Monday, November 26, 2012

'Tis the Season!

...for craziness, and food, and family time, and Christmas concerts (our choir is singing next weekend!), and shopping, and decorating (well, at least the blog is dressed up!), and so on and so forth...

My grandma's delicious apple pie and a lovely table decoration make a nice pair! Although fall colors will soon be gone until next year...

It's all good! I've been having a great time with family and friends lately, making fun memories and gaining new experiences (including driving!). There was our Black Friday (Black Thursday?) experience late Thanksgiving night, where my mom and I went to Target around 1:00 AM and bought potatoes and a toothbrush, neither of which were on sale. Yep! Definitely gave us a good laugh! (But my mom did find a few things on sale at Sears, so it wasn't a complete wash.)

Anyway, I'm sorry I've been a bit scarce lately! I'm hoping all of us have been/will be enjoying life outside of the blogosphere, though. =) With the end of the year within sight, I've been contemplating my reading/reviewing habits and wondering about different blogging directions. I've still got some thinking to do... But I just wanted to let you know that there might be some changes ahead. We shall see!

Also, if you haven't already noticed the blog button in the sidebar, there's a special feature coming next week called "Celebrating Crafts and Christmas!" I'll be hosting a few blogging friends, and there will be some great interviews and giveaways that week, so I hope you'll stop by! And not to ruin any surprises or anything, but I'm wanting to give away a discount on one of my editing packages - so if you're a writer who has been a bit hesitant about paying a lot for a freelance editor but would like to find some assistance, perhaps you'll consider entering that giveaway and seeing if a reduced price at Editing Through the Seasons might be the route you'd like to go? I'd love to be of service to a writer friend!

So, how about you? How was your Thanksgiving? Have you been keeping busy with family time and other social activities?

(P.S. I always have fun decorating the blog for each new season! I add an extra season for December - the "holiday season" - so I can have fun with Christmas-themed backgrounds and such. The header is a picture I took last spring when we got some snow on Corban University's campus. Isn't that the sweetest prayer chapel? Corban has a beautiful campus, and I was blessed to go to such a great school!)

8 comments:

Julie said...

First off Amber I love love love the picture! I love snowy chapel scenes!

Looking forward to your blog "Celebrating Crafts and Christmas" posts!

Our Thanksgiving was lovely with lots of family and friends to celebrate. We got to share a week of having our 3 grandchildren before their parents arrived. We shared them with their other set of grandparents. Fun times!

I love this time of year, but it is getting disappointing how we are almost skipping over Thanksgiving to hop right into the Christmas chaos. I love Christmas and I love shopping(for Christmas, any other time I hate it) and I am one to start preparing in August or before, BUT each holiday needs to be fully celebrated before we move on in my opinion! Christmas in stores was happening in July around here! So wrong! That's my holiday rant :)

Looking forward to what you have planned for your blog! I always enjoy whatever you have in store for your readers!

Julie@My Favorite Pastime

Renee (BlacknGoldGirlsBookSpot) said...

Love your Christmas decor, it's so pretty! I do have to say though that I don't think that apple pie would have lasted long enough to get a picture at my house LOL!

We didn't do any Black Friday "Doorbuster" shopping this year. We really aren't big shoppers anyways so it's not that big of deal for us. Like you, if we do go we usually end up buying things that aren't on sale. :-P

We had a nice Thanksgiving and I'm glad you did too. I probably ate too much pumpkin pie but that's what the holidays are for, right? Hahahaha!

xoxo,
Renee

Rissi said...

Lovely, Amber! It is SO fun to switch things up during the holiday season, isn't it!?

Like Renee, I didn't even have a desire to head out on Black Friday but then... I never have. The closest I want to get to it is the new stories on TV - it seems to turn most normal people into... someone unrecognizable!

Had a lovely Thanksgiving with family - lots of laughs and good food. Hope you did also, friend. :)

Amber Holcomb said...

Julie,

I'm glad you love the pictures and are excited for the upcoming blog party! :) I was blessed to be a witness to such a pretty scene - and to be able to visit that prayer chapel - and I'm blessed to have the opportunity to share some awesome guests with everyone next week!

That's wonderful that you got to enjoy some precious time with your grandchildren and celebrate this season of thankfulness with all those family and friends!

And yes, I think you're right that each holiday should be celebrated in its own time... It's almost as bad as the Charlie Brown Easter episode, when Christmas decorations were up in the stores with signs sayings something like, "Only 236 days until Christmas!" That was supposed to be a funny exaggeration of our tendencies, I'm sure - but how sad that we're almost living up to that! I know I'm guilty of being too eager for the "next thing" too often... It's important to be content and to truly live in each moment!

Anyway, thank you for your sweet and thoughtful comment! It's always a pleasure to have you visit! :)

~Amber

Amber Holcomb said...

Renee,

Thank you so much! I love being able to re-decorate the blog for each new season. :) I'm grateful to Ashley for suggesting that back in the early stages of my blog!

And LOL about the apple pie - as well as buying things that aren't on sale! ;)

I'm so glad you had a nice Thanksgiving! And yes, lots of wonderful food to enjoy this time of year! ;) I'm not a pumpkin pie fan, myself, but the apple pie was great, and I can't wait for Christmas fudge... :)

~Amber

Amber Holcomb said...

Rissi,

Thank you! Love all the festiveness this time of year! :)

And yes, the rush and demand can definitely be crazy! Have you seen Christmas with the Kranks? That scene with the Hickory Honey Ham... *shudder* So sad and awful!!

Anyway, I did indeed have a wonderful Thanksgiving with my family, and I'm so glad you did, too! :) Thanks for stopping by!

~Amber

Rissi said...

I sure have seen that film - in fact my dad turned on the TV Saturday afternoon and we watched part of it again. It's amusing - even in the crazy-ness. :)

Amber Holcomb said...

Rissi,

Oh, fun! It's definitely amusing! A little over-the-top...but amusing, and cute overall. ;)

~Amber