Well, I woke up this morning (it’s 2:58 a.m.) to realize it’s been forever since I’ve shared with my readers my current status on writing. I’ve shared I’m in the middle of spinning a new tale in From Grace Abounds Grace. But, I haven’t given much detail on its current status. So, here goes:

I’M AT A COMPLETE STANDSTILL AND HAVE BEEN FOR A COUPLE OF WEEKS!

Ok… the good news is that the world didn’t come to an end as I wrote the above declaration. Nor, did the world stop spinning around the sun. Things are continuing in my life as usual. Well, usual in the sense that December is busy, busy, busy.

I have spent almost three days decorating the house, and I’m still not quite finished. I haven’t even begun Christmas baking, which should be quite the project, since my daughter and I have decided to do some pretty extensive “goodie creating” this year, so that we can bless family and friends with sample packets. Shopping isn’t completed, and will probably take another two lunch/shopping days to complete. And, I am embarrassed to admit (but I will!) that I am quite sure that if the Board of Health dropped by and they could see inside our house, it would be immediately condemned, razed, and even the land would be condemned as not being inhabitable for decades to come.

OK, ok! So, I’m being overly dramatic!

Let’s tone it down and set a truth-standard to my current goings on.

True, my house isn’t quite decorated, and it has been three days of work already, but I am loving every minute of it. I have Christmas carols continually playing, and I find myself joyfully singing and even dancing around as I string lights, hang decorative balls on the tree, and remember happenings of bygone Christmases as I handle specific decorating items. Yep, I’m lovin’ decorating!

I have pulled six of our traditional “goodies” recipes and actually made one of them yesterday afternoon… Layer Bars. They turned out beautifully. Today I’ll make another recipe… my family has always called them Poo Poo Caw Caws (for obvious reasons, if you saw them). Slowly, but surely I’ll complete each recipe, and all baking should be accomplished by this coming weekend. I still need to make Finska Kakors, Russian Tea Cakes (Snow Balls), Rosenmunnar, and Spritz cookies. Whew! But as with the decorating… I’m lovin’ every single minute of it! My daughter will join me sometime the first of NEXT week for us to cellophane-bag up, curly-bow up, and label them up for specific people we want to bless with them. What fun!

Christmas-shopping is fun, fun, fun! My daughter is one of those people that almost everything that comes out of her mouth is hilariously funny, so am I dreading the couple of days we will “do” lunch and shop ’til we drop??? Hardly! I can’t wait!

Cleaning the house for Christmas (after the decorating is completed)… Well, if I tried to make anyone think I can hardly wait for the sheer pleasure of dusting, vacuuming, cleaning toilets, scrubbing sinks, my nose would grow so long that our home would no longer contain it, and I’d have to live outside in the wide open spaces that are getting more wintry by the day! So, I won’t even try to convince otherwise. Let’s just say that under any and all circumstances, I’d still have to clean. So, I’ll do it with joy and thanksgiving that the Lord has given us a lovely home in which to live. There are many people in this world that cannot say the same!

Have I been rambling? Maybe, then again… maybe not.

So, I’m not getting any writing done this month on my current writing endeavor. It just is what it is! What I am gaining in pure joy as I commit fully to preparing a Birthday Party for Jesus so far outweighs writing that they cannot be compared. And, perhaps at December’s end, I will be re-charged “literarily speaking,” and have gained new insights that will make my newest novel, From Grace Abounds Grace, so much the better!

So, with total abandon, I continue preparing for this special celebration and proclaim…

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JESUS!”