'tis the season

Tis the season...

to be jolly

to feel loved

to love

to learn

to study

to grow.

to party

to improve

to give

to recieve

to celebrate

to grieve.

to sing

to dance

to cry

to laugh

to drink coffee

to sleep.

Most importantly tis the season...

to read

to anticipate

to prepare

to ready your heart

to plan

to wait.

The wait is finally (almost) over.

Christmas Cards

With only 12 days left until Christmas and only 10 short days before I leave with my family to the Dominican Republic, I finally found the motivation to write and send out Christmas Cards.  Along with the newly found motivation I also lost a a bit of study-motivation (which I am not so sure I had in the first place).  That is beside the point however as everything must get done, no matter the order of accomplishment.

I found these amazing and unconventional cards to send out for the holidays from Anthology, a cute crafters boutique on State Street in downtown Madison.   I automatically fell in love with these perfectly simple cards that have hints of the holiday season.









The pears brought to my mind the verse from the song "12 Days of Christmas" which is repeated over and over again: And a partridge in a pear treeeee...

I was also reminded of this wreath from desire to inspire.  I absolutely love the green apples giving a freshness to Christmas.
















And now sadly it is time to return to studying physics, only 9 days until I am done with this fall semester.  Praise theLord and Happy Holidays!

Crafty Crafts

Procrastination- (n) The art of crafting, baking, watching movies, taking pictures, singing, basically doing anything to avoid the inevitable thing called studying.

And procrastinate I did (with the help of some friends and pinterest).

Christmas time is here...

and, even though I gave in to listening to Christmas before the Thanksgiving holiday was over, I am now fully immersed in the Christmas-y spirit.

Hello beautiful tree.

205, my beautiful house which I now call home, has been Christmas-ized by Santa's elves creating an oasis from the busyness that is always found during the end of semester.  Fully decked out with a perfect tree and more itty-bitty trees, lights, snowflakes, Christmas stars, and stockings, our house is one hundred and ten percent ready for the holidays.   I am filled with joy every time I step back into this Christmas wonderland.  This joy, although partially stemming from the sparkle of our decorations, comes from those whom I get to share the Christmas cheer with.

The nine of us at 205 have become an amazing family and this makes me so joyful.  This Christmas season has become one full of love and happiness found in the friendships in our family.  I am so blessed to be stuck in this winter wonderland with these nine beautiful women who, whether they like it or not, get to live with the crazy and excited Christmas-y Melissa.

Stockings, lights, and snowflakes
oh my!

After preparing our house for this season of love and joy, I realized the necessity of preparing myself.  Despite the amount of joy I find in the decorations and the excitement that comes with it, I am so much more excited for what the Christmas season is truly about.  This year, more so than any other year, I am preparing my heart and mind for the coming of Christ.  In years past this preparation only occurred for me on Sundays during church.

Thanks to pinterest, I found a easy and fun way to get ready for the celebration of Jesus' birth.  For the twenty-five days before Christmas day I am learning about the life and teaching and just who the person of Christ is. (These scriptures can be found here)

This Christmas, I am more excited than ever and I hope you all are too!  Happy Holidays!

Lauren's baby tree.

The upstairs' beautiful tree.