Christmas cards

I finally got my Christmas cards, so tonight Brad and I will be assembling them, tying ribbons and addressing envelopes (after my wonderful staff Christmas party, of course)! They are too cute, and I hope that everyone will enjoy them...

This is the picture we used for our card (we wanted to use one from the wedding):

Have a wonderful day :)

Let the holiday craziness begin!

Things have been INSANELY busy at the Warnock house (as I'm sure it has been at your house as well)! I neglected to do any of my shopping until this past weekend, which was a disaster! I always tell myself that I'm going to get it done early, but I never do. Sometimes, I think I enjoy being pushed around in the hustle and bustle at all the shopping malls! I got 99% of my shopping done, THANK GOODNESS!!!!

Now, my nights have been spent wrapping all of the gifts - which I love! Brad is such a trooper, helping me wrap all of my gifts. I love watching him get so frustrated when it doesn't turn out the exact way he wants - I think I wrapped 5 gifts in the time it took him to wrap 1. I do have an advantage as I have been wrapping gifts at The Write Impression for over a year now!

Tonight starts our crazy Christmas schedule - we have something EVERY SINGLE NIGHT! Tonight is the MidSouth Christmas Party, and I cannot wait to see Brad's co-workers! Tomorrow night is the United Way Christmas Party - which I am hosting (add to the craziness!). Thursday night, I get to meet up with my FAVORITE Junior League gals for dinner! I actually don't have anything planned for Friday night, which means I'll probably spend it packing for our weekend...Brad and I are traveling to Georgia to see his parents and brother for an early Christmas. I actually have all of next week off, and I'm so excited!!!

In all the craziness, I completely forgot about BooMama's Christmas Tour of Homes - I plan to post pictures of our house tonight, though! I don't want to miss out on that!

I hope each and every one of you take time out of your crazy schedules to remember why we celebrate this wonderful holiday! Have a blessed day!

Thank you notes...

Go HERE to read more about writing thank you notes!

I'm officially a hockey fan.

Last night was a fun-filled evening...Brad and I took my little sister, Kayla, and her cousin, Brittany, to the Predators game. This was the first time that I had been to a hockey game - Kayla and Brittany included. I was kind of hesitant about going, but let me just tell you...it was an absolute blast!!! Our seats were pretty high up, but we still had a great view of the hockey rink. I don't know much about hockey, but thanks to a little "Hockey 101" in our programs, I learned the basics (plus my husband is OBSESSED with any and all sports, so he helped). Even though the Preds lost 2-1 to the Colorado Avalanche, it was a night well-spent! I know the girls really enjoyed themselves, although I think Kayla went just to see a real-live hockey fight, which we did not get to see! Boo!!!! I am really amazed by the sport, and I have a feeling that I will be attending a lot more games!

Oh, I forgot my camera at work, so I don't have a SINGLE picture.

Merry Open House Favors and other cuteness!

Wanted to share the pictures of the favors I gave out to our guests at our Merry Open House - I worked on them for around 3 hours (I know, I'm crazy!)....enjoy!

I decorated around 60 ornaments with cute sayings like "Merry Christmas" or "Deck the Halls" - tied them with a cute gingham ribbon and attached a greeting and verse! Super cute idea, although it took me a lot longer than I thought it would! I even signed them with an "L" on the bottom - so they're a "Lena Original!"

This is the tree that I hung them on, so that when guests were leaving, they could grab their ornament as well :)

My mom sent me this picture yesterday - it's one of the ornaments I gave to her good friend, Charlene - she had it displayed in her beautiful home! I'm so honored :)

This is a picture of my sweet baby boy, Beaufort Bob, sleeping - he was WORN OUT!

Christmas traditions

Last night, Brad and I got into a discussion in the car after a quick trip to Hastings - I brought up the topic of Christmas traditions. I told him that I wanted us to make a special Christmas tradition since it is our first Christmas together. Well, of course he wanted to know my ideas. Before I share my ideas, I need to give y'all a little background information...

When I was a child, Christmas was the biggest and best holiday we celebrated all year long. I was fortunate enough to have my mother at home with me most of my childhood, so I have lots of memories that involve her at Christmastime. I can remember pulling out all the Christmas decorations - but there was a catch. I did not get to hang every ornament or decorate the tree, my mother had a "method" to hanging them, most of the time she told us where to hang them, or we just watched in awe as she turned the tree into some amazing masterpiece.

Anyways, I think that's where I learned all of my decorating skills - from watching a real pro.

We would make hundreds of cookies, chocolate-covered pretzels, butterscotch haystacks, and fudge pies and take them to all of our neighbors and friends. We made ornaments out of this special kind of dough, my mom would bake them, and we would paint them to give out as gifts. And our house, let me tell you - it was the most beautifully decorated house in our county (if I do say so myself!). Once, when I was in the third grade, my mom hosted a mother-daughter tea and cookie swap. Everyone showed up in their best Christmas dresses, and we had the BEST time. That may be one of my favorite Christmas memories.

On Christmas Eve, after going to the Midnight Candlelight Service at church, we begged and begged my parents to let us open one gift - my dad always picked one for us to open, and it always ended up being pajamas, house shoes, or a hat - something like that. Christmas morning was wonderful - my dad would make us cover our eyes before we would get to see what Santa had left. And when we opened our eyes, it was the most exciting site for a child's eyes. Each of us (there are four children in my family) had a stack of presents, and the gifts from Santa would already be opened and ready to play with. I remember one Christmas, I got a Barbie house and a Barbie kitchen set - my mother spent so much time putting the little dishes in the cabinet and making sure the refrigerator was stocked with Barbie food. We would have breakfast together, then visit my Great-Grandmother Harris for the entire family dinner. It was magical, truly magical...and I think that's why I have such fond memories of Christmas.

So, it's very important to me to make sure that when we have children, that we make the holiday special for them. I will admit, my parents definitely went overboard with presents from Santa. It was insane how much we all got. Brad and I talked about the "Three Gifts" idea (for gifts from Santa) - if three gifts were enough for Jesus, surely they'll be plenty for our children. I also love the idea of opening one gift of Christmas Eve - but I hope to make the tradition that the gift is a new set of pajamas :) I love pajamas! I want to make sure that my children truly understand the reason for the season by involving nativity sets, volunteering, and giving to others. I'm sure there are other traditions that we will make with the Warnock family...what traditions/memories do you have from Christmas - I would love to hear!

The Ultimate Love Language

When I started in my small group this past fall, all of the women talked about this one particular book, and they talked about it A LOT - they said wonderful things about this book, talked about how it changed their life, etc. So, I HAD to have this book! What is this book, you ask? It's called The Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian. One night after my small group, I went to Hastings to see if they had it, and I even found a used copy! (even better!)

To be honest, I haven't really made time to read it until last night. Now, I can't stop reading it. If there was a way that I could read while I was driving, well I'd do it! It's so amazing, and it makes me see things that I have never even thought about. To get you caught up on the book, it's main purpose is to show women the power of praying - and applying it to your relationship. She challenges you to pray for your husband in the key areas of his life including his spiritual walk, his emotions, his role as a father, leader and decision-maker, his security in work and finances, his health, his faith and finally his future.

Last night I was reading about "The Ultimate Love Language" (prayer), and I would like to share this passage with you:
"When you pray for your husband, the love of God will grow in your heart for him. Not only that, you'll find love growing in his heart for you, without him even knowing you are praying. That's because prayer is the ultimate love language. It communicates in ways we can't. I've seen women with no feelings of love for their husbands find that as they prayed, over time, those feelings came. Sometimes they felt differently even after the first heartfelt prayer...The point in all this is that as husband and wife we don't want to be taking separate roads. We want to be on the same path together. We want to be deeply compatible, lifelong companions, and have the love that last a lifetime. Prayer, as the ultimate love language, can make that happen."

I am so excited to see what else this book has to offer - I have a feeling that this book is going to take my relationship with my husband to a new level, and I cannot wait to see what awesome things God has in store for us through prayer.

Have any of you read the book? I would love to know your thoughts...do you pray for your husband? How has it changed your relationship?

"Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies. The heart of her husband safely trusts her; so he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life." - Proverbs 31:10-12