<p>They flew back to Texas last Saturday (during the big ice storm!) and then Monday of this week I flew to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania! My trip was unexpected but the opportunity arose for me to go and help out a friend in need with her newborn baby. You may recall that before my girls were born I nannied for twin girls. I’ve shared before how those twins were like a balm to my broken heart as I was their nanny during those infertility years. They were a foreshadow of what was to come as I am now the mother of two little girls. The twins are now six and big sisters to a baby sister who is only five weeks old and their mom has gone from my “employer” to a very good friend of mine. I was nervous leaving my babies but they are getting older now and I knew they would have a blast with Grams and Gramps and Dave could still come see them after work. I did sneak their favorite stuffed animal in my purse and then I sent them a text of Brutus playing in the snow! </p>  <p>Ironically, Pittsburg is where Wesley spent the past 3 years at seminary so I FINALLY, after all these years, got see where he had been all this time, even though at the time I was there, he was here! </p>  <p>Can I just say I came home with a new definition of <em>cold. </em>When I left to fly home yesterday it was a balmy 19 degrees. I don’t think I could survive there. I don’t disclose my actual location on the blog, but let’s just say I am not particularly used to highs in the 20s and 30s and <em>teens</em>!! It was FREEZING the whole time I was there! It snowed the morning after I arrived which was absolutely gorgeous! We braved the cold and went to downtown Pittsburg and to West End overlook where you can see the three rivers join together!</p>  <p><a href="/1DB25B0C4C9C4FF725BBC44D009EECCD22E13F05/images/2013/12/pittsburg.png"><img title="pittsburg" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="pittsburg" src="/1DB25B0C4C9C4FF725BBC44D009EECCD22E13F05/images/2013/12/pittsburg_thumb.png" width="504" height="504" /></a></p>  <p>Grams did a great job of being my sub this week with Little Bug’s homeschool! They did the first two days of this week’s Ready-Made Preschool and we did day 3 today and will do day 4 either this weekend or Monday. We have one more week of Ready-Made Preschool next week and then we will take a break for Christmas so we can do some fun Christmas activities and crafts!</p>  <p>Christmas is 12 days away! I panicked right before Thanksgiving because I had literally done NO Christmas shopping! That is not like me at all! A wise friend told me I should just shop online. Well, that took care of that! I’ve done probably over 75% of my shopping online this year and I will forever shop this way for Christmas gifts!</p>  <p>The day between our family leaving and me leaving for Pittsburg, our family went to get our Christmas Tree! Dave found the perfect one for our first Christmas with a fireplace and mantel for the stockings! (I’d been looking forward to decorating for Christmas since we moved in in April!)</p>  <p><a href="/1DB25B0C4C9C4FF725BBC44D009EECCD22E13F05/images/2013/12/tree.png"><img title="tree" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="tree" src="/1DB25B0C4C9C4FF725BBC44D009EECCD22E13F05/images/2013/12/tree_thumb.png" width="504" height="504" /></a></p>    <p>The bottom right picture is the $20 tree we purchased from Wal-Mart for the girls to have in their playroom. I told them to decorate it as they wish and so far, this is how it looks! I contemplated doing the Truth of the Tinsel or The Jesse Tree with the girls this year but decided against it. There is certainly nothing wrong in doing those with them and I probably will do them in the future when they are a bit older.</p>  <p>I read a blog recently about letting things go this Christmas and not trying to do it all. Just build memories with your kids in very simple ways. So that is what I am doing this year. Under the playroom tree there are wrapped Christmas books that I checked out from the library. Every morning the girls take turns opening one book and then we read it after our Bible time together! I will also plan to do <a href="http://www.faithfullyinfertile.com/2012/12/elf-on-the-shelf-nativity-style-is-here/" target="_blank">Elf on the Shelf Nativity Style</a> with them starting on December 16th. Beyond that, we are learning all about The Christmas Story and the reason for this season during Bible time this week and through Christmas and we will go look at Christmas lights and that’s all we’ve got planned besides some Christmas crafts later on. Simple and memorable! </p>  <p>I’m sure I’ll be back to post our Christmas picture for this year (if we ever take it – ha!) but if not, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Remember why we celebrate Christmas and keep that the focus in the midst of all the hustle and bustle!</p>