“My soul exults the Lord, for He has had regard for the humble state of his bond slave. For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed.”[Luke,I, 39-56]
I posted a link to Artcyclopedia’s Advent Calendar they have on the web. It is a beautiful renaissance painting calendar with great daily articles about the Christmas story. Check it out every day to really get the spirit of the season, I know I need a daily dose of it…or hourly :). This painting is The Visitation by Domenico Ghirlandaio and I think is absolutely gorgeous.
Josh and I went to get our Christmas tree on Sunday. At first we went to a Christmas tree farm because I had this grand idea of picking out the perfect tree and chopping it down ourselves, thereby creating a wonderful Christmas tradition that we can continue with our children someday. Well. That still may be a great tradition to start, but apparently not in Georgia. The trees that grow native to the wonderful Georgian clay (smirk) are not Christmas tree material. At all. They are wimpy little things that wouldn’t hold up a tissue let alone a conglomerate of beautiful gold and silver and red ball ornaments that I currently have in my collection. Seriously flimsy plants you might call them.
But we got our perfect little Douglas fir specially shipped in from the North Carolinan mountains at a perfectly decent little roadside stand off 20. I love it. I love it because I get to decorate it. Josh loves it when I put the lights on myself. 
But he did help me a whole lot and I thank him since I know that it isn’t his most favorite thing to do. Here’s a picture of our little piece of Christmas magic:
