the HELP

Before receiving orders that we had to move, I spent a lot of time thinking and praying for help to achieve a simpler, less busy life. I've been trying to prioritize a little better to reach a balance between work (our vinyl business that has kept me insanely busy the last three years) and play. I know how to work hard when I have to, but much prefer to play with my family. I've been striving to get back to more of the play. When I envisioned simple and calmer, this isn't {at all} what I had in mind. I can't think of a Christmas season {ever} that I've had so much time on my hands. I'm the mom who loves making Christmas cookies and candies then taking them to our neighbors. I bought a cookie tray a few weeks ago and had to return it because it was too big to fit in our oven. It wasn't even the big one- kind of the middle size one and it still doesn't fit. We miss our neighbors terribly. I love looking at lights and listening to Christmas music. I wish I had kept my Josh Groban Christmas CD {my very, very favorite} out- if only I had known there's a reason it's called the slow boat. As I mentioned before, there aren't so many lights here- at least in our neck of the woods. I usually love my kids home for Christmas break and having their friends over. Not so fun yet this break- we all miss our friends as well and are realizing even more how important our good friends are to us.

We're going to try to make it to a Christmas market tomorrow- they're the big thing around Germany. If we had our van, I'm sure we would have already gone. We don't all fit in our car which makes it a little rough to go anywhere- especially with slick roads. The slow boat could just get here any day now... still our household is expected NLT 1/10 and our van NLT 1/4. We'll see.

As a result of this free time, I've relied heavily on our library and have tried to spend my free time catching up on some reading. I love reading, it's just one of those things I haven't made the time for these last few years. I just finished The Help. Wonderful book about African American maids working in white households in the early 1960's. I had a hard time putting it down and highly recommend it. It's a quick read, easy to get in to from the start. A reminder to me that things are in my life aren't too bad. I'm thinking of going back and reading all the classics I skipped over all the way through high school {{with cliff notes}} and missed out on. I'm open for any and all reading suggestions...