The Friday Five--Preparation, preparation.

Sally from Eternal Echoes asks the following questions:

1. You have a busy week, pushing out all time for preparing worship/ Sunday School lessons/ being ready for an important meeting ( or whatever equivalent your profession demands)- how do you cope?

Cope? Who says I do? Well, okay, I make a list. One small step at a time. Slow but sure wins the race--all that sort of thing. Or else I just run around like a maniac and then collapse at home.

2. You have unexpected visitors, and need to provide them with a meal- what do you do?

Spaghetti, every time! I always have spaghetti ingredients on hand. How can you miss with a yummy red sauce? I make mine various ways, but my favorite is a combo of ground beef and Italian sausage. If guests are vegetarians, we can have the same thing with mushrooms and peppers instead of meat. I have been making spaghetti dinners since I was about 17. I think it's a major reason my husband married me.

Or else we just take them to the nearby Mexican place. It is yummy!

Last minute tip--want something really fast? Try heating Hormel (no beans) chili, pouring it over the pasta and adding a slice of cheddar cheese while it is still hot. Quick, and easy, and surprisingly good.

Three discussion topics:

3. Thinking along the lines of this weeks advent theme; repentance is an important but often neglected aspect of advent preparations.....

My former pastor used to speak often about slowing down and eliminating stress before Christmas. I took his words to heart, and I try to make our time before Christmas more reflective, include times for silence, or for repentance, even during the church service. If we don't talk about it, and don't make it a priority, it simply will not happen. Each year I seem to long more for silence and contemplation and a season of waiting and repenting and pondering. I hope my church folks have picked up at least some of that.

4. Some of the best experiences in life occur when you simply go with the flow.....

Absolutely! Why do you think I am Assemblies of God and not Episcopalian? LOL!

5. Details are everything, attention to the small things enables a plan to roll forward smoothly...

Sigh...yeah, that's what they tell me. I'm trying, really I am.

Bonus if you dare- how well prepared are you for Christmas this year?

Christmas is not frantic for us. Our family members are not nearby, and while we are sad about that it does mean we are not juggling schedules in order to include everyone. We don't buy as many presents as we used to, and Christmas cards are a thing of the past for me (except for a very few). That said, I'm about halfway ready.