Wow. It takes me FOREVER to get a blog post done anymore so let me say Merry Christmas to you and start at the beginning of the holiday season for us.
Here she is. The chosen one for this year.
This year's tree cutting experience was a lot different for us. For one, no one cried this year.
2009
2010
2011
Also, Natalie and Maggie were not with us (they were celebrating early birthday with Grandma and Grandpa in BV.) We told them they would miss getting the tree but everyone agreed that it was okay this year since it was going to be anti-climatic and we would not be traipsing the hillside, looking for one to cut ourselves. Why you ask? The place where we get our Christmas tree is privately owned by a sweet old man who lets people cut down the trees at Christmas for a super low price but this past summer all of his land burned in the terrible fires. So sad for him and for us. So this year we went to a small town just outside ours to a place where someone else had already cut them down and we simply had to lift it up and decide if it was worthy or not.
Sabrina loved getting all the attention for the weekend. All smiles. Yay.
Plus she got to eat all the whipped cream off my coffee drink at breakfast. There was a quaint little coffee shop right next door to the tree lot so we ate yummy bagel sandwiches there.
She really is a beauty. My favorite tree so far. She had a ton of perfect, tiny pinecones all over that looked like ornaments adorned on her by God. All of the branches reached out and up like it was praising its Creator.
Ornaments and lights hanging in the window.
Some daylight pics...
Dusty's dad built us the manger. We talked with the girls how Jesus came to serve and that we should serve others too. Throughout the month, we "prepared" the bed for baby Jesus to come. The girls could put a haystack in the manger when they served someone joyfully and without expecting anything in return. I felt challenged to keep it from being works based but felt the girls understood what we talked about and really served with sacrificial hearts (most of the time).
Treats for friends who stop by (but a lot were eaten by us).
I got this idea from Pinterest at this site...
but made up my own too.
Dressed all warm to go looking at Christmas lights. This year we took hot drinks and popcorn with us.
I antiqued this one because the lighting/quality was bad (but good try anyway, Natalie.) When we really are old and gray, maybe I will look back at this "old" picture and think how very young we looked.
Christmas Eve dinner tradition: Shepherd's Pie in honor of the Greatest Shepherd of All.
The girls opened one present each on Christmas Eve containing the matching jammies.
Christmas Day
The girls waited for Papa to yell "Merry Christmas!" to know they could come downstairs. So thankful for children who still sleep til 7 even on Christmas morn. The girls found Baby Jesus lying in a manger. We had morning snacks prepared while we read the Christmas story from their children's Bible and then we opened presents!
The toothbrush in her stocking may have been her favorite present.
We were blessed to have a White Christmas, especially after how dry the season has been.
George and Julie joined us later on Christmas morning and stayed for a few days. We had a wonderful Christmas roast dinner. Sorry no pics. Words cannot describe how delicious it was. From here on out, we will eat this dish every Christmas.
The girls bundled up to play outside in the 20 degree weather.
George and Dusty made them a small sledding...slide?
Sabrina was stuck in this place where Dusty set her down because she couldn't move in her clothes or oversized boots very well. But she still loved it.
Papa pulling Sabrina on the sled.
This picture is so funny. N was grabbing on for a ride but Sabrina was ready to be finished.
Maggie is enjoying the snow so much more than she used to.
The Christmas decorations are already put away and now we are just relaxing and waiting for the New Year.
Love and hugs to all of you from us!
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