The Shafferland Shuffle

I don't often get to say this, so I'm going to take full advantage here: it was a low-key week in Shafferland! We were grateful for a bit of a breather!

* Ironically, last Sunday wasn't quite as restful as we like a Sunday to be. We had just a few leftover Christmas decorations to put up that we hadn't gotten done on Saturday, so after a quick attempt at rest, we finished up the few remaining things. (The Merrcy Hristmas sign is baaaaaaaaaack!) Ryan grilled our dinner, as he often does on Sunday evenings, and we enjoyed the first of many nights by the twinkle lights!

* I had to run out to the local radio station Monday morning to record some ad spots for our church, and it was really foggy out there! That evening, we hosted my women's ministry team for an end-of-year celebrations party. It was SUCH a fun night! Ryan grilled dinner for us and all the women brought food to share, and we had the BEST TIME together.

* I spent Tuesday working at home (and catching up on DVR'd shows, including Long Lost Family, which I sobbed over...shocker). We hosted small group that night, so we scurried after Ryan's work to do our last minute prep on that. (We had a great group and loved all we learned!) And we kept right on loving our cute Christmas lights, as did our group! They peeked in all the rooms to see the trees.

* Wednesday was a writing day for me, since I have some devotional articles due soon. I was holed up at my desk, typing away, when I found a cardinal staring at me from the tree. Must have been trying to peek - ha! Ryan had men's Bible study that evening, so my friend Amber came over to hang out with me, and Braeya refused to be comforted until Ryan came home and she could sit on HIS lap. So fickle, that one.

* I posted about this on Instagram, so some of you might have seen it, but I LOVE waking up to Christmas lights, and this view on Thursday morning was my favorite! Our Christmas cards arrived that day, and I'm excited to get those ready to go! We went grocery shopping that night (completely out of food) and I found a Friends calendar! We made it home in time for Ryan to watch the Colts game. So close. So close.

* I was on fire in the cooking world on Friday! Tomato soup and grilled cheese (healthy versions of both) for lunch and chicken parmesan and broccoli for dinner! I wrote all day and went for a run in the evening, and then we made our way to the grocery store Christmas tree farm to get our live tree for this year. I think this may be the first time we've ever made it there in the daylight!

* When Ryan got home from work yesterday, we ran out to do some errands and had a coffee-on-the-go date while we were out! Then we came home and decorated our live tree! He turned out to be really pretty when he was situated in his corner! :) We read all the stories of all our ornaments and the very last one we put on was Nita's memorial ornament. Right there in front. Perfect.