Christmas Memories!

What an amazing Christmas it was. We woke up on Christmas morning to see what Santa brought under the tree. Then we each opened our presents after checking to see if Santa and the reindeer ate their snacks. Prince Caspian was the only thing Tink asked for from Santa so we put that on to watch while Gidgi and I got dinner ready. Gidgi made us dressing, sweet potato casserole (the good kind with the nuts and brown sugar on top...my fav!), and a layered salad. I threw together a green bean casserole and added that to the ham that Jeremy's work provided us with. What a feast we had. Since our friends/neighbors were packing up we took a large portion of the feast to them to enjoy. Oh, it was so hard saying goodbye to them. We are going to miss them so much. But we know that God has plans for them and we're excited to see what those plans are.

Around 4 o'clock we packed, loaded, and headed to Montgomery. We ate in the car some food that I fixed because we knew nothing would be open. It was a nice, relaxing way to end the wonderful day. Friday the kids rode the mule (not a real one, it's kinda like a golf cart) all throughout Pawpaw's land. They even rode the back-hoe and tractor with Pawpaw. They love going to Nana and Pawpaw's because it's like going to Disney World...only cheaper. Nana and Pawpaw cater to their every whim as well...pretty sweet deal for them. Saturday Jeremy's brother and sister in law came down with my nephew, Luke. How much fun it was to have everyone all together.

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and have a wonderful New Year. We'll be eating lots of black-eyed peas and cabbage in this household!!!

Jill

Twas the Night Before Christmas....

I love this time of year!

I love sitting with my children and reading books in the rocking chair.

I love making them hot chocolate on a cold day (not that we've had many of those).

I love taking all day to make sugar cookies from scratch and decorating them right before we eat them! Yummy!

I love to bake at Christmas. Really, I don't bake all that much during the rest of the year. There is just something about this time.

Traditions are important to us at Christmas. Of course, we can't always keep them all...but we try! For Christmas Eve we have a pretty good set of traditions. First, we attend our church's Christmas Eve service. This service has changed from year to year but I love them all and always look forward to it. This year was extra special because some of our very good friends (and neighbors) were baptized on Christmas Eve. What an exciting and bittersweet time for us. See, Tisha and her family have become like family to us. We've been neighbors for less than two years but God brought them into our lives for a purpose and we love them tremendously. They moved to TN yesterday and we knew that the Christmas Eve service would mark their final time in our church. Praise God that the entire family recently accepted Christ and most were baptized Wed. night. What a wonderful, exciting time. We also celebrated the Lord's supper and for me it was one of the more meaningful events of the year. God is so good to us and I truly thank Him for this blessed year.

Once we got back home we continued with our normal traditions. First, we read the Night Before Christmas. My mom read this very same pop-up book version to me ever since I can remember. She gave the book to me and we still read it each and every year. We also read a book about Jesus' birth. We actually read two different ones this year because we like them both. Next we put out the reindeer food (I mean the reindeer have to eat too! They're the ones doing all of the work!) on the front porch. The kids love to check to see if the food was eaten on Christmas morning. Finally, we set out the cookies and milk for Santa that we made earlier in the day. This year it was chocolate chip cookies and a couple of mint chocolate chip cookies. I think Santa liked them.

Oh, I forgot to mention that we always make a gingerbread house at some point during the holidays. Well, this year we had a bunch of the neighborhood kids over to help us on Christmas Eve. We didn't plan it but they showed up and had a wonderful time. I just left them to it. It turned out pretty good. I put a couple of those pics on here as well.

I'm sorry that my pictures are all out of order. I have no idea what has changed with Blogger but I can't drag and place my pics where I want them anymore. Maybe when I get time I'll figure it out...until then just enjoy the pics all jumbled up! :)

I'll post pics from Christmas Day later. I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas!


Jill

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Last night was our annual "Happy Birthday Jesus" party. Tink and two of her closest friends host a birthday party for Jesus each year. We invite all of our friends to come celebrate the true meaning of Christmas with us. They decorated a manger scene with stickers and ate cake and cookies. We asked each family to bring a toy to donate to the local children's hospital as well.

We had the pleasure of having our Children's minister at church read the Christmas story to all of the kids. My favorite part is when all of the kids stand around the cake and sing happy birthday to Jesus. It always brings tears to my eyes. At the end of the party there is always a special visit from that man in red. It was a wonderful night!! We're so blessed to have such amazing friends in our lives to share this time with. Happy Birthday Jesus!!

Jill

A Christmas Dream!

This afternoon was Tink's final performance of A Christmas Dream. She dances for the premier Christian ballet company in the world. We're very proud that she is a part of something so special. A Christmas Dream is basically the Nutcracker with a Christian theme. Instead of the Clara receiving a nutcracker it's Katherine receiving a Bible. Instead of the Nutcracker fighting the Mouse King it's Michael, the arc-angel fighting Beelzebub the deamon. And Katherine goes to heaven to visit Jesus where all of creation dances around her. Tink was a bird this year. It is an incredibly powerful and beautiful performance and I hope you all get the chance to see it sometime. We will have the DVD if you're interested. It's a great way to put the true meaning of Christmas back into our hearts.

Well, here are some pics! Jeremy's parents and my mom came to today's performance with us. Tink already can't wait until next year when she's an angel...they have a bigger dance part!

Grief

I just wanted to update everyone....yesterday Jeremy's grandfather passed away. This was very unexpected and the family needs lots of prayers. I'm trying to write this on just a few hours of sleep so please forgive any mistakes. We took Princess with us to Montgomery yesterday (we knew she'd help add a little light into the darkness). We drove back today to be ready for Man-Man's neuro check-up tomorrow. We'll leave the Dr. and go back to Montgomery tomorrow for visitation and the funeral. Tink and Man-Man don't know yet. They will be told in the morning. Please pray for safety for all of our travels. It's almost 5 hours each way. Please pray that we can get in early for Man's check-up so that we'll be able to leave in enough time for Jeremy to make visitation. Please please pray especially for Jeremy's family. This is a very difficult time for them and I pray that God guides us all through this, giving us His strength, grace, and hope. Please pray most of all that HE will be glorified above all else. May His loving arms surround all of us and help us through the next few days, weeks, months. I thank God for such loving friends and family that I can count on. We'll be home on Thurs...after all, Tink has ballet recital all weekend!!!!

Jill

Christmas Time!

What a wonderfully busy week we've had! Monday night I had the college student leaders from our church over to our house for a Christmas dinner/party. With the help of the adult leaders and some wonderful ladies from our church we were able to host over 20 students and serve a wonderful meal eaten on china and Christmas ware. That was so much fun for me. I love the college students and can't wait to have them over again. They are such a delight to our family and our church!

On Tuesday I attended a ladies night at both our church and Donna's house. The church function was great. We ate pizza and watched the movie, The Christmas Card. Afterwards, some of the girls from our S.S. went to Donna's for a planning meeting. Well, you know what happens anytime girls get together. We ended up staying out way past our bedtime!! YEAH!

Wednesday brought choir parties at church and the opportunity to see Man-Man sing in his choir. Since he's 4 he doesn't sing in "Big" church so once a year we get to go into his choir room and watch him. He was shy for the most part and hid in Daddy's arms. But I loved watching him and all of his friends. He's got a great teacher and they have tons of fun.

Thursday I took Tink and Man-Man to see the Nutcracker. They love watching the dancers and they're very well behaved considering how long we had to sit there just to wait for it to start. I was so proud of them. We had a special lunch at McDonalds after...what a treat!

Friday we went to see a fabulous production of A Christmas Carol. New Stage theater is a local theater production who puts on this...along with many others...each year. It's a highlight of our holidays and a tradition to go see it. I believe this is our third year in a row. Also on Friday night DH and I had our S.S. party. How great to be able to get together with all of our friends for a night without kids. We are so very blessed with amazing friends and a wonderful church home.

Tonight we gathered with about 20 of our friends and family to watch the local Christmas parade. Sweet Alicia and Tania brought hot chocolate and Alicia made awesome M&M's cookies. The kids had so much fun. This, too, has become a tradition for us. I love this time of year! We have so much fun together as a family and such wonderful memories shared with friends. Most importantly though we remember the reason that we gather at each of these events. That God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Make some wonderful memories this Christmas season!

Thanksgiving blessings!

Thanksgiving recently become one of my favorite holidays. I mean, I always loved it before but the past few years I've come to appreciate it more and more. God has given our family so many wonderful blessings and to take the time to give thanks to our Heavenly Father is so important. My desire is to make each day a day full of thanksgiving and love. Why only once a year?? And on that thought...why can't we eat dressing and turkey in May???

I also love Thanksgiving because it's the ONE holiday where we don't travel. Usually we just have dinner with my mom and we cook a huge feast just for the 6 of us. This year we invited my precious friend and neighbor, Tisha, and her family over to share the holiday with us. Tisha's mom was visiting from TN and we had a wonderfully full home on Thanksgiving Day. I am so thankful that God placed this family in my life. They have just meant the world to me and they have ALL recently been saved!! Praise God! He has really been working in their lives and I cry every time I think of their precious family. They'll be moving at the end of the month but I know we'll stay close always.

Here are some pictures of our blessed Thanksgiving Day!