My Sweet Advent Calendar

On the last day of November–alllll those weeks ago- haha– April and Lily came over and gave me an amazing surprise.

Ok, yes, they brought me a yummy cinnamon roll that Lily made and some hot chocolate, but the REAL surprise was…..

this beautiful box…

with all it’s mysterious littler boxes….

that April’s family filled up with…

all kinds of magical Christmasy things!

There were candy canes and water bottle stickers and brown sugar fudge…

yummy lip gloss…

a soft, fluffy wash cloth…

and even a ridiculous Perfect Man made of chocolate.

Ohhhhh Aprilllll. Hahaha.

One box held heavenly soft plaid socks…

another had a chocolate marshmallow Santa–that only April and I truly appreciate. Heh.

There were lovely ornaments…

chocolates and more ornaments…

and MORE chocolate!!!

I especially loved the teeny, tiny Mrs. Claus cup ornament.

You know, I always wanted to be Mrs Claus when I grew up.

I’m not even kidding.

Best of all–each of those different boxes came with a sweet littleĀ  note from Hazel, Lily, Beckham, Jacob or April that I will love and cherish forever.

Thank you so much my sweethearts.

You made itĀ like Christmas every single day.

This Cute Town at Christmas

One of the adorable things I love about living in a small town…

is all the attention they pay to the simple, sweet things…

like Christmas lights.

They are everywhere…filling the parks…

lining the streets…

and decorating the city buildings. My pictures aren’t so great because I was trying not to crash as I drove by–so you’ll have to use your imagination.

We have a beautiful Bedford Falls look about us in this little town.

Well, we would have if we could just get some…

snow.

Fingers crossed.

Our Gingerbread House Party

We do this awesome thing each year.

We gather and make the most adorable gingerbread houses–started for our family my my sweet daddy–Grampa to most of these folks–when I was only 16. Now, the very smell of the cooking honeycake will send many of us back to Grampa’s bake shop out back.

It’s a beautiful, sweet thing.

 

Grampa’s Honeycake by April

This, my friends is Honey cake. And to be honest, it’s still hard for me to see this dough…

and smell these spices…

and watch the process…

and see some of the old tools…

without looking around to see if my cute little Daddy isn’t somewhere close by.

April, probably more than anyone, watched and helped with the process right at grampa’s side. She knows all the little secrets to make the Honey cake now–so it’s wonderful to watch her do it.

It warms my heart and helps me when I’m missing him particularly at Christmastime.

When she’s finished, it looks the same. It smells the same. It tastes the same.

I get the feeling that he is very close with that twinkle in his eye…

smiling.

 

 

Thanks April for saving this for all of us.

I miss you Daddy.

Grampa Was the Gingerbread ManĀ  lyrics by Light Shine University

 

Lily Loves Elephants!!

Ever since Lily went to Cambodia on a service trip…

she has been crazy about elephants!

Their sweet flappy ears…

their funny little toes…

and that crazy trunk!!

So, of course she needs an elephant snuggy for Christmas!!

I hope she loves it!!

 

 

Original pattern from BkayCrochetCo