Christmas

Here are some pictures from our Christmas celebrations. We had a very Merry one full of traditions of our own and shared time with family. It really was wonderful.

Christmas Eve at Nina and Boppy's

Christmas Morning at home

Cousins around the Advent wreath at Grammy and Grampy's house

and a sweet LilyBean

(Lily and Ariel's dresses were made by their Grammy. Aren't they gorgeous?)

Happy Birthday Baby Jesus!

Translation: "John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."

A Memory Verse

Sorry, this one is a bit shaky...I couldn't help laughing a bit.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

On Thursday we got our first major snow of the season. It was quite the storm: it started in the late morning and came down 2-3 inches an hour for a while. They had closed all the schools ahead of time and after it started most businesses closed (including Luke's) and parts of the 2 major highways were closed throughout the state as well. By the time it was done late in the evening we had approximately 11 inches of snow on the ground.

I was reminded of "The Long Winter" in the Little House series. What a depressing story that was! I can't imagine being pounded by blizzard after blizzard in which you can't see 2 feet in front of you and it's so cold that the wood stove only manages to warm a small area right around it. I say thank goodness for insulation and furnaces and global warming for that matter! I'm sure places even further north than we are get really hard winters with more snow than I've experienced but I doubt it's on that scale anymore.

A train stuck in the snow in Southern MN, March 29, 1881

Saturday the kids spent some time out side playing in the snow. They had a grand time and lasted longer than I expected.

And today we are stuck at home because of more winter weather. This time it is a yucky "wintry mix" . It was raining when we woke up and now it is snowing and up where my sister and brother-in-law live it is even worse...they can't get out of their driveway and since we go to their house for church we have had to call it off this week. So, next week we will have to catch up in our Advent celebration. Can you believe that Christmas is next week?!

Deck the Halls

So, Monday was my birthday. And, well, I'm not 30 anymore...

For the last three years it has been our tradition to go and pick out our Christmas tree the weekend before my birthday so that's what we did Saturday. Usually we would come home and decorate it as well but this year we opted to go over to Becky and Charlie's to help out with the work that is required after deer hunting. 'Tis rather interesting having a brother-in-law who hunts. This year he was especially successful and that means we have our own stash of venison in the freezer. I never thought I'd say this but I am going to make venison stew this year... Never thought I'd actually eat the stuff but it is rather enjoyable and really, really good for you.

So, anyway, that left the decorating of the tree til Sunday, which was also the day we celebrated my birthday with the extended family. It was also the first Sunday of the Advent so we celebrated that as well. It is the beginning of the Christmas season and every year it becomes more rich as we seek to dig into the true meaning of the Holyday and share that with the kids. Celebrating the Advent has really helped us to do that.

When we got home we pulled out the boxes of decorations (amazing how much you can collect over the years) and got busy decorating. It was a fun time and the kids had a good time helping to make it pretty. Here are some pictures:






Then yesterday I let the kids make their own ornaments that they can give as gifts. We made them out of salt/flour dough (4 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt, and 1/2 cup of water) and used Christmas cookie cutters to make the shapes and then microwaved them. Then they got to decorate them. They had a lot of fun doing that...and so did I.

Kids at Play