Time for Susanne‘s weekly meme, Friday’s Fave Five, a chance to reflect and pick five things from this past week that make us happy.

1. Big Mama’s soup. I had a friend over for lunch this week and in my search for just the right new recipe to experiment on my friend with try, I came across this recipe for Italian Sausage Tortellini Soup over at Big Mama’s blog and decided it would be the one.  Delicious. It involved lots of chopping, but was easy and yummy. And there’s nothing like the aroma of simmering soup on a December day. The meal was completed with some cheese biscuits, diet soda, and Peanut Butter Toffee Chip cookies for dessert.

2. Chad’s coming home! Chad was out of town on business all this week — not a normal occurrence for us. He’s great about calling home, emailing, and staying connected with me and with the boys, but we are all thrilled that he’s finally back in town and will be home for dinner tonight. L. and I were talking last night about the fact that Daddy was going to be home very, very soon, and he let out a spontaneous, “Yippee!!!” I second that excitement. Yippee!!!

3. A much cleaner storage room. I have apparently become a House-Purging Maniac. Maybe I’ve just been looking for ways to keep busy while Chad’s been gone. I don’t know. I just know I’ve spent hours and hours and hours filling bags with things that must leave our house. Now. A happy result of this crazy cleaning is a storage room that is about two hundred times nicer to walk into than it was a week ago. There’s still plenty of stuff; but it’s more organized, more contained, and less overwhelming.

4. Online shopping. Christmas shopping is pretty much done. I have a few stocking-stuffers to pick up, and am awaiting the arrival of one or two more packages. But it’s mostly done. And it’s all thanks to online shopping. I think I’ve only purchased two gifts in actual stores — you know, the kind you drive to, walk around, and carry bags out of? Most of the time, I just wait for Mr. UPS Man to bring the Christmas gifts to my door. And I love it.

5. My two boys. With Chad being gone all week, things could have deteriorated quickly. But both boys have been sweet, helpful, and terrific. Don’t get me wrong — we’ve had our moments (like the yelling that began at 7:03 Wednesday morning [and it wasn't me]). But overall, I can’t complain. They’ve been great.  L(3) made me smile by charming the folks at Rite Aid on Tuesday, asking me to please take his picture next to our outdoor Christmas lights on Wednesday, and insisting on being Fireman L. for most of yesterday (I wasn’t allowed to call him anything other than ‘Fireman L’). C(11) helped me lug multiple garbage bags and boxes up from the basement (see item #3, above), offered to read our evening Advent devotions, and told me that the importance of a Mom’s work is very underrated and should be more appreciated.  (And no, you can’t have them — they’re all mine!) Love you, boys!