Highlights of December!

Like normal, December is a very busy month for us, so here are a few pictures of the highlights. We did have a lovely large Christmas party before Christmas but unfortunately I didn't get any good pictures from the evening. We have dreamed about having Christmas parties here in our new home so it was dream come true to have our home filled with family and friends as we ate, talked, played games and the best part of all, snging Christmas songs! Imagine 75 people singing in our home! It was amazing!

It was great fun pulling out our decorations and putting them up in our new home for the first time! YAY!

Aw! The joys of babies.

Taylor turned 17!

Lydia helping with the Christmas tree! Okay, not really helping, I'm taking her picture!

Getting dressed up for Christmas parties!!!

A photo shoot with Lydia! She is so silly and this picture captures her well!

I love you girl!!!!

Gracie, Sarah, Ben, and Lydia put on a very, very nice Christmas play. At first I thought they had permanent marker on their face! Yikes! It wasn't, thankfully, but they did look so cute!

It's Christmas time in the country!

What could be in that big box for such a little girl?

Daddy made her a doll bed!!! Emma had to try it out! LOL!

Emma's first Christmas!

Ben needed some help with his gift! "Pull here Emma!"

David and Keslie's second Christmas together but the first as parents!

Uncle Paul and his girls, Katelyn and Kelsie came for Christmas dinner!

Whew! All that excitement is tiring!

December was such a wonderful month of celebration and remembering our Savior Who loved so much that He took all our sin on Himself to die to cleanse us from our sin. Perfect love like that can never be found.

Christmas Decorations in the making

Almost every Christmas our family likes to make these lovely festive jars with floating candles to give the house a cheery look. They are an easy decoration and can look great in a table center-piece or just about anywhere! This year I took step-by-step pictures so you all can give them a try!

First you need fresh cranberries, evergreen branches, water, jars, and Grapefruit Seed extract for preservation (optional), a pair of scissors and some floating candles for as many jars as you like.

Place cranberries on a tray and remove bad berries.

Then rinse.

I add Grapefruit Seed extract to help the cranberries not go bad so quickly.

Fill the jars about 1/3 of the way with Cranberries.

Cut parts of the evergreen branches and put on top of berries. Be sure there is still empty head room at the top so the candle will float.

Cover berries and evergreen with the water/Grapefruit Seed extract mixture.

Lydia is making her own!

Place candle on top

Ta-DA!

Then light it...

...and enjoy!

Note: I keep them in the fridge when not using them since keeping them cold will make them last longer. Sometimes we've left them out all the time and they get murky water and we have to make them over again. The fridge and the Grapefruit Seed extract really helps them last longer. Beautiful!

The Christmas post!

Oh dear! I feel awful! I have neglected this blog for much too long especially since there have been so many changes. I guess I should start with Christmas since I haven't done a post since then! :gasp: : -)

This is our "much look forward to meal" of the year! We love to grace the table with an abundance of finger foods such as homemade cheese ball, bacon appetizers ( a long time family favorite), mini quiche's, cheese and crackers and veggies. We take great delight in this special dinner.

One half of the table.

The other half.

The bacon appetizer's! Yummy!

Then we opened presents.

And of course we get to hear the Christmas story once again!

The next morning the three little girls enjoy their new friends! Of course there is the naming process which must be taken with great seriousness. They look sleepy 'cause they were! It is hard to sleep-in when you know your little friends are waiting for you!

Daddy got to read to the kids.

Later Grandpa was able to bring Grandma to our home for Christmas dinner! It was a joy to have her and she did very well with all the busyness around her. My mom found a card that was for my grandma to give my grandpa. She didn't really know what it all meant but she knew it was special. There were tears from many eyes in the room while grandpa read it out loud. Then Grandma said "Thank you Ben! That was sweet!" She thought it was for her even though she just gave it to him!
It was wonderful to have her with us on Christmas Day!

Of course there were games to be played!

Sarah challenged David to checkers. By the way folks, it isn't always a good idea to play David! He wins too much!

Some little girl was getting sleepy after all the excitement!

Grandma and I together! She is wearing her new fuzzy jacket from her son Kevin and his family! She loves it especially now that the sleeves are not too long! I was able to fix them for her that day!

David, Keslie and baby on their first Christmas together! I just can't wait for next year! Then we can see the little one in their arms!

Aren't they cute?

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! I pray you were able to remember and thank God for His great blessing of sending His only Son to die for us, His creation. He is so good to us.