Three Ways to Create Christmas Magic

In a very time-honored tradition in our family, we celebrated our family Christmas early to facilitate traveling home for the holidays.  Getting to do that this year is a gift that we were not expecting at all when we went home this summer.  We are so grateful for the wedding of these two making it possible.  The biggest gift is that they even want us to be there that much!

I am a bit nervous about being in charge of their wedding photography!  But conversely, I love photographing interactions between people I love, and I think having someone you know and trust behind the camera makes people more comfortable being themselves, which results in better pictures.  All the technical prowess in the world means nothing if you have stiff and uncomfortable expressions!

But back to our early Christmas yesterday...

We have been rocking our fireplace out for the past three weeks at least.  It makes everything feel so cozy pleasant.

Why so excited James?  It's obviously because my mom gave me some extra thumbtacks for the bulletin board in my room.  It is always, always the little things.

Also a big hit was KJ's idea to give the kids a little cash in an envelope.  Nothing makes you feel so happy as having a little pocket money.  Ask me how I know?  KJ gave me some, too. 

This charity shop find made Ella so happy, and she spent the day tapping away.  It's such a pleasant background noise.  

I began writing this morning out of a desire to record our lives more frequently in this space as I used to do, but I've ended up thinking of a few things that made our faux Christmas morning full of that Christmas magic we all desire, and maybe they'll be helpful to you, too.

1. Cultivating gratitude.  I really think being intentional about being thankful for gifts big and small throughout the month of November made our Christmas morning so pleasant.  I was really thankful yesterday for God's grace at work in our kids' hearts in how thankful and content they were through the day.
2. Paying attention.  Sometimes it's hard to know what to buy for someone, but I found it so easy this year especially to pick up those little things that my kids have been talking about and requesting for the past several months.  Because even though we all love a really nice, expensive gift from time to time, our lives are mostly made more joyful and easier by little things.  For us this year it looked like thumbtacks, a lunchbox that looks like a book satchel, and a pen with a cool inscription:  Mightier than Sword.
3. Don't pass up the thrift store or in England, the charity shop.  Because that typewriter was the most thrilling gift of the day.

November Days

It's the beginning of December, and we've already had our first taste of Christmas lights and Santa Claus, but I'm taking a moment to savor and record November as per usual at the beginning of the month.

November 1 - Raking the Leaves and Picking Up Rocks
This proved to be a good way to get the kids outside on homeschool days and also made our back garden look nicer.  November is the month of fading light, so we paid special attention to that evening sun.

November 3 - Autumn Drives

November 4 - Rainbow over the Moors
This incredible view is on the way to the kids' school, and when you're running early and catch a glimpse of what looks like a rainbow halfway painted on the horizon you pull over to take a picture.

It was probably pouring rain five minutes later.  North Yorkshire is crazy like that.

November 5 - Remembering the 5th of November
I just love this girl so much.

November 6 - Leaves, Leaves, Leaves

November 7 - Ballet Stretching
Ella has a list of stretches to work on during the week for her ballet class.  Ella's giving James some instructions on how to join in here.

November 8 - Golden Leaves Outside our House

November 9 - Unexpected Snow Day
Waking up to a winter wonderland in early November was the best kind of surprise.

November 10 - After School Sun

November 11 - The yellow leaves have been glorious this year.

November 12 - Feeding a cat while her family was away...she got a bit lonely and needed a good head scratch.

November 13 - Christmasy Wander with Christmasy Drinks

November 15 - Playground Fun

November 16 - Rainbow over Arkendale

November 17 - I was chatting with friends waiting for the kids to get out of school when someone pointed out a rainbow behind me over the school yard.  November really is a month of rainbows.

November 18 - Friday night fun with Friends
A nearby city recently got a Domino's Pizza that delivers to Boroughbridge.  This is cause for celebration.

November 19 - Pizza Party Hosted in part as a thank you to a friend with the right tools for hanging curtains.
We were so thankful.  Curtains at last!

November 20 - Tap and Theatre Craft Exams

November 21 - New pajamas from Great-Gramma Lister

November 22 - Friends!  And Christmas Bookshop Windows!

November 23 - School Mornings

November 24 - Thanksgiving Preparations

November 25 - Afternoon School Run
It's basically night time when we drive home from school now.

November 26 - Thanksgiving 

November 27 - Leftovers Quesadilla Style

November 28 - Chasin' Waterfalls

November 29 - Exploring York
We love showing our friends around!

November 30 - Sunset on the Block

Thanksgiving 2016

November 1 marked two years of living in Boroughbridge for us.  That is very hard to believe!  When it comes to celebrating important holidays away from home and family, we are continually grateful for the surprising ways God shows grace and kindness to us.  This year's Thanksgiving gift came in the form of three special visitors from home.

How have they not been a blessing to us?  It would be hard to think of one way.  They have loved and played with my kids, bringing joy to their little hearts.  They have supported all my Thanksgiving meal plans chopping, washing, cleaning, and decorating.  As a small token of our appreciation we plan to treat them to some of the best scenery Yorkshire has to offer today by driving into the Dales. Each time we go on an outing of some kind in the Yorkshire Dales we look at each other and say: Why don't we come here more often?  Things like work and school and daily responsibilities seem so small compared to enjoying such beauty.

This year I thought about how the first Thanksgiving marked the celebration of God's grace and provision in the lives of English pilgrims and Native Americans and then smiled because we native Americans also have much to be thankful for in the English friends we have made who have welcomed us and helped us adjust to life in this new world in which we live.

Katie helped the kids with some traditional Thanksgiving crafts, and I read them the story of Squanto. They're working hard here on the infamous hand turkey.

There are more pictures, of course, but we are out the door for an adventure today.  KJ has taken the day off work, and it is a field trip day for the kids, so we must seize the sunlight while we can!

An August Day and Night

At the top of my thankful list this year is that we were able to spend time with all of our grandparents this summer.  We made the most of every moment we could with people dear to our hearts.

This was a late summer afternoon in my grandmother's front yard where there was always a Thanksgiving day game of football on the perfectly flat lawn when I was growing up.  Rumbling thunder in the distance made us stop and listen because it's a rare thing to have thunder in England, especially the continuous kind common to an Alabama summer.

We're still trying to wrap our minds around the fact that KJ broke his ankle while we were home.  It seems like a crazy dream.  We visited my grandmother about a month before her 93rd birthday.  That number of years feels like a badge of honor, especially when you still look so beautiful.  

We ended this day by driving to my brother and sister-in-law's house for the perfect end to a hot summer day with grilled hamburgers and hot dogs and a campfire.  But first, coffee.  Coffee in the only kind of mug I'd expect to drink out of at my brother's house.  I love the Murphy homestead.

I feel like the boy needs a dog, but I'm not sure I'm ready for the responsibility.

Ella and Aunt Sandy made cookies and collected an egg from one of the girls while James helped Uncle Jesse gather sticks.

 

The s'mores were perfection.

We had a late-night viewing of Savage Sam, the sequel to Old Yeller, which I highly recommend.  It was one of our favorite movies when we were kids.  It's so much fun, and spoiler, the dog doesn't die in this one, so it's a win!  Old Yeller is just painful.