Cantata 2012

The kids had the great privilege to sing in the church cantata tonight. S, M and B are in the children's choir and E is in the youth choir.

Their choirs joined the adult choir in singing a beautiful song for the cantata and the children's choir did a song on their own. It was wonderful! I am so thankful they have the opportunity to learn music and share their praise to the awesome God we serve!

The Tree 2012

We found a beautiful, tall and FAT Christmas tree at our friend's Nursery! Love it, it is just perfect!

Tree Lighting Ceremony 2012

The kids had the privilege to sing at the Tree lighting ceremony in our small town. They, along with the adult choir, sang one of the songs that they will be singing on Sunday Night in the cantata.

Visit with Santa

Thankfully M still wants to sit on Santa's lap.

My older ones think that it is so "babyish" to see Santa. Thankfully their daddy asked them to please do it for mom :)

Since our friends were also there, I asked if they all would go see Santa. Again, there was some resistance by the boys, but they finally agreed since they were doing it together with their friends  :)

New Home Ornament

I love getting Hallmark ornaments to represent things that happen in our family throughout the year. Since we built our new house in 2011, I wanted to get a "New Home" ornament for us. Sadly, I waited too long to start looking and could never could find one at our local Hallmark store.

I was in Books a Million the other night (a store I rarely go to!) and they had a small display for Hallmark ornaments. They only had a few ornaments left and were marked way down.  I decided to go take a look just to see if they happen to have a New Home one.

To my delight I found one! Actually, there was only one left and I can't tell you how excited I was to find it!

The best part was that it was only $3! (Originally, $15.) I also think it is pretty cool that the house is green just like ours :)

Christmas Night 2011

Christmas night we had a huge bonfire at our house. All of our family had come over in the afternoon and we ate, played  games, and then had the bonfire.

We shot fireworks,

played with sparklers

and just sat around and talked. It was SO much fun!

One of the other things we did was this.

I told Cara I wanted to try to take pics of her doing Lincoln's name with the sparklers. I think it turned out pretty cool, don't you?

Breakfast Room Tree

I went to the Rescue Mission a few days before Christmas and found this tree for my breakfast room.

It was a pre-lit tree and they were asking $20 for it. We tested to see if the lights worked and since they did not, they marked it down to $5. I snatched it up knowing I could just add my own lights. My sweet husband cut off all the strands for me! We re-strung the tree and added red and green ornaments. Pretty awesome for only $5, don't you think!

Foyer Tree

Can you believe I got this 9  ft pre-lit tree off the side of the road? It was in perfect condition except  for a strand of lights that had some blown bulbs. We replaced those without any problem.

It is perfect for the foyer, don't you think?

Night view from the front door.

When Love was Born

I love this song by Mark Schultz. Have you heard it?


Starlight shines, the night is still, the shepherds watching from a hill
I close my eyes and see the night, when love was born

A perfect child gently waits, a mother bends to kiss Gods face
I close my eyes and see the night, when love was born

Angels fill the midnight sky and they sing
Hallelujah He is Christ our King!

Emmanuel, Prince of Peace, Love come down for you and me
Heavens gift, the Holy spark to light the way inside our hearts
Bethlehem through your small door came the hope we've waited for
The world was changed forever more when love was born

I close my eyes and see the night, when love was born..

Snowman Cheeseball

I saw this cute snowman cheeseball recipe on Julie's blog and knew it was something we will have to try this Christmas season.

Photo and recipe courtesy of Less than Perfect Life of Bliss

Here are her directions:



Just mix together (2) 8-oz. packages of cream cheese, a clove of garlic (minced) and a 1/4 cup of finely shredded mozzarella. Form the mixture into 2 balls, one larger and one smaller, then roll the balls in more mozzarella.

To assemble the snowman, stack the small ball on top of the larger (use toothpicks to stack if needed), then add peppercorns for the eyes and buttons; and a shred of carrot for the nose. To make the hat, cut circles from a piece of toasted wheat bread, then place it on his head with a toothpick!

Christmas Parade 2010

Today our little town had their annual Christmas parade. We love joining in on the festivities celebrating the Christmas holidays. This year we are living near the square and were able to just walk up the street to be along the parade route!

Scot and B played football in the street before it started. There are not many times when you can say you played ball ON Main Street!

Of course, Santa made his appearance and a certain 4 year old was pretty excited to see him ride by in his horse drawn carriage.

Christmas Tree 2010

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from our family to yours.

Christmas Carolers

S, M, and B got out of bed the other night and went knocked on E's door. I asked them what they were doing out of bed? About that time, they started singing "Joy to the World".

S whispered, "Mom, we are Christmas Caroling to E." They stood there for a few minutes singing Christmas carols, then they trotted off to their beds.

I am not sure who thought of the idea to go caroling IN our house, but it sure did bring a smile to our faces and created a special memory of the silliness of our kids.

The Mantel

Scot and I are fortunate enough to have a fireplace in our bedroom. It is something that you can be sure we will be having one in our room at the new house too! We just love it!

Instead of putting a tree in our room, I decorate the mantel.

I hung brown glass bead garland.

I place tree trimmings on the mantel along with white lights. Then I nestled brown ornaments through out. To give it a little height, I added some twigs in a amber colored glass and then hung a few ornaments from the twigs.

I am so happy with the way the mantel turned out this year! What do you think?

The Ornaments

I admit that I have a sentimental addiction to ornaments.

I just love ornaments.

I love getting ornaments from places we visit or things we do.

I love that we get the kids ornaments each year that mean something to them or represent something about them during that year.

I love, when we decorate our tree, to relive the memories of years past through our Christmas ornaments.

E's first Christmas ornament to her daddy

We have all kinds of ornaments...hallmark keepsakes, playful ones, handmade ones, etc. Each one is bought specifically as a reminder of our children at that age whether it is an activity they were into or just something that they love at that time.

Nana got B this on his first Christmas

I write a little message on the box telling why we choose the ornament that year along with their name and the year. So when we pass out the ornaments to hang on the tree, I read the message or say "oh, remember how you did so-and-so". It is such sweet memories and so much fun for everyone!

1996 - our first Christmas - a starfish Santa because we lived in Pensacola, FL

I thought I would share a FEW of the ones we have collected over the years. Trust me when I say we have lots of ornaments and these are just a few....

E loves to collect the snowball and tuxedo ornaments. This one was of them sharing coffee. When I saw which one it was for last year, I told her it was fitting that she get it because she would always steal my coffee....of course, she says it is hot cocoa so it doesn't count...*smile*

This one is one S got a few years ago when she learned to ice skate for the first time. Oh, we have such fun and sweet memories of that day!

This one was for B when he was 3 and was SO into planes and rockets and anything else that flies!

This is one that we gave M in 2007 (she was 1) because she was obsessed with penguins. It all started because at our local Christmas parade, one of the floats threw her a stuffed penguin. She carried that thing EVERYWHERE..for months!

A funny story about this next one. I got it for S when she was 4 because she loves to draw, color, paint, etc. When I gave it to her, she said "but I don't like mice!" She thought I got it for her because she likes mice not because of the crayola box. I wrote this story on the side of the box and I am so glad I did. Now each year, we can smile and laugh at the "other" story behind the ornament.

What about you? Do you give ornaments each year? Does your tree tell the story of your family through the years?

Wii

We got a Wii for Christmas and we are having a blast!!! We have spent hours bowling, playing tennis and boxing...things we have always enjoyed doing, but never did enough of!

I cannot tell you how many games we have already played! One of the many things that I love about it is that it's perfect for both the young and old. The little ones can compete in bowling tournaments right along side the adults. B and E have even beat a few adults (who will remain nameless..uncle jason).

It really is the perfect family gift..until we got one ourselves we really did not understand what the fuss was all about!

I am so glad we made the investment. The hours of fun, the friendly competition, the amount of laughter and the precious memories being made is SO worth it!

Merry Christmas!

In front of Nana's tree

Christmas Festival

Our local park held its annual Old Fashioned Christmas Festival today. What a wonderful, relaxing Sunday afternoon spent enjoying simple Christmas activities without all the commercialization that is normally bombarding us at this time of year.

We had a great time making simple Christmas ornaments.

Singing Christmas songs on the wagon ride.

S and B even got to ride in the front with the driver.

Taking a nature walk....

and enjoying the beauty of a sunset.