Some "almost-December" links for you

http://wwDefinitely getting into pre-Christmas excitement here.

Before I get to some Christmas links/ideas, I thought I'd post a link to the cutest Thanksgiving banner.

I think this would be a great project this weekend... if you want to recreate something like this "on the cheap," check out the Graphics Fairy for adorable vintage images that could work for a similar project.

Are you making a Christmas notebook/planner this year?  I started one last year and am adding to it this year....  check out Molly's here, and Marta's here.  Such a cool idea!

For the third year, I'll be making a "December Daily" album.  Each year I am a little happier with the results, but no matter how each album turns out, I *love* looking back at them.  For an overview, check out Ali's post here.  Basically, for me it is an album celebrating the 25 days leading up to Christmas.  (Some people go beyond the 25th with their album, but after 25 days I'm usually "done.") Trust me, we don't do fabulously creative Christmasy things each day, but everyday life is so *sweet*, especially that time of year.  Love documenting it and having those photos/memories to look back on.

This year our children are excited about purchasing a goat through World Vision for a needy family overseas!  (We have raised Nubian dairy goats for 10 years now, so we know what a blessing the fresh milk, etc is)  We are so, so richly blessed here.  While I have not always had the funds to purchase exactly what I want to eat, and I can remember times in the past that I was sad that I could not afford to purchase fruit for the children, I have never had to go a whole day without food as the mother relates in the video below.  Can you imagine how heart-wrenching it would be to be unable to feed your children?  You can watch the following video to see the difference a goat can make in someone's life.



And then there's Christmas music....   yep, we're already playing Christmas music here.  What a grand
celebration Christmas is~ God incarnate come to earth for us!  How about a Christmas music freebie?  Check out Sara Groves site for a free Christmas concert album download!  How cool is that?  Some of our other favorite Christmas albums:


















Having a little problem with formatting here.... sorry this looks so "strange"...  if you want to see the album links/photos and you are reading this in a reader, I think you'll have to go directly to my blog.

Have a wonderful weekend!