Friday Favorites

Happy Friday!  I'm linking up with Andrea from Momfessionals for the writing of this blog post.

This has been a wonderful week of kicking off some of our favorite Christmas holiday traditions.  First up on my list of favorites this week is from Saturday night.

My dad's house is my favorite because it's HOME.  I grew up in this house, and I love it best when it's all decked out for the holidays.  I also happen to love the charcoal gray paint and black shutters.

Every year, on the night (or two nights) after Thanksgiving, we go to Dad's for dinner, pile up in our cars and head to the Memphis Zoo for Zoo Lights.

This might be my favorite tradition!  It's always my family (this year, minus Todd) and Trish and sometimes her son Devin, though this year he didn't go.  Look at our sweet daddy!

Every year I take an obligatory picture of my boys by a tree there.  They love when I do this, I'm sure!  Look how big they are.

It's always such a fun night.

On Sunday night, for what seemed like the first time in FOREVER, we had community group with some of my favorites.  Including this one you see smiling so hugely while she attempted to make paper snowflakes.  She kept on cutting them in half on accident.  She even made one that turned out looking like a peanut.  Strange, I know.

They were doing some prep work for tonight's Coffee House that takes place after our town's magical Christmas parade.

I love my Christmas coffee mugs and dishes.  This mug pictured above is my favorite.  It says Jesus is the gift.  And you know what?  He is.  I want you to know Him like I know Him, if you don't.  You can always comment on here and leave me your email address if you'd like to know how.

Speaking of coffee and favorites?  I love the Starbucks Christmas cups!  I love how they have so many different ones.  Also, this night out with Andrea tops my list of favorite nights this week.  It was so good spending time with her Monday night!

I have been reading in Luke this week and all of last week with the SOAK method, and it's my favorite.  I'm loving all the parables and how the Lord is so gracious to tie them all together for me, showing me something new.  The boys are reading through with me, and using the same method.

On Wednesday November 30, I wrapped up an ENTIRE YEAR of scripture writing.  But I'm not stopping.  Instead of writing on notebook pages for the coming year and keeping them in a three ring binder, I'm just writing it all out in my journal that I use everyday.  This has been one of my favorite things to do in 2016.  It's been a huge blessing, and I am so thankful for the word of God.

So many favorite things of mine are in this picture.  The coffee mug, that a sweet (now) senior gave me last year, this table runner my mom bought from Home Goods and cut in half and shared with me, and this candle.  This candle is AMAZING.  It crackles like a real fire, because it has a wooden wick.  It's Nature's Wick.  The smell is heavenly.

These brownies were my favorite guilty pleasure on this one night.  They're so easy to make.  I bought a cheap box of brownie mix and made them per the instruction (I substitute oil for coconut oil).  I baked them until they were ALMOST done and not jiggly, then took them out of the oven and covered them in Hershey's chocolate bars.  I turned off the oven and put them back in the oven for thirty seconds, and when I got them out, I spread out the melted candy bars and they turned out looking like this.

They were delicious.

I should have eaten one, though, because two was too much and I went to bed with a stomach ache.

My favorite ornaments on my mom-in-love's tree.  We helped her decorate yesterday.  I said this on Instagram about this picture: "Todd and Jennifer.  Hanging together on the Goodwin family tree since 1995."  My mom-in-love Phyllis made these ornaments herself back in the day.

Poor quality (a picture of a picture) but best and favorite throwback Thursday picture EVER.  I so clearly remember this day.  It was the day we buried Todd's grandfather, Granddaddy Densford, the dear man whom Jonah is named after, and who called me Juniper.

The boys were seven, six and four.  It was when I could dress them alike and coordinating and they had no opinion of it yet.  And it was when they would all wear sweaters.

Sigh.

Also, the dear man in the Santa suit was Phyllis' cousin, and he passed away a couple of years after this picture was taken.

I took this picture this morning.  My favorite nativity is pictured, and Callie keeps eating the people.  If she makes her way to sweet Baby Jesus, she will be forever dead to me.

I'm kidding.  Kinda.

Andy the Wonder Dog she will never be.

Thanks for reading!  And thank you so much for all the sweet comments lately, you know how to make a gal feel loved and read.  ;)

Love to all!