Today we spent mopping floors, dusting, vacuuming, and making sure the house smelled good. I have the cinnamon ornaments, candy cane ornaments, on the tree giving off a nice smell. I also have my fabreeze plug in with the ginger bread smell floating out of them plugged in. And every room has apple/cinnamon candles in them. I love all the smells of this time of year.

Pies baking, candies forming, fudge hardening. I don't think there is any other holiday I love the smells of more than Christmas. I love focusing on the birth of Christ. Even tho no one knows for sure exactly when Jesus was born I am sooooooo grateful that we have this time set aside to wish Him a Happy Birthday. To show our love for Him and our gratefulness to Him. Although we should be doing it daily, most including myself don't really take the time to really focus on Him.

As for myself and my family I am going to try in all areas to focus more on our Savior each and every day. In blessing my home, that is a work of love not only for my family, but also for my Savior. I always try to teach my children that in all they do they should be doing as tho the Lord were standing right there watching them. Today I had an ah ha moment or rather a duh moment. LOL The Lord is standing right here watching everything we each do. And we need to remember that in all our tasks. Cleaning, bandaging, teaching, cooking, serving. God is watching our every move. And He is listening to our every word.

I myself need to remember this when I grumble cause I have to clean a room again and again because 8 or 9 children have gone thru that room playing, having fun, and totaling out that room. Yes I have them help clean up any messes they make. But do you understand that feeling of cleaning a home looking at how nice it looks, how comfortable it feels and an hour later it looks like a heard of elephants just trampled thru?

Or that mountain of laundry that never seems to get any smaller no matter how many loads a day. Each and every day, you do? Instead of grumbling I need to remember to be thankful for the washer and dryer to do the laundry with. And in a family this size they do get their work outs. I need to be thankful for the vacuum that quickly takes care of spilt popcorn or chips, or glitter. lol I need to be grateful for the oven, stove I have that makes light of the cooking chores, and wow does that get it's work out as well. My children are huge eaters! My microwave bit the dust. And although it was a nice convenience we won't be replacing it. We can warm food up on the stove just as easily if not easier when we know if one person gets something eventually everyone wants some too.

Our song for today was Oh Come all Ye Faithful. We need to be faithful in doing all that we do unto the Lord. Faithful in remembering He is watching us and listening to us. Faithful in teaching but more importantly setting the example for our children that we do all that we do for our Lord. That all we have is because of the Lord. All we do is because of the Lord. And we need to be appreciative of all of it. Even the hard, repetitive work we have each day. We need to remember that our abilities to do any of it can be taken from us at any time. So we should never waste any of the time and skills we have been given.

We made snowman necklaces and ornaments tonight out of elmers glue. These are really cute. But looking at the snowman reminded me the snow man is a symbol. The snowman brings us pleasure when we build him. But at the end of the season there will be no snowman. He stands proud in the yard, wearing his regal attire. Then the warm sun of spring or even a warm day of winter and he slowly starts to fade away. We need to make every moment count. Whether it's to show love, teach in the teachable moments, give grace, comfort, lend a listening ear. What ever it is that is set before us, we need to do with whole heartedness and joy. And not let the moments pass later to regret the time lost.

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