Loving Downton Abbey

Almost seventeen years ago, my sister introduced me and the other women in my family to a wonderful show called "Pride and Prejudice" - the Colin Firth version. From the moment I finished that beautiful rendition of the Jane Austen classic, I have been hooked on BBC and Masterpiece Theater productions. I am a total and complete BBC and Masterpiece geek and proud of it. A few weeks ago my sister (same one) told me she was hooked on a new Masterpiece production called Downton Abbey. Over the next few weeks I realized that I was one of the only people not in the know.

I have spent wonderful moments folding laundry and cooking dinner with my new friends from Downton Abbey, and I can't wait till next week when the newest episode comes out. Check out the website here. Plus Dame Maggie Smith is in it, how could you go wrong. She is just brilliant.

Catching the Christmas Spirit

I feel like time is running so quickly. It barely feels like we were trick or treating and now I am hanging Christmas stockings. Everything feels so rushed and always a bit crazy this time of year.

Tonight for Family Home Evening we read a little poem from the new Friend magazine. It talked about how we try not to catch sickness' this time of year, but we should try to catch the "Spirit of Christmas." As easy as it sounds, it is really much more difficult in the world we live in.

My kids are home off-track the entire month and our first real day home today, was a mess of crying, "I'm bored", fighting, light-saber duels and huge toy pile ups and it all ended with me yelling and screaming for everyone to be nice to one another. Not so much the spirit I was hoping for. But tomorrow is fresh with no mistakes and I am hoping that if we can catch a little bit of the spirit each day, maybe we will have it in full force by the time the celebrations begin.

We are planning some fun things to do as a family. Some secret Santa gifts, baking cookies for Primary teachers and neighbors, and doing things as a family to catch the spirit of Christmas.
I hope I will be able to report that we caught a great big dose of the full force of Christmas and came down with a great case of the "I feel so happy" by the time the last gift is opened.

So here's to a great year of catching the right things in our life, the spirit of giving, of love and of peace on earth. I would settle for peace in my home especially between my two young Jedi's in training. Even if it is just for a few minutes of each day. A girl can hope.