Holiday fun in pictures

Hello and happy one week till Christmas, YAY!! The month has been fast but I'm ready to celebrate and enjoy being on break with the kids. We even woke up to snow today which is the best way to start break for them. Happy we had warm temps all month so far, will make winter not feel quite as long now. Unless we still have snow in April/May then it won't be fun.

 

Thought I'd share some pictures of what's been going on around here this month, holiday pictures are always fun to share and see aren't they. We are having more of that this week with the kids home too, it can be a long week of celebrating and cookie making and finish up shopping and wrapping fun.

Our church decked out for Christmas, love this so much each year. Beautiful!! Two ladies do this by their selves, amazing job ladies. Tonight they set it up for our Secret Sisters dinner, so excited for this, we find out who our secret sisters were all year and pull names for the next year. My sister Annie has been coming to church with me for a few months now and she came and joined in for next year. She will also be getting baptized this Sunday, so happy for her coming to Christ!!

Here is a close up of the tables, filled with homemade goodies both to eat and as decorations. Elizabeth you would like that they used CD's and their own scrap stash do decorate them with. They stand up with office clips, not sure what else you call them. They each look so pretty, I took two home. We had potluck dinner then opened presents that took two hours long but some heart felt gifts and journals were made for others and made us cry. So blessed by these women.

There is basketball this month for Ryan too, it was first game this day and they lost by one basket. YAY!! We watched her second game and they won by one basket, YAY!!

We had our Christmas party on my dad's side, the first one without Grandma Ruth, we did ok and I'm sure she'd be SO PLEASED with this picture of almost everyone. I am so thankful for self timer cameras that make it possible for everyone to be in the picture. I also have a self timer button for my phone I need to practice using more too. Wish we had started taken pictures like this years ago.

I made sure to have two men read from Luke 2 since it's usually one or two of my kids, already have two men picked out for next year too. LOVE these pictures so much, again grandma would be happy. I'm pretty sure we all felt her presence and grandpa's too.

I put a little twist on the gift exchange this year and it turned out so good for everyone. When I pulled names out to match up I decided to have them have each other, like here Kristin had Colt's name and he had her name instead of another person. LOVE IT! He talked all day to me about this the day after the party, Kristin got him the best gifts he kept telling me. She had fun having him too, a boy to shop for after having to shop for mostly girls. I had everyone sit with their person to and open gifts together, so much fun this was too, usually they open them and then go thank the person. LOVE!

We had a dinner at my small group's home, so nice to have this break to just sit and talk and enjoy each other's company. We finished our last study book and will start again next month with the study from the movie War Room, so excited for this one. I saw the movie twice and read the book twice. Again, thankful for a self timer camera to get this picture also.

On Monday we will be making cookies at my sister Heather's house. All of us will be there, all the kids, my mom and other sister, YAY!! Will be a  crazy fun time, not doing any sugar cookies and frosting/sprinkled ones this year. The kids want other kinds, mostly peanut butter ones so I bought a nice mix of new ones to try.

Last but not least is a drawing done by Sam in art class. He did a great job I think and Rich took it right to work for the art wall of the kids pictures he has. Susan, I thought you would like seeing this, wish he would draw as much as your son does. Art class is over for him now, this was my favorite of all he did. Happy just to have this one piece though.

 

That's it for me today, hope you enjoyed this post. Enjoy this last week, take time to slow down and really enjoy each moment and the reason for the season, it will warm your heart more then any present or decorations. Merry Christmas or Happy whatever holiday you celebrate! Thank you for being here. Stay safe and see you after Christmas. Love and Hugs!!