Jessamyn Leigh

This appropriately happens to be my 100th post on this blog! Happy New Year everyone! Oscar-watching party with Shirley Temples Joined a awesome book club where we read awesome books, like The Princess Bride .

Today I am thankful for Christmas . I am feeling so blessed and joyful. It's been a chaotic, crammed, sometimes stressful month of preparation. Finally, the day is here. This has been week of wonderful moments. A wreath-making party, coffee cake and conversation. I help my grandmother as she works hard to make dozens of traditional cookies: Russian Tea Cakes, Peanut Blossoms, Pecan Tartlets and English toffee. I have I Celebrate The Day on a CD of Christmas music in my car and I tear up every time I hear it. My two new cousins, just a month apart, meet for the first time.  One of my best friends and her husband's sweet baby boy is a few weeks early. I had more than my fair share of baby-holding this week. We watch Muppet Christmas Carol, my favorite Christmas movie. My little brother says Scrooge doesn't believe in Jesus, but the Muppets do and that's why they have fun. I love that he is figuring this stuff out. I spend an evening out at a dinner theatre

A few weeks ago, we took advantage of (very) rare snowy day, pulled out our hardly-worn winter clothes and had an epic photoshoot. I finally had time to finish editing the pictures today. P.S. Thankful Thursdays will be back this week. December has been super crazy busy, so I haven't been very on top of posting. I finally got some pictures of this sweater I knitted last fall.

Today I am thankful for all things warm . Where I live, it does not snow. Like, maybe once a year we get 2 inches of slushy stuff that's gone the next day. On Friday, we got 7+ inches and it's still on the ground. We've hit the lowest temperatures the town's seen since the 1970's. Since we have approximately one snowplow here, the roads haven't been great. A lot of places have been shut down, and people have been staying home as much as possible. (All of my classes have been cancelled, and since I work from home, cabin fever is setting in. I'm pretty sure next week's Thankful Thursdays topic will be "thankful to get out of the house.") Anyway, I HATE being cold. I'm fairly convinced I'm meant to live in a tropical climate. Being cold makes me tense and grumpy. So I am so thankful this week for our pellet stove. For socks. (Even though I hate wearing them.) For knitted scarves, legwarmers, hats, headbands, and gloves. For sweaters.

Today I'm thankful for knitting .

5.  Joy to The World   ~ Pink Martini Pink Martini has unique music, blending different international styles and languages. Their holiday album is no exception!  4.  Let It Snow Baby... Let It Reindeer   ~ Relient K I love Relient K for their brilliant mix of humorous and meaningful songs. "Santa Claus is Thumbing to Town" has me laughing hysterically, while "I Celebrate the Day" had me tearing up this week and might be the best Christmas song ever.  3.  Christmas   ~ Anna Gilbert This is a newer album, but it's quickly made it into my favorites. It's full of beautiful, worshipful piano versions of carols. She has some originals and less popular songs. I'm in love with "Some Children" and "Rest in the Light". They make it onto my playlists year-round. (Not to mention that cover photo is beautiful.) 2.  A Charlie Brown Christmas  ~ Vince Guaraldi Trio It just doesn't get much better than Charlie Brown