My Cup Overfloweth

Our Ward Christmas party is a service project. When I got the link to the volunteer page of things to bring, I just sat and cried. I love this time of year, but it sure makes me cry. Beans, rice, salt, toothpaste, etc. So many people just want the basics. When we were struggling, it was so hard for me not to be able to help people around me. Now that we can, it's hard for me not to do more. We have so much to be grateful for. A home, clothing, food. Good jobs. We live in a great Country and enjoy daily freedoms we take for granted. {Sidenote: My dad's friend from Pakistan joined us for our Melzer Thanksgiving dinner and my mom's friend that grew up in Russia came as well. Talking to them was absolutely shocking, but the setting, Thanksgiving dinner, couldn't have been more appropriate. It was a great reminder of our freedoms. It's appalling and literally unbelievable the persecution some people are faced with.} I am so grateful for my girls and for Jason. I love my little family and often just smile because those three alone make me feel incredibly blessed. We have good health, wonderful friends and family all around us and testimonies of the truthfulness of the gospel. We know we can pray to our Heavenly Father and better yet, we know He hears and answers those prayers.

Those were my thoughts approaching Thanksgiving...

We had our traditional Melzer dinner with my family on Wednesday night.

Then we hosted Jason's family at our house Thursday. I might have gone slightly overboard on the drinks, so I took half of them to my family's dinner the night before.

I did pretty good about getting all my stuff done, except decorations. I got really excited when I thought to make turkeys using a similar process as those tissue paper puff balls. Then I realized we had little acorns across the street so I sent the girls to gather as many as they could. Then these three cute girls helped me set all the tables. They loved it and it went so fast having so many extra hands to help.

After dinner, we thought and talked about Black Friday, but mostly just sat around for a really long time.

And then Hazel entertained.

And then we went to Wal Mart. The employee told us the tupperware was gone. That was five seconds before I took this picture. Did you know I am not a fan of Wal Mart? Every time I go, I have another reason to dislike it.

And then I came home (at about 2am) and ate a salad... that had a worm in it. (Thanks a lot Keirsten!)

And then I stayed up until about 3am talking to Maricel. The next day I began the great cleaning, which included taking out the fifth full garbage bag from the day and running my dishwasher THREE times.

And now I'm wondering if it's possible to get everything done I need to get done before the end of the year. Probably not. But I'm gonna try!