Blessings and Raindrops

seeking joy in the midst of the ordinary

My Christmas Kitchen.

Throughout my childhood, the Saturday after Thanksgiving found me and my entire family, including aunts, uncles, and cousins, making a commotion at the tree lot agonizing over our choices for the perfect Christmas tree. The annual “Christmas Tree Hunt” kicked off our Christmas season and created a rhythm for my adult life: Christmas decorating starts the weekend after Thanksgiving. No exceptions.

Fast forward a lot of years to the November I had a fifth baby and a whirlwind crazy season of life, when I decide to throw my long-standing rules out the window and declare Christmas cheer is in order an entire week before Thanksgiving (insert shock and awe!).

Because I am already getting crazy by decorating early, I also decided to invite over a few friends to help (and take photos because I knew that if I took them, they would sit on my camera until next year). I have to say, like most things in life (I’m an enneagram 7, after all), it was way more fun to fa-la-la my kitchen with friends helping out (thanks Sam, Kelsey and Liz!).

Samantha and I had sent a few photos back and forth the night before she was set to come by and both agreed on something unexpected and fun above the table. She showed up with the most perfect Christmas greenery to suspend over the table – a branch that she had chopped down from a random tree on the side of the road on her drive over. Clearly, she’s my people.

I like to keep my decor simple with an emphasis on natural items like fresh greenery and fruits (cranberries and pomegranates are the perfect Christmas colors) and prefer to not have a ton of decor stored away in totes that I have to lug down each year.

I’ve shared before that I like to shop my house and move items to use in a new way in a different space. Because I wanted a moody vibe in the kitchen for this season, I snagged the copper mugs, tray and dark jars from the bar area.

Then, Dave came in and suggested a bottle swap which was hilarious because he pretends to not care about the details and, also, he wasn’t wrong. Well done, Dave.

I brought out Grandma Marrs’ vintage dishes that remind us so much of her – she served us so, so many meals on these. They fit with the color palette on the shelving perfectly and I love that her framed foil-press recipe print is now right next to her favorite dishes.

Everything about this space feels festive and I now want to host all the Christmas parties. Obviously, the pie set up was just for fun and I love the way my talented floral design friend, Samantha, styled these gorgeous pies (from the very best pie shop in the world – Fork & Crust. The only thing Dave asked for for Christmas is a Simply Cranberry pie from Fork & Crust. He’s obsessed).

  • Look how excited he is. Ha!

And, my super talented niece made the gingerbread cookies for us. Y’all, she’s only eleven! (She even started her own little cookie business – shameless plug for Mallory’s cookies :)).

If you’re spending this week (or next weekend) decorating, I hope you can draw some inspiration from my Christmas kitchen… here are a few more photos because I can’t help myself.

Happy Thanksgiving week, friends! Here’s to a holiday season full of joy and new traditions and festive tables that inspire impromptu celebrations! Much love from our crew to yours!

Photo Credit: Samantha Daniels

Goodtable.

Meet our newest farm baby, Clara Belle.
She has nothing to do with this post but I couldn’t NOT share her photo because she’s the cutest calf in the history of ever.

One thing my life has never been is boring. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I’m an enneagram 7 and I’m married to a 7. We never slow down. We always have ten irons in the fire.

But, I have to say, life has been less boring than ever around here lately. It feels a little like we’re hanging on by the tips of our fingers to a rollercoaster looping around the tracks at lightening speed. Anyone else know the feeling?

The biggest thing we’ve been working on is launching our little show out into the world. Can I be honest and tell y’all that I was so nervous about this? I know this may sound a bit crazy if you don’t understand and appreciate the reality of spiritual warfare, but right before the first episode aired, I felt like we were standing on the edge of a cliff, about to leap into a great, vast unknown. I couldn’t see anything beyond the edge, I just knew we had to leap and trust that we would land safely. I also knew that God brought us to this place – this was never, ever on our radar – He opened these doors and quite literally brought the cameras into our home. I knew that if He had orchestrated it, He would use it for His glory.

My prayer from day one of this TV adventure had been Lord, this is all yours. Use it. Shine your light through our family. May you alone be glorified through this.

I also know that if God is working to bring about His glory through His kids, the enemy is prowling life a thief in the night, waiting for the moment when we let our guard down so he can attack.

The night before the press release went out, I found a thread of vicious comments on facebook about our family and our adoption, in particular. I wish I could say I was calm and steady as I read the scathing words attacking one of my kids, as well as my husband and I. I was not. I was shaking violently and physically ill. My hands are shaking right now as I type these words. I hadn’t planned to tell y’all about this. I had planned to do what I did – pray, ask my tribe to pray and reach out to the person who posted the original post to take it down immediately. I did all of those things. The next morning, I sat at my kitchen table, tears streaming as I relayed the words to my bible study girls. They stopped right then and lifted our family up in prayer. We put on our battle gear. I prayed the armor of God over our family with new tenacity. I never planned to share this part of the story. But, here I am. Typing away with what I can only attribute to the Holy Spirit’s leading.

Because, the enemy wants us to shrink back in the darkness and stay quiet about things like spiritual warfare. He wants us to believe that everyone will think we’re being overly-dramatic or slightly crazy. He doesn’t want us to shine bright, beautiful, LIGHT into the darkness. Because, the light wins every time.

So, here I am. Sharing a story I hadn’t planned on sharing on a quiet Sunday morning because someone, somewhere needs to hear these words. The enemy is real. He is. But, God is so much more powerful than an enemy who works under the cover of darkness. We don’t need to shrink back in fear. We need to simply acknowledge the existence of evil and fight back with Truth. And, to be clear, fighting back doesn’t look like we think it does. It looks like quiet surrender to the One who fights on our behalf. It looks like battling on our knees and praying protection from the God of Angel Armies over our people. It looks like calling out the enemy for the liar he is. It looks like SOS texts at midnight to prayer warrior friends who can join us in the fight. It looks like not shrinking back even when it feels so terrifying to put yourself out there.

I hadn’t planned to tell y’all any of this. I had planned to tell you about the fun new website and brand we created to encompass all of our work (the building business, the farm, the show, etc). This post just took on a life of it’s own and I know better than to stop the Holy Spirit when He has something to say.

Now that I got that out there, here’s what I originally planned to tell y’all about. We created a new brand, Goodtable, and a new website: ourgoodtable.com.

Hop over and read the story behind the brand. Hint: we believe the table is a gathering place where we find acceptance, nourishment and comfort.

I’ll be posting the episode recaps from the show on that site. You can find episode one and two here and here.

There you go, that’s what I intended to say. But, I hope the other stuff encouraged someone this morning. You are loved, my friends. By a God who sees you and knows you and meets you right where you are – even if it’s at your kitchen table in tears. He is present, even there. Especially there.