat, some skinny, some longer than others, etc. So I gave up! Now I just roll them into little balls and flatten them a bit. They taste just the same no matter what shape you make them. One Christmas, I got sick eating so many cookies at my grandma's house! 
And these are the butter spritz cookies ~ my grandma's recipe, of course ~ except she had a cookie press that was NOT automated, and her little Christmas trees were delicately beautiful ~ every one! I always miss my Grandma Mary this time of the year. We were not especially close (I was just ONE of 22 grandchildren), but I admired and loved her very much. Tomorrow, I hope to make fudge and some holiday M & M cookies. And then I can pick out some of each batch to arrange into a pretty holiday tin and enclose it in the gift box(es) I'm sending out to El Paso this Saturday. I'm flying there in just about two weeks to celebrate an early Christmas with Jesse, Di and the grandchildren. So ... have you started your holiday baking yet?
These are some of the children who come to our"3's" class each Tuesday morning. It's the morning of Women's Bible study over at Calvary Church and these are the children of the women who either teach a small group or attend on every Tuesday morning. I get to be one of three adult helpers/teachers in this room. We three ladies have divided up the tasks evenly between us and each get a turn to teach the story, do the arts and crafts, lead in worship songs, etc. I've grown to really love Tuesday mornings.
Some of these same children are in my preschool class on Sunday mornings, so I'm getting to know them rather well.
My favorite thing, naturally, is to sit at the art table and draw, color, use stencils, or watercolor paints. Three-year-olds are amazing artists.
Look at their precious little faces!
We've been talking for weeks and weeks about creation and how God is the Creator of everything we see! I just love teaching about that. But the last two weeks, we've been talking about thanking God for the good things He has given us. Today, the children picked out some pictures of things they were thankful for and glued them to our poster board that said, "Thank you, God!" Three-year-olds understand what it means to be happy they have food and toys and moms and dads ... and I love to sit down and just enjoy a good conversation with them. Sometimes they say the sweetest things.
This little girl is very quiet. It's pretty difficult to get her to enter into activities or conversations ... but hand her a paint brush and she just goes to town! She is very careful with the paint and covers every INCH of the paper in the most beautiful color combinations!
Even the little roughhouse boys get into painting ... they are mostly intrigued at what color the water turns when they rinse their brushes in the water cup, but that's OK! Just thought I'd share these little faces with you today ... I'm so thankful to be able to share a little bit of time and fun with them. :)
I've always had a thing for heights ... and catwalks have forever intrigued me. I remember first walking into Calvary Church in January 1992, looking up to see how high the ceiling in the sanctuary was and discovering ... THIS catwalk ... can you see it? The picture on the left shows the catwalk hanging from the ceiling and the picture on the right shows the rather wobbly ladder, which is the only access to the catwalk from the already-high balcony. Well, ever since I first laid eyes on this catwalk, I have wanted very badly to ... walk on it ...
You never really know how long you're going to live, right? And no one has any guarantees of tomorrow! So last night, Grandpa Jones and I were part of a "cleaning crew" in preparation for Festival of Lights. All of the huge spot lights had to be taken down, taken apart, and cleaned ... and then the lenses had to be recalibrated, etc. I don't know anything about anything mechanical or electrical ... but I do know how to clean! There was a whole bunch of nice folk who joined together last night to get the job accomplished, so it was a lot of fun. And as a reward for my small part in the cleaning effort, I was promised that I could do what I've wanted to now for more than 18 years ...
Climbing that crazy ladder was the only scary part (descending it was worse!) ... because once you are up on the catwalk ... look! It's like a cool little passageway with very secure handrails and everything ... not one bit dangerous!
This is the view DOWN from the catwalk ... see? I'm actually ABOVE the balcony which is above the lower seating ... I don't know if it shows well in this picture ...
See Grandpa Jones waving to me? He is standing at the very top of the balcony and seems really really far away from up on the catwalk ... I find heights exhilarating!
A bird's eye view of where pastor preaches ... and the orchestra pit and choir loft ... wonderful! Now ... if I could ONLY get to that clear glass platform overlooking the Grand Canyon! :)
This is Lottie. Lottie Caroline. She is TWO YEARS OLD today! Is she adorable ... or what?!
Have you ever in all your life seen REDDER hair?! I hope she loves it. So many people with red hair ... hate it ... which is too sad ... God never makes mistakes when He creates folk! 
When Grandpa Jones and I visited Texas in September, we celebrated three birthdays in Bandera: a late-3 for Nia, an early-5 for Nathan, and a WAY early-2 for Lottie. But none of them cared one single bit about that!
Lottie is a very interesting little soul. She is extremely intelligent, quick to learn, and mimic, and express herself. She keeps up with Nathan and Nia and absolutely doesn't tolerate being left out.
One of the days we were there, Lottie UNRELENTINGLY chased one of their kitties ... over and under and around ... and finally she would catch one by the neck and carry it that way for quite a long time ... but no harm ... she has such little hands!
This is the bonnet her other granny (I think) sent to her as one of her birthday presents ... she is darling in it.
Lottie enjoyed playing with all of the pretend kitchen stuff ... it made ME wish I had some of this cool stuff at my house! Lottie played and played and played! 
Every now and then, though, she does wear out! I caught her cuddling with her blanket near their front door ... I liked how the shadows were catching her ... 
Grandpa and I hope your birthday is sweet and special ... we love you very much, Lottie!
Also, to help keep the weight of the boxes nice and low, I made my own wrapping paper. Actually, this was not a NEW idea. Last year when Rachel and Nicolas decided to do an Old Fashioned Christmas at their house, they requested the gifts be wrapped either in plain brown paper or some kind of decorated tissue paper ~ it was fun to do this last year for them and I decided to try it with these gifts to El Paso. I just used plain white tissue paper and got out my Christmas themed stamps and ink and went at it! Sabrina has been "stamping" for years. She makes beautiful cards and books for folk ... PLUS she has very fancy stamps. So this is nothing new. I had a lot of fun decorating each gift for each grandchild from these stamps, using markers to color and write personal messages. In this age of trying to be "green" as far as the amount of waste we consume, this is perhaps LESS wasteful than a whole bunch of brightly colored wrapping paper.
So I reached over to shake his hand and he introduced himself as Steve Trott ~ what?!! This is the same fellow who has written the play our church is doing for Festival of Lights this year: "Christmas at Mac's Diner." So ... how random was that? I just happened to be in the Post Office at the very same moment as this fellow. He does not attend our church, but I got to meet and greet him anyway. I thought that was very fun!
