Christmas Day

On Christmas Eve we had our annual Christmas Eve Brunch with about 23 people this year. It's a lot of work, but it's something our family loves doing. I think it's a tradition that will last a long time. And the benefit of just having to heat up a yummy Christmas breakfast is great too. After brunch we had about 20 minutes to change for church service, so that was a little crazy, but we enjoyed the afternoon.  Brooke even took a little nap in my arms.  That may possibly be the last time that happens so I was sure to soak in every minute of it.

After service we headed to my mom's for our usual seafood gumbo meal with my side of the family. By the time we rolled into bed we were all exhausted and I think the kids all slept past 8:00 on Christmas morning.

This was the first time in 4 years we've been at home all of Christmas day.  Grandparents popped in for a bit, but the girls stayed in their pajamas all day. Perfection.

Kayla sewed everyone a pillowcase for Christmas.  She picked out the fabrics and did all of the work.  She is loving her new hobby.

 

And she was very surprised to receive her own sewing machine.

 

 

I love the sweet gift shopping and exchanging between the girls. They are so thoughtful.

Karaoke time!

 

The girls and I got Marc a foosball table. That's been a lot of fun and the girls are getting pretty good at it.

And we ended the day with a yummy, warm dinner. Nothing fancy, but this ham and potato casserole is simple and hits the spot.

We had a wonderful, relaxing day celebrating Jesus. I am so thankful for Him, my family, and our home. Blessed indeed.

Christmas Blessings and Funnies

It has been such a wonderful day celebrating Jesus. For the first time in years we were at home all day.  Marc's parents came up for a bit this morning then my mom came for a while this afternoon.  It was a relaxing and joy-filled day.  I'll post pictures soon, but there were some things from today that I don't want to forget. 

Many wonderful and thoughtful gifts were exchanged today, including a pair of purple and pink llama socks that Macy picked out for me.  Of course she did. That's perfectly Macy.  And I have worn them all day. The best gift, however, came at dinner time.  We had not had a chance to sit down with our Samaritan's Purse Christmas catalog yet this year. Last year was the first time we chose to give Jesus a gift through this ministry in addition to our Lottie Moon Christmas offering.  As we were sitting at the dinner table tonight we talked about the different gifts we could give and asked the girls what was special to their heart.  Of course they were immediately drawn to the section on gifts for children. Kayla decided to use some of her money to feed a newborn and a child for a week. A week or so ago Macy had looked through the catalog and said she wanted to provide a gospel booklets to children for $5. Tonight she told us that she wanted to give $40 dollars for these booklets. That would reach 100 young children! It brought me to tears for a couple of reasons.  One, Macy is not usually one to want to give her money, or at least much of it.  $40 was almost half of what she had been saving up.  She is wanting a new American Girl doll, and just this morning she was counting up her money to see how close she was to her goal. There were some tears when a sister got a new doll and she didn't, so saving her money is a big deal for her. Then tonight she very willingly gives half of it to share the gospel of Jesus. This was BY FAR the best gift I have ever been given for Christmas. She said she may have to wait longer to get her doll, but that's okay. 

After wiping off my tears I talked to her about how proud I was of her. When I told her this was one of the best Christmas gifts I had been given she said, "What about the llama socks?" I died laughing. 

Shortly after dinner it was bath time.  Macy and Brooke love to play with Barbies in the tub, but I usually limit them to 2 each and nothing else. Tonight I'm checking the water temperature and they throw their dolls in along with a slide and couch.  When I asked why they were putting the couch in Macy replies, "you get a book and drink in the bathtub and we want some 'relaxment' too so we put a couch in." I died laughing again. 

This morning Macy and I were up before anyone else.  We were snuggling on the couch and I asked her what she thought was wrapped under the tree.  She said she thought there was a new sled. I told her that she didn't need a new sled and that she got one last year.  Her response was "then an old sled with holes in it?" This girl cracks me up, and she's quick-witted. I love my little family, and it has been a near perfect day.

Christmas Pictures

This is the year I got smart with pictures.  It's usually a mad dash to get pictures on Christmas Eve with the girls in front of the tree all dressed up.  There are people waiting and I always feel rushed. So this year we decided to take a trip to the church one morning.  We got the girls changed, plugged in the trees, and snapped away.  So much less stress and the girls had fun twirling around with no one in the lobby. This may be the last time the girls want matching dresses so I want to make sure it is well documented. And this will probably be the last time I EVER purchase dressed with glitter on them.  My car needs a good detailing now, but I think it was worth it.

Christmas on the 22nd

Our first family Christmas was with Marc's family. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner and time of fellowship with everyone and then we gathered together to exchange gifts.

 

The girls were excited about their new massive stuffed animals!

By the time we finished exchanging gifts it was too late for a family picture so we took one at our New Year's Eve brunch.

Hobgood Lights

One evening last week we ventured out to Hobgood Park to check out the light display. My mom, grandmother, and aunt joined us for a bit as well. We ran into 6 families while we were there including a couple of high school buddies we haven't seen in years.

The girls especially loved the Frozen displays.  I think this adventure may become a regular seasonal event for our family.

It really is the most wonderful time of the year.

Random December Pictures

It seems like all of my posts these last few months have been a hodge-podge of random pictures.  I still want to document some of our memories, but this is just the best it will get in this season of our lives. I'm sure I'll load up on Christmas pictures though.

Sweet girls ready for church.

"Squid-head" as we like to call her.  This hat came as part of a white elephant gift exchange. Macy loves it and one day decided to choose her clothes to match. 

We also attended Macy's music performance at school. 

And the elementary choir at church had a night of Christmas carols.  Macy finally found us sitting in the balcony.

Brooke's class came to watch as well.

November

We had a few more adventures before the weather turned cool.  One afternoon we decided take a walk down the street across from our neighborhood.  We came across some beautiful homes and met quite a few horses.  This one in the distance saw the girls and trotted right over for a visit.

Kayla's choir at church sang in the morning service with the adult choir.  They were so cute in their little red robes.

The girls and I  spent quite a bit of our Thanksgiving break rebuilding their lego houses.  Marc is making them a couple of lego tables for them to play on. It has been quite a project, and while we still haven't rebuilt everything we managed to get enough done that they are having a lot of fun playing with these again in their little town.

We had two Thanksgiving dinners this year, but unfortunately this is the only picture I took. We are so thankful for our family and the time we get to spend with them in the midst of our busy schedules. 

A Few Random Pictures

After soccer one Saturday we joined up with our Sunday School class on a LoveLOUD project.  We were helping to clean up a families yard among other projects.  Since we had our soccer game that morning the project was near complete by the time we got there. The girls did spread some mulch and pull down some vines. Unfortunately somewhere in the process we all tangled with some poison ivy. I really don't think dead vines were poison ivy or we would have had a much bigger problem on our hands, but obviously it was somewhere.  Poor Macy had it something awful on her arm.  And then it slowly popped up on all of us.  It was crazy how long some of the spots took to show up. Thankfully we came straight home to bathe or it might have been much worse. We're still dealing with it 3 weeks later, but not so much of the itching, but the dry, healing skin.  I'm hoping that it doesn't leave any scars in the worst spots.

Silly girls out to lunch for Daddy's birthday.

The girls had a lemonade stand one Saturday afternoon.  Lots of sweet people came and purchased some lemonade from them.  They had a blast and I'm sure they will be wanting to do this again next year.