Photo Hunt #149 - Twelve

We got the kids a new pool table for Christmas....so this was the perfect photo op for the number 'twelve'....

It's Christmas!!

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." ~ Isaiah 9:6

Festival of Lights....sort of

Every year at some point during the week of Christmas, our family gets in the car and drives all around town to look at how people have decorated their homes with Christmas lights. It always puts us in the mood for the holiday and it's fun to see some really pretty decorations...and unfortunately some pretty tacky ones. This year we noticed a lot of lights, but not too many had that 'wow' factor. Here are a few homes we passed....

Ooh, there's a package on their front porch! ha ha


This Weeping Willow tree looked so pretty, especially with all the snow!!


This house seemed to have a tree in almost every room!!


Every bit of decor here was illuminated....it was pretty yet strange!


Countdown to Christmas clock....6 hours, 8 minutes 15 seconds to go!


Right off the Hollywood movie set...well...sort of...


They even had these chasing lights cover their driveway...wow!


Classic...much prettier in person


This house is enormous...and I have to say I thought they 'under-did' it. They could have made it look amazing with so much more....


Next year we'll head on over to another neighborhood that has always impressed us. We wanted to go see our old home this time, so we went a different way. Unfortunately, the only lights on our old home, were the ones inside....boring! We still had a blast though and although I had my husband pull the car over a million times for photos, I think he still loves me. ha ha ha!

Christmas is almost here!

I can't believe tomorrow is Christmas already!! This year has flown by and soon enough we will be in 2010. God is good...we have had a busy Christmas season, but a good one. We look forward to spending time tomorrow with family and hope that you and yours have the most wonderful day!!!

Remember to keep Christ in the center of your day, He is why we celebrate Christmas. His free gift is the best one you'll ever get!! Every Christmas morning we read the story of Christ's birth in Luke before even touching any of our gifts. I hope you take the time with your family to thank the Lord for all He has done for you!

Here is a new take on the famous "Twas the Night Before Christmas" story. Read this with your family and reflect on the true meaning of why we celebrate Christmas!


'Twas the night before Jesus came and all through the house
Not a creature was praying, not one in the house.
Their Bibles were lain on the shelf without care
In hopes that Jesus would not come there.

The children were dressing to crawl into bed.
Not once ever kneeling or bowing a head.
And Mom in her rocker with baby on her lap
Was watching the Late Show while I took a nap.

When out of the East there arose such a clatter.
I sprang to my feet to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash!

When what to my wondering eyes should appear
But angels proclaiming that Jesus was here.
With a light like the sun sending forth a bright ray
I knew in a moment this must be THE DAY!

The light of His face made me cover my head
It was Jesus! returning just like He had said.
And though I possessed worldly wisdom and wealth,
I cried when I saw Him in spite of myself.

In the Book of Life which He held in His hand
Was written the name of every saved man.
He spoke not a word as He searched for my name;
When He said "it's not here" my head hung in shame.

The people whose names had been written with love
He gathered to take to His Father above.
With those who were ready He rose without a sound.
While all the rest were left standing around.

I fell to my knees, but it was too late;
I had waited too long and thus sealed my fate.
I stood and I cried as they rose out of sight;
Oh, if only I had been ready tonight.

In the words of this poem the meaning is clear;
The coming of Jesus is drawing near.
There's only one life and when comes the last call
We'll find that the Bible was true after all!

Merry Christmas!!!!

Someone got a haircut today!!!

Cody is one happy Doodle!! He spent the day at the groomer and not only looks wonderful, but smells wonderful too. He's all ready for Christmas now! Let the celebration begin!!!

Snow...the perfect way to start Winter!

We got bombarded with snow the other day. It's very cold and windy outside, but it sure is pretty!! I have to say though, the older I get, the less and less I enjoy the snow. I finally understand why my parents felt the way they did in winter. Shoveling it, driving in it, and all the messes that come with it, don't make me a happy camper. I do love seeing the kids' eyes light up as it's coming down though...seeing them happy is enough to make me happy again.

We got lots of snow this time, so we were all outside, shovels in hand, trying to clear out the driveway and 5' of road that the plow somehow seemed to overlook. Hello?!? I'll give them the fact that this is a new road, so they may not know where the curb is, but still....one lane down the middle doesn't cut it!

Beautiful snow covered trees:


Even Cody enjoyed the snow this time. He doesn't usually going outside, but he ventured out with us this time and had lots of fun. Good thing he didn't run around in the deep snow though...his hair would NOT be easy to comb through with snowballs embedded in it!


Sweet-Pea making a snow angel...


OK, this kid cracks me up sometimes!! He wanted to be buried so we obliged. The funny thing was that he couldn't get out of the snow bank once he was buried!! After a while he did need digging out, and little sis was happy to help...don't ask me why 'cause if it were my brother, I'd have left him there! =)


Taking a moment to enjoy the snow...




The trees with snow on them are simply gorgeous!!




So...today is the first official day of Winter. Looks like this will be a snowy one for us. Our old home was right on the shore, so we didn't get much snow, mainly slush. It was awful. At least here we'll get some pretty snow. Even if it does annoy me now and then, at least the kids are happy!

Homemade for Christmas

As I mentioned in a previous post, we put 10 wreaths on all the windows of our home...I thought it was pretty, but one thing was missing...a wreath on the front door.

I've always wanted a real cranberry wreath...not one you buy in stores, but a handmade one. So, this year I undertook the task of putting one together!

Here is the finished project:


Here it is on our front door:


Putting it together was easy yet time consuming. Fortunately, Sweet-Pea helped load the toothpicks with cranberries which saved me a ton of time!!

Now the house looks ready for the holidays! Don'tcha think?!?

Reflections...

The past couple days for me have been busy, yet somehow I've had lots of time to think about how my life has changed. When I was young, I had not a care in the world. I never had to worry about things...Mom and Dad took care of me, raised me well and taught me some pretty valuable lessons. They instilled in me some pretty wonderful Christian values that I too am teaching to my own children.

Now that I'm a little much older, I can appreciate my parents for the incredible example they were to me, and how much they invested in my life. Oh to be able to see them just one more time to let them know...

Word of advice: If your parents are still around...please take the time to let them know you love them. Tell them how much they mean to you, and tell them how thankful you are to them for all the time & money they've spent on you, and for all the sacrifices they've made for you!

Anyhow, as I've spent time with Rob and the kids getting ready for Christmas (decorating, baking, and shopping), I've reminisced about the traditions my own family had. I miss having family around. When I was growing up, I had a very large family that used to get together every holiday. We had wonderful times, and many memories were made that still make me smile today! Most of my family are now gone...so I don't see anyone on my side during the Christmas holidays. It's very hard for me and it hurts that my children have no cousins or other kids their age around to make memories with, even from Rob's side. It's been something I've struggled with for a few years now, and I think this year it's really hit home. Yup...I've got too much time to 'think' these days! That's what happens when you take a month off from homeschooling! =)

I try not to talk about it much with my own family so they don't realize the pain, but I'm sure it shows. (Not to mention the fact they they read my blog, so they'll see it here!) Fortunately though I have a wonderful family and we're making our own memories. I pray daily for my children...that they will grow up with fond memories in their hearts as I have in mine, despite the differences in the way we've grown up. Despite that they don't have much family to celebrate with as I did. God puts people in our lives at just the right time. He will never let us down like people do. He always provides what we need when we need it, so I'm trusting that He will always protect my children and give them family and friends when they need it most.

Pray that my kids have the best Christmas ever this year. It's not about the gifts, it's not about the food or the decorations (although those are all so much fun!!)...it's about Christ, being together and enjoying the gifts that we have been blessed with.

I have so many wonderful friends who live far away....you know who you are...my very dear close friends from COTW, friends from RSA , from college and those of you who are faithful readers here. I wish you all a wonderful, safe, happy and healthy Christmas. I pray that God will bless you in years to come, and that you always follow your heart as He leads you.


P.S. The candle photo above is a Woodwick candle...the company is based out of Virginia. The scent is called 'Frasier Fir' and it smells incredible. I love these candles more than Yankee Candle (Shhh! Don't tell) because they not only smell better, but they are prettier and they make a wonderful crackling noise as the wood wick burns down. They last forever too! Just my .02 cents.

Finishing Touches

We finally got our tree up and decorated!! It took quite a lot of hard work to get it up in the tree stand, but once it was there we were quite pleased. It fit in the room perfectly!

Rob put the lights on it one evening, and then we all decorated it the next day. We were going to put more ornaments on it, but the tree started to get too heavy and at one point started tipping over, so we had to stop! We didn't put many ornaments on the back of the tree since it's in the corner and no one would ever see them there, but all the weight in the front caused the tree to tip towards the living room. It was scary, but we managed to save it before it went over. Rob was laying on the floor next to it fixing the stand when it happened. 200+ lbs of sharp blue spruce needles may have caused lots of pain...I'd know...I'm the one who ran over to it to stop it from falling over. Ouch!

Anyhow, here's the finished tree. It makes the room feel so warm and cozy....especially when the lights are on and the fireplace is lit!





Lionel & Sweet-Pea beside the tree:

Notice the Lionel train set beneath the tree...it's the Polar Express!

Close up of our mantle decor...


Cody loves the tree....hopefully not enough to try anything though. =)


Well...now that things are decorated, it's time to start baking...we still have lots to do before next week. I still can't believe Christmas is only in 11 days!

It's beginning to 'feel' a lot like Christmas!

Yesterday we headed over to the local farm to cut down our Christmas tree. It was a long afternoon....but we had lots of fun!! We hiked all the way up to the top of the farm (which is VERY big) to find our tree. It's not that there weren't any good trees on the way up, but for some reason, we just love walking around and looking at them all.

This time we went further than we normally do. It was pretty, but it did pose one problem. Since it was a weekday and not a busy weekend, it was hard for the workers to know how far people were walking, so the truck (that usually goes all over picking up trees people cut down to bring down the hill) never came up to the very top. We ended up calling the place on our cell phone asking them to send a truck to come pick up our tree. It took an hour! We were so cold by the time they showed up, but waiting wasn't so bad...we posed for some silly photos and listened to pretty Christmas music.

The trees had just enough snow on them which was perfect for taking photos!


The kids loved hiking to the top of the hill! Did they take the designated paths? Of course not...but it sure was fun!


Sweet-Pea found a great walking stick to help her get up the hill.


Looking down at the farm shows how big this place really is. You can't even see the entrance where we parked...it's way down past the pond to the left. There are many directions you can walk to in order to find that 'oh-so-perfect' tree.




Finally...Lionel found this beauty! Here Edward trying to figure out if it's too tall, or if it will fit in our living room. He cut it just 1' above the ground, so it must be the right size. I believe he said it weighs approx. 200 lbs. and is about 11 1/2' high!!! We will probably have to cut another foot off the bottom in order to get our angel up on the top though...we'll see.


Sweet-Pea found this 'Charlie Brown' tree on the ground and thought it was simply the best tree around!! We brought it home, so she can decorate it herself. Too cute!


Lionel, Sweet-Pea and myself standing beside our tree (which is on the right).




Cutting it down was a job, but the boys did it. Daddy started the job and Lionel finished it. Unfortunately Daddy forgot the rope with the tarp, so they had to pull the tarp itself...not an easy task with hardly any snow on the ground for maneuvering. They only had to drag it a few hundred feet to the pick-up spot, so it wasn't too bad.


When the tree is up and decorated, I'll take more photos. We waited until today to put it in the stand, but found that half of our lights weren't working, so we will have to finish it tomorrow. More to come another day...in the mean time, check out this surprise....

When we woke up around 6:00 this morning to take Cody out, this is what we found. Almost 6" of snow on the ground!! The forecast called for rain...lots of rain. They didn't even mention snow! It was a nice surprise though, but boy was it a surprise. Edward was so glad it was his day off!


The snow looks so pretty on our little 'fake' outdoor Christmas trees. I love taking photos of them when they're covered like this!


After the snow surprise, the rain finally started to fall. It rained pretty much all day. Most towns around us had enough rain to melt the snow, but we are on a hill top, so it's colder and the snow tends to hang around. Lionel was outside shoveling today but it wasn't fun since there was a lot of water mixed with the snow....slushy anyone??

Fortunately the rain stopped. Now we can enjoy the beautiful snow that was left behind...til it turns to ice!!! Ha!

We are having such a great time this December....decorating, Christmas parties, shopping and more. We will start baking soon, and then we'll really feel like the holidays are in full swing! This month seems to be flying by, so I'm trying to take it all in and enjoy every minute of it....all while taking a million photos with my new camera to share with you here. =)