Tis' The Season To Party...

Oh oh OH! The annual family Christmas party has arrived and left in what feels like a few minutes!  This year is flying by with only two days left til Christmas!  Everything needs to slow down because school will be starting back before we realize, and I am ill-prepared for school to come back.

Anyway, Annual T family Christmas Party! Woo! The Christmas party is basically where my family invites the WHOLE church over to our house where we eat, fellowship, read the Christmas Story, exchange gifts, and just love on one another before we don't see eachother until after Christmas.  It is all in great fun and love in Christ.  

These are just a few of the pictures I took...

The inside of the house was so packed during the reading of the Christmas story that people were standing and sitting on the floors. We even had a second Christmas story reading outside for the men who weren't able to squeeze into a spot to hear the first story.

A lot of people came to the party. Family, friends, and family of the friends all came as well.  We all learned new things at the party. I learned that hard wood floors hurt after sitting on them for 30 minutes, my niece Raine (Pictured above) learned that she could rock herself in the rocking chair. (How cute!)

The house was beautifully decorated inside, and out, by my parents. My mom put so much effort into the inside of the house and my father struggled with the outside lights, but in the end it looked amazing! Overall, the Lord truly blessed are get together that night :) It was a great set off to Christmas week.

Can You Feel the Season Yet?

Only thirteen days left til Christmas morning and I don't even have all of the gifts that I need to give! Is anyone else feeling the stress of Christmas yet or is it just me?

This past week Christmas has attacked my house, starting with the arrival of The Box from my Aunt Sharon

The Box is a reoccurring Christmas gift from my father's  Cool Aunt Sharon. It comes every year, just a few weeks before Christmas and it is a huge deal around my house. The Box arrives and every family member is called to be informed of its arrival...

...because it is filled with an incredibly large amount of chocolate, both cheap and expensive. This year my aunt surprised us with  an expensive cheese, sausage and cracker box. Very tasty indeed.

 A few days after the arrival of The Box, we transformed our living room into a magical present unwrapping area. This entire ritual of Christmas involved dragging the tree out of the attack, a chocolate war with the leftover candy from The Box (Started by my Over-fifty-father) and a game to see who could decorate the tree best by throwing the ornaments onto the tree from across the room.

Decorating the tree always starts with assembly and lights (Because who wants a real tree? Not us sickly people. Allergies, man).

Bethy was not amused by my lack of enthusiastic help while she put up the lights.

Though we managed to get all the lights on the tree, we appreciated when all the lights actually turned on.

 Finally, Rachael got home and that is when the real decorating began.

We like lace and white lights. We also like to get adventurous while decorating.

Which includes wrapping the lights around ourselves and dancing like we know how.

Yeah, we are adventurous.

Ah, beautiful. Don't you think?

So, we decorated and there are actually some presents under the tree! Wow, Christmas is almost here, not to mention New Years is right around the corner! Are you ready? All I can ask is...

Can you feel the season yet?

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Finals

Everyone knows what time of year it is, especially when they start to hear those lovely songs play on repeat on the radio station. Yes, Christmas is on it's way. Prepare yourselves for hectic shopping trips and the stress of whether the Duck Dynasty slippers you ordered for that one family member are going to arrive on time or get lost in the Christmas Present traffic jam that we call the Post Office. 

For most people, this time of the year means lots of shopping, spending, gift wrapping, and crying about how empty their wallets have become because they missed the Black Friday sales. But for us college and high-school students, this time of the year only means one thing...

Finals.

Late night study sessions, little sleep, lots of caffeine and large amounts of unneeded stress. Yes, Finals are coming. We procrastinate til the last second and then run around like chickens with our heads cut off, but hey, that's just what we do...

So, how to avoid the absolutely NOT needed stress of Finals?  Here's a few tips:

1. Don't procrastinate.
Waiting til the night before to finish a paper or study for that exam is a BAD idea. Try and plan out your study sessions at an appropriate time of the day when your brain is most alert and willing to absorb the knowledge needed. Remember to give yourself some rest, your mind needs a break as well.

2. Get lots of sleep.
In the movies you always see the college kid staying up and studying til the crack of dawn, and then getting a great grade because he or she 'Power Studied'. Let me tell you, it doesn't work. Your mind and body needs lots of rest to be able to function properly during test time. You definitely don't want to fall asleep in class and blow your whole exam, even if you know the answers.

3. Eat healthy.
Loading up on caffeine and sugared foods is not always a bad idea, but you don't want to feel sick on exam day. Try and balance a good, healthy breakfast with your sugary diet for finals week. Give your mind the ability to focus on your tests, and give your body the energy to move from one class to the next.

4. Be prepared.
The worst thing to do is wake up on exam morning and realize that you're missing your Scantron, or your lucky #2 pencil. Be sure to go through your backpack the night before and double check that you have everything you need. Better to be over-prepared than missing an important piece of exam day.

5. Pray and trust the Lord.
Definitely want to do this before, during, and after your exams. God knows what you're going through, and asking him to get you through your exams and putting your complete trust in Him is a good way to start off the end of your semester and a good way to prepare for the next one.

 "May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble! May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!" Psalms 20:1.

 "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright."  Psalms 20:7-8.

 "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13.

I pray that every High-school and College student has a great finals week and that they will put their trust in God during this rough last week of school :)

Just remember; do your best, and God will bless :)