Merry Christmas

This year we celebrated Christmas a little differently. This was the first time in our entire lives that Nick and I have not been in Mississippi on Christmas Day. We weren't sad about it. Just stating a fact. We actually looked forward to staying home this Christmas. Due to the birth of George, my parents and brother came to us. We loved having everybody here. 

One difference was that we did a big dinner and opened presents on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas day. 

 We still did the crackers, and we tried to wear out crowns as long as we could.

 Millie ripped mine off my head pretty quickly.

The only down side to Christmas Eve was that it was too hot to build a fire. Instead we had to turn on the air conditioner.

 Lovie tried to get a picture with all the babies. Millie would not cooperate.

 She was not in the picture taking mood.

 Beef tenderloin was the star of the dinner.

 Pots de Creme a l'Orange was dessert. I wrote about the recipe back in February here.

 These boys won for wearing their crowns the longest and for cleaning the kitchen.

 Once the crowd left and Millie went to sleep, Santa brought out Millie's gifts.

Now on to Christmas day!

Doc likes to get the babies out of their cribs. 

 Millie got a few presents (and movies) that she needed.

 She squealed with delight every time the paper ripped.

Santa brought her a grocery cart, play food, Lady and the Tramp, Cinderella, a new dress and several bath toys.

She got some letters and numbers that stick to the side of the tub, and she took two long baths on Christmas day. She really likes the bath toys.

My family left before the storm got too bad. We spent the rest of the afternoon lounging around watching movies.

I have no photos of Christmas night. We went to my sister's and enjoyed our annual cheeseburgers and fries. I have written about previous Jimmy Buffet Christmases here , here, and here.

Even though we were not in our traditional Christmas locations or celebrated in our usual ways, we had a wonderful Christmas. We loved being in our own home. I loved putting presents out for Millie and watching her enjoy them. I love being around my family. And I love that God sent His Son to earth to be our Savior.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. On to New Years!

Leading Up to Christmas

The week before Christmas was full of activities. 

On Monday I made these ornaments with Millie and Laurie. I used this recipe from Pinterest.

If I make these again I would roll them out thicker and cook them longer. The directions also said to poke holes to prevent air bubbles. I think poking the holes made the ornament look worse. I made one without the poking, and it turned out fine. I wrote their initials with the point of a mechanical pencil without the lead. Laurie's ornaments turned out better because she was more cooperative.  

That night was this party that I wrote about last week. 

Tuesday, Santa came to Nick's office. Every year one of Nick's bosses dresses up as Santa. All the office children are invited along with some nieces and nephews. They get presents, cookies, and juice. It is a cute tradition. 

Stephen loved Santa.

 The girls didn't like him so much.

 They all loved the toys he gave them. Millie got a talking baby doll.

 Laurie got a miniature baby doll stroller, and Stephen got an action figure that shoots something.

Wednesday was full of last minute wrapping, errand running, and cleaning. 

My family came into to town on Thursday, and Nick and I went to our last Christmas party. 

Then Friday morning I became an aunt again when baby George was born. 

Friday night these girls found a way to relax after such an exciting day. They enjoyed Beauty and the Beast on my bed.

The weekend was full of children watching, Costco shopping, eating, and waiting on Christmas. More to come about Christmas Day soon.

Monday Night

December is slipping by fast. We haven't been to many Christmas parties or activities until this week. We have something every night. 

Nick and I have been a part of a couples Bible study for about 4 years now, but the group has been meeting longer than that. We meet every Monday night. This past Monday night was our annual Christmas party where we play dirty Santa. 

 I brought the bourbon slush!

This was my gift for most of the game. Then it was stolen from me. I wasn't surprised. I was the third person to open a gift, and this was a really good one.

This is one of the presents I brought. It was adult sized leopard footie pajamas.

I mostly took pictures of the funny gifts, but there were some good and useful ones as well. Starbucks gift cards, movies, ornaments, spices, and Nick got a gift certificate to a nice steak place.

The men made us hold the photograph while taking our picture. It was a childhood picture of someone in our group, and it was the joke of the night.

  What a fun and special group of people. We are so blessed to be a part of it!

Trust

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths." Proverbs 3: 5 and 6.

This has been my favorite Bible verse since I was a little girl. It comforts me almost daily.

Like the rest of the country, my heart is broken over what happened in Connecticut.

We live in a broken and sinful world.

Living in fear is not an option. You can't just stay in your house all the time. You have to go to the grocery store; you have to go to work; you have to keep living. The only hope we have is in Christ. We have to trust Him all the time.

Jesus' birth is so important. I've been reading the scripture from Jesse's Tree (found on this blog or this website), and it is amazing how Jesus' family line came to be. God is in total control. Just because we don't always understand, that doesn't mean we should question Him. Instead we should praise Him, and pray for Him to help us understand and trust Him more.

When I was teaching, one of my students was caught with a gun right before he was coming to my class. It was 7th period. That means he had the gun all day. He said he had it to protect himself from another student. That gun was so close to walking in my classroom. I have no idea if he would have chosen my math class at the end of the day to finally pull it out. I have also been in a lock-down situation twice, and I was scared both times. I can't even imagine how scared those children and teachers were on that terrible day. I am thankful  for my safety throughout my teaching years.

I am also thankful for this precious baby, and I pray for comfort and peace for all those families affected by last week's shooting.

Finally Feels Like Christmas Time

We are well into December, but it wasn't until this morning that it felt like the Christmas season. The past week or two has felt more like April than December. Despite the warm days,I have decorated for Christmas, and I've tried my best to get in the holiday spirit. 

 December 1st started out with these three drinking milk with a BB in their lap and watching Polar Express.

  Millie before church on the first Sunday of December. 

I'm loving our Advent calendar and Christmas card display. I bought all of the materials for these things at World Market. My favorite are the bird and dog clips holding the pictures. My plan was to write a daily activity on the back of each numbered card and count down to Christmas. However, I hung them up before I wrote on all of them to see how it would look. Then I didn't want to go back and write on them after they were hung, so I made our list in my notebook. We are not diligently following the list, but I thought it would be a fun tradition to start. It should be more fun when Millie is older and can participate more in the activities!

  I really like my owl paper too. It also came from World Market.

  I decorated Millie's room with non-breakable ornaments. 

Today we met some friends at the mall to eat lunch, go see Santa, and ride the train. Lunch went well. Then we walked to the train. Millie kept saying no. She didn't want to get on. But I had already paid, and I thought she would like it once it started. So the only way to get her to go was to ride along. 

This is me and all the babies on the little train in the mall. 

 It took a lap around the track, but she eventually liked it. 

 Finley only screamed like this when we passed her mama. The boy in front of us had a blast though. 

 Can't you tell how much fun they were having?

 Quinn was perfect the whole time. 

 Glad to be off. She just likes to look at it and say, "choo-choo."

When we got off Santa was on lunch duty. That was probably best. Millie wouldn't want to see him anyways. 

I hope your December is off to a joyous start!