Merry Christmas!

On Christmas eve we went to our Church for a unique Christmas Eve service. There were two narrators one told of the Biblical Christmas story while our Pastor told of practical present day stories. In between the band played Beatles songs relating to the stories. The kids went to a Jingle Jam suited for them it was a play and game show and songs. Afterwards we came home for dinner and a quiet night. We watched the Little Drummer boy and Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol. I hadn't seen either in years, I was having childhood flashbacks! It was weird, I remembered some things that caught my attention as a little girl, it was all brought back. I hope to watch some other Christmas stories today or tonight. Every year I say I want to watch it's a Wonderful Life and in all my years I have never seen all of it. Unless I watched it as a child and don't remember? I will attempt to watch it again this year. I would also like to see the Nativity Story that came out last year.

Christmas at our house began at 7:45 AM. The kids were excited and wanted to get up, they went downstairs but didn't wake us up. We were actually awake and in bed wondering when they were going to get up :) The timing was good for all of us!

Grandpa (my father-in-law) came over about 1/4 of the way into our festivities of opening presents. It's always sweet to see what the children choose to give as gifts. My daughter gave me a beautiful cross with an amethyst in the center. She also made me an awesome accordion book at school and it says I Love Mom and has Fabulous in rhinestones on the front, she did a great job and was very proud of herself. My son gave me some sweet silver earrings he was excited about giving to me. He also claims that the humming bird feeder that was labeled from our dog Liberty to me was actually from him :) Afterwards we enjoyed coffee and cinnamon rolls and had a relaxing morning.

We don't really push Santa, but teach the kids about having Christ as the main focus and reason for our Christmas, He is the reason for the season. However kids will be kids, the kids pick up on Santa all on their own and of course the media and advertisements.... The other day my son said he needed to sit on Santa's lap and tell him that he'd like a Laboratory for Christmas. He has never sat on Santa's lap, never had the desire to. It was too cute to hear how he was going to tell Santa about the Laboratory and how it would have a secret code of 55555, apparently this would be in his room. We let him watch Dexter's Laboratory and this is what we get for it :) Well the lines at the mall were to long, he didn't sit on Santa's lap, but he hasn't brought it up again. He's happy and is having a Merry Christmas.

Later today my Father-in-law will join us again and my Mom and we'll have Christmas dinner together. Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Remembering that Jesus is THE reason for the season.

Gingerbread Ornaments....

Our Church had a Christmas boutique recently, every year it's a place to go to find cool handmade treasures. I found these cute ornaments there. We enjoy painting the plaster type ornaments and we've made a our own ornaments over the years. I couldn't pass these up though, they are made out of the cinnamon dough and were hand painted, it looks as if they have a light coating of sparkle glue on them, it smells like they were sprayed with a protective coating?(they needed some airing out). The peanut shell one was cute also. My daughter gave the peanut shell reindeer to her Math teacher. We gave a gingerbread to her English teacher both are special teachers. The others I gave to ladies I work on the playground with. Since we kept none for ourselves I had to take a picture of them. Maybe we will try something like this ourselves in the future.

Our dog Liberty is such a sweetheart! She let me put this santa hat on and snap some pictures. She's the best :) I love going into our living room and enjoying the peace and our beautiful tree at night with the lights lit.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

This is our wedding picture in a ornament on our Christmas tree. The quality of this picture isn't that great because I took it with my phone. I do love the way the lights turned out in this pic.


Girly Comments & Graphics

The Family Dollhouse

My son and I went to Hobby Lobby recently. I LOVE that store!!!!! We were looking around and when we came to the Dollhouses he said he wanted one. I know boys typically don't have them, not wanting to squelch his desires though, I listened to him and humored him. I think we can share this as a family. I think he mainly likes the idea of the miniatures that go in it. I thought what a fun "family" project that would be, there would be building involved and decorating it could be a long term project. We could work on it room by room.

As a little girl I had a dollhouse and I loved playing with it. I can remember that my Mom would make little miniature books for it, she loves to read.... My great Uncle was retired and he would make the furniture from kits for me. I still have some of it somewhere. A friend of mine had her grandmother's dollhouse and I remember it was beautiful. I can remember thinking it was more beautiful than mine at the time, each room was decorated all perfectly in antique furniture.

My daughter and I have a book of how to make miniatures, it's very cool to look at. We haven't done much with it because we haven't had a place to put the miniatures into. This is a picture of the dollhouse that the two of us thought was pretty cool.

School Christmas Breakfast

I forgot to mention on Friday my son's class had a Christmas Breakfast. School wide it was also Pajama Day. All the parents were asked to bring a favorite breakfast item to share. His teacher had an omelet bar set up where you could get a custom made to order omelet! It was really yummy. Since my daughter's school doesn't start until later, she and her friend (she has corrected me, her "best" friend) joined us. His class together with the other Kindergartners recently put on an adorable school play called the Gingerbread man meets Mother Goose so a lot has been centered around the Gingerbread man. I made Gingerbread pancakes to share. I did learn that the best way to do that is to make a round pancake and cut out the gingerbread shape with a cookie cutter after they are cooked. I have these shapes just for pancakes but it was more of a headache. Granted there was more waste, but we ate it! After breakfast we joined the rest of the school for a sing along. When the kids went back to their room they made small gingerbread houses. Since he's only half day then it was time to go home. Appropriately the teacher gave them goody bags with none other than a Gingerbread mix and a gingerbread cookie cutter so they could go home and make gingerbread cookies. Unfortunately that day I hadn't checked my camera battery and it was low..... I ended up taking pictures with my phone, not the best quality but it captured the moments none the less.

Breath of Heaven Lyrics - Sung by Amy Grant

I have traveled many moonless nights,
Cold and weary with a babe inside,
And I wonder what I've done.
Holy father you have come,
And chosen me now to carry your son.

I am waiting in a silent prayer.
I am frightened by the load I bear.
In a world as cold as stone,
Must I walk this path alone?
Be with me now.
Be with me now.

Breath of heaven,
Hold me together,
Be forever near me,
Breath of heaven.
Breath of heaven,
Lighten my darkness,
Pour over me your Holiness,
For you are Holy.
Breath of heaven.

Do you wonder as you watch my face,
If a wiser one should have had my place,
But I offer all I am
For the mercy of your plan.
Help me be strong.
Help me be.
Help me.

Breath of heaven,
Hold me together,
Be forever near me,
Breath of heaven.
Breath of heaven,
Lighten my darkness,
Pour over me your holiness,
For you are holy.

Breath of heaven,
Hold me together,
Be forever near me,
Breath of heaven.
Breath of heaven,
Lighten my darkness,
Pour over me your holiness,
For you are holy.
Breath of heaven.
Breath of heaven.
Breath of heaven.

The latest yard visitor

About a week or so ago my son and husband noticed an owl on our house! It was huge, the couldn't believe it and my husband came in and got my daughter and I and of course the camera. We made a little too much noise in all the excitement and he flew, but thankfully not too far. We found him perched on our next door neighbors back porch. The light from the flash gave him the red eye.... we had to capture him ASAP no time for any red eye reduction we didn't know how much time we had. What an awesome sight to see and owl.

Making Bracelets

I LOVE beads, lately several of my friends have gotten more involved in jewelry making. It seems everybody is making bracelets, necklaces or earrings. I have inspiration all around me! I have started to buy some beads as well as pull out some that I've had from previous dabbling. I'm really enjoying myself, my daughter has even gotten in on it. She would rather use the plastic pony beads though, I like glass or crystal. In one night my daughter made all that is pictured, when she gets into something she goes full force, non-stop. I have made some bracelets for her and others I'm not sure what I'm going to do with yet. I only use the stretch cord, because that's all I really know right now. I have used kits in the past where all you need to do is string the beads and clamp the closure shut. I'd like to take a beading class or jewelry class, and learn more so I can improve on my newest craft.

We went to see the Nutcracker

It's that time of year when we go to see the Nutcracker. This year we thought it was time to include my son, we thought he was old enough to sit through. I thought he would be old enough to enjoy it and that he would do well. Mind you this is 2:00 in the afternoon, not the best time to take a young child, who has already had a fun filled morning, to sit still for 2 hours to watch ballet. I had to try it though. In the beginning he seemed captivated, by the second act he was ready to go home. He stuck it out like a trooper, better luck next year, maybe? My daughter and I enjoyed it, she even recognized a girl from school on stage to her surprise. Normally she and I go alone together and we go to the local Arts Center. This time we chose to go to a local dance school's version being put on at a High School. The Mom of one of my son's best buds is a dance teacher at this school, it was his choice to go to this particular one. They did a very professional job with the performance, the costumes were wonderful and the set design. After we got home I gave my daughter a Clara ornament and my son a Nutcracker, they were excited. In past years I've given my daughter a Nutcracker ornament after we've gone also. We'll see what happens next year for my little guy, his choice.