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do you ever think…

my life couldn't get any better…

and then it does???

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{my darling 13yo son who just got his first laptop!!}

If you haven't thought this, you aren't counting your many blessings! There really is a glass half full mentality out there to embrace. We all joke about it…our fave is who cares if the glass is half empty or half full, it's just gonna spill anyway! Or…glass? what glass?

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But that's not how I want to think! Don't get me wrong. I have my days…yep, even me…pollyanna sally…i have my moments!! (just ask mr gorgeous…on second thought, don't ask mr gorgeous!!)

Here's what keeps me going…this thought…

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{downloadable word art for you…click to the big version then right click and save as!}

"Don't let that enemy steal your joy! The joy of the Lord is your strength."

Want to be strong? Be joyful!!!

super easy to type…but entirely different to live it. But I'm up for the challenge. How about you? Let's live it in 2011 together!! 

Watch for a new year filled with new inspiration, new songs, new creations, new store products, and a new spirit of HOPE!!!

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So as part of my joyful last three days, I embraced every moment of the Christmas weekend, and I avoided my laptop!

Here are a few of our Christmas moments for your 12 days of inspiration!!

First off, we had a fun festive visit the day before Christmas Eve with our dear sweet friends. 

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We love this pic of our two families together!! (thank you, camera timer!!)

The momma of this fun fam is from Germany and with her culture, she brings different traditions to their family Christmas celebration. One of those traditions is this set of bags as an advent calendar…

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Each day they take a bag down and get whatever is inside! (I didn't really ask what was inside…wonder why?)

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They made these bags and painted them several years ago…She also said they love that the bags are different sizes, so they can put totally different items in there!

and here's their Christmas tree…

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They have a love of the hand blown glass ornaments like i do!!

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A broom!!! LOL!! so fun!!

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this is my fave pic from when we were there!!

Embrace the times you spend with your dear friends!! and set up more time with them…this is one of mr gorgeous and my goals for the new year!!

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Now, on Christmas Eve, we have a tradition to go to Mr Gorgeous' relatives' gathering. And this year we got to go to "Santa's" house. My mil's cousin's husband is the spitting image of Santa! And the kids made sure to tell Lillian that we were going to Santa's house!
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 Here they are singing Christmas carols together…adorable!!

We all got together and sang Christmas carols a bit later in the day. One of the best times of the season.

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Lillian was hard pressed to leave Santa…but we reminded her that Santa couldn't come and deliver her gifts if we didn't go on with our day and let him get on with his!!

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We drove straight to my mom's church for Christmas Eve services! It was a gorgeous candlelight service. Our favorite part was when Lillian came back from sitting in the front with all of the children to watch the Nativity story play put on by a small group of kids in the church. Lillian rounded the corner of our row that we were sitting in, looked at her daddy, and said, "WOW!!" That said it all for all of us!!

wow…the Nativity story is powerful, amazing…and true!! This is the main part of Christmas that i adore…the Truth of it…

Okay…after the service we drove home in a massive rain storm, and got home and took pics (of course!!). It was amazing that we had all picked black and red to wear that day…not planned…it just happened that way!

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Oma and her Keller kiddos…I love these two pics!!

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My gorgeous Christmas Eve family!

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Instead of singing around the piano, the girls, Oma and I did a Christmas craft that was beyond wonderful for me!!

I was reading this fabulous magazine which I've referenced here before – Amy Powers' Inspired Ideas – and I was really intrigued by several ads in there from this girlie, Jerusalem Greer…the Jolly Goode gal!

So I hopped on over to her blog and found this post here:

Too Many Mittens…

Ohhhh my goodness!I love this book! It's one of my very faves from when I was little. 

Here's an excerpt…

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Too Many Mittens

(We all loved how the twins were named Ned and Donny! *except Donnie is spelled wrong…but it was still fun!!)

Soooooo, of course I had to have one of those kits from Jerusalem's store!!

And trying to find time in the last few days before Christmas proved to be impossible, until Christmas Eve! 

When I was little, my mommy read to me almost every night, probably until I was 10 years old!! So I dubbed her as the reader for the night. She read the book to us…

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and then we made the garland…

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and our finished garland…(below)

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{adore}!!!

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Christmas morning was just as magical…

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{our stockings ready for the glut…}

We opened gifts with my mom (who spent the night), then at noon, we opened gifts with my in laws, then we all packed up the food and we went over to the babies' house! (My brother and sil's!!) It was such a glorious day! and we all got fun presents and some surprises…

But the best was being with family…it's always the best! We are so blessed with a loving family where the in-laws all love each other…and I hope to post a pic from someone else's camera, since in the excitement getting over to my sweet baby nieces' house, I forgot mine!

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We all wish you the very merriest of holidays…yep…they aren't over yet! We still have some celebrating to do this coming weekend, too!!!! yay!!! Can't wait to prepare for that!! 

stay tuned for some awesomeness!!! and merry christmas from sally's angelworks!

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