Last Minute Christmas Shopping at Fanatic Fanz

Christmas Baking at Momma's

My Mom had a tumor removed from her ear yesterday. Doc said it was most likely benign, and she went through the surgery well. After the surgery, she and I went to her house for an afternoon/evening of resting and lounging on the couch watching movies like any normal person would after surgery... or not.

Because my Mom is such a trooper, we actually ended up doing hours and hours of Christmas baking.


Haystacks were the first on the list. (Super-duper easy and tasty and something different than chocolate) 6 batches of those.

2nd were 'peanut butter blossoms'. (Peanut butter cookies with a Hershey's kiss added just after coming out of the oven.) 4 batches of those.

Next were brownies with holidays minty chocolate chips mixed in and on the top. 2 batches of those.


Then came my favorite: peanut butter delights. (you know, the oatmeal, cocoa, peanut butter no-bake cookies) 1 big batch of these. And last, but not least, rice krispy treats with festive decor. 2 batches of these (after Laura had to make a grocery store run to restock the marshmallows after the first attempt proved disastrous)



Add a few of each of these things to a Christmas-y tin, and you have a great Christmas gift for neighbors and friends!

It's been a Tyndall tradition for years, and I hadn't gotten to help bake for a long time, so it was a very special time with my Momma! And, both Valerie and Laura joined in partway through the evening, which made it even more special.



I am really, truly loving being with my family so much this holiday season. There's been a lot of drama and some heartache recently, but we're even more mindful this year of the power of Christmas.

Wonderful Christmas Time

I love Christmas. I'm so glad that Jesus was born and that a majority of people celebrate that fact during this time of year, whether intentionally or not.

I'm kind of bored tonight at work, wishing I was at home in cozy pjs, listening to Christmas music, looking at our Christmas tree and wrapping presents or writing Christmas cards. Unfortunately, I'm at work. And I couldn't be wrapping presents or writing Chritmas cards anyway because I'm already mostly done with those things... I love them too much to leave them undone on a 'to-do' list.

I'm remembering last year at this time, being in Thailand, making Christmas crafts to decorate our house, teaching my class a song & dance for the huge Christmas performance, ordering presents online for family and friends, and enjoying being able to sneak Christmasy things in wherever possible.

This year, I'm very thankful to be home for Christmas. I'm so excited that we have a REAL Christmas tree this year (our first married one!), a mantle decorated for Christmas, and a wreath on the front door. It's been so much fun to go Christmas shopping and wrap the presents myself. We even did picture Christmas cards this year, which we hadn't done since our engaged Christmas. It just feels so Christmasy.

The last couple of nights, I was able to wrap a lot of Stephani's and Grandma's presents, which totaled somewhere close to 100 presents, while watching a Christmas movie with family. That was one of the things I missed the most last year.

There are many people that fill my mind this time of year. Lots of friends scattered around the world that I wish were closer. But I even feel closer to them right now knowing that we're doing a lot of the same things and even surrounded by some of the same things.

It's just wonderful. Christmas time.

Baby Fever!

I think it's official that I have caught 'baby fever'. For a couple of months now, the sight of friends' babies' pictures or notes about them or mostly anything related to babies either results in joy, or an ache in my chest, or tears of some other kind. It's not a sad kind of baby fever, but an expectant one. When will it be our turn?

Today, my mom texted me about whether I knew anyone who wanted a hand-me-down highchair and booster seat, and I wanted to be like, 'well, I'll need it eventually'. But I didn't want to be selfish about something that may be several years away or may never happen. Instead, we claimed it for our closest, first-baby-producing friends, the Severes. :)

We are definitely in the stage of life where there are more babies than brides and expectancies than engagements. Lots of friends ask us regularly when it will be our turn. We're definitely not opposed to the idea, but I, personally, find myself very concerned about what other people will think. Especially because we do not 'have it all together' in several areas of life right now.

Don't want to get too personal, but I would like some of your thoughts on some of these thoughts.

1) 'If you wait until you have enough money, you will never have kids.' The ol' cliche.

2) What is really considered 'trying'? Just no contraceptive, being super intentional with timing?

3) Jobs/childcare: how much do you consider these things before 'trying' (whatever that means)

4) Mom's pre-conception health. Obviously, I'm overweight, and this concerns me. I have gotten clearance from my doc, but I still have concerns. I find myself comparing myself a lot to pregnant women that I see. (Did you know there's a tv show called 'overweight & pregnant'? --I haven't brought myself to watch it yet, but my sister says every woman on there is different.)

5) Finding out the gender. Matt and I disagree on this issue in a HUGE way. (I think this is something we could decide on later, but what do you think?)Look forward to hearing your thoughts! Feel free to respond on here or by email. And please feel free to be honest as well. That's the point of this whole thing. :)