Family

Here is a photo from my brother and sister in laws house taken yesterday. This is my mother in law and father in law (they are the grown ups in the back :)
They are standing with all the grand kids but one. My niece Erin could not be with us at this get together. She was a lucky girl and got to take a little holiday get away with her other set of grandparents to Branson Missouri this weekend. We rarely get together to have a picture of everyone taken on this side of the family. Everyone is busy and it is so hard. But, here is a rare picture with my girls and their oldest cousins Kayli (she lives in Pennsylvania) and Amber (she goes to school in southern Indiana and we only see her usually once a year! Poo Poo!) Both of these girls are amazing people. Hard for me to say adults because I can remember not too long ago playing baby dolls with each of them. Kayli is going to be a nurse. She is getting married this coming October 9th. We are all looking forward to going to Pennsylvania to see that wonderful day. Amber is going to college and has plans to move to Africa after she finishes and help people in villages become self sufficient so that they can take care of themselves. How amazing is that!!! Both girls obviously have hearts for helping others. Can you think of a better thing to do with your life?
The handsome grandson in the picture is the only grandson my in laws have. When my brother in law married Carrie, we got Zack as our new nephew. He is a really neat kid. He loves to play games and build things. Wonder what he will do when he grows up? Architect maybe? Who knows! But, this group of people are very special to me. And, I am thankful that I have this picture to remind me of a really fun day that I was blessed to have with them.

Christmas threw up!

Christmas thew up in my kitchen! HA! Down, down, down came the decorations. I am one of those that like to put things up the day after Thanksgiving and take them down the day after Christmas. I have friends that like to leave their tree and things up until after the New Years....but I just can not do it. There is something so lovely about having all that clutter down and a fresh, clean, simple house back again. I am sure they make a pill for whatever this is called....ha! Anyway, my sweet 13 year old daughter helped her mama take things down and she even swept the living room when the tree came down! What a sweetie pie!!! Do you see my sweet fuzzy kitty on the kitchen chair in the middle picture. Of course he had to get in on the action. Nosey kitty!

So long Christmas 2008. You were wonderful but I am happy to see you go. I wonder what 2009 will bring for me and those I love? I guess I will throw that question out into the universe and time will tell what answers I get. (Hope good ones!)

Mama

This is my mama. Isn't she sweet? :) My sister and I had my nephew take our picture with her on Christmas night. We don't have many pictures of us together. Just us girls. I am very thankful that my dashing nephew took this for us. Turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. :)

Grasshopper

No...this is not the kind of grasshopper I was referring too......this is!

Another one of our family traditions at Christmas time is making Grasshoppers. They are a ice-cream drink that has Creme De Menthe and Cream De Cacao in them. My Grandma Mac used to drink them every Christmas. Since she passed away, we carried on the tradition. I don't think we have missed many Christmases without them. We just make one blender full and share a tad with everyone (except kiddos.) They are extremely sweet too. A little goes a long way with these babies.

And, here is the bartender himself mixing up our batch. He looks like he has done this a time or two or fifty or so. ;) This is my daddy. It was his mama's tradition.

By the way...how do you like my new blender? My hubby bought it for me as a surprise for Christmas. I have been making home-made salad dressings and needed a blender for them. No salad dressing here tonight....but it did work fabulously for Grasshoppers!

My Loot!

Oh my....what a wonderful day we had! It was a lovely Christmas, indeed! It started VERY early for me. My youngest darling daughter woke up at 4:25 am and wanted to know if she could get up. Um....NO!!!! So, she went back into her room to go back to sleep. Yah right! She came back out at 5:00 to see if she could "get up." Um....NO!!! So back she went into her room again. She came back out again at 5:55 to see if she could get up now. Um....YES!!! My coffee had already started perking so I changed into happy mommy with the sounds and smells of that happening. :) She got her daddy up and waited at the kitchen table until we got the house ready. Things like turning on the Christmas tree, putting holly jolly music on to open gifts to, get the camcorder and camera's ready, let the dog outside to potty and get that hot, steamy, brown cup of loveliness in my hand so my morning could officially begin. I went in to the big sisters room to get her up at 6:00. She woke up better than I thought she would. Not the Grinch that I thought she was going to be. So, with that said.....we opened the socks and the kids opened their gifts from us. We went to my parents house around 10:00 to begin opening our gifts and more gifts for the kids. We meet my sissy and her son there at my folks house as well.

Here are a few pictures of what I got today. I got so many wonderful things! I just love them all. I have been admiring these wreaths for quite some time. My sister made this one for me! She did such an excellent job on this!! I could not believe my eyes when I opened the box and saw that pretty pink satin ribbon. I knew, even before I tore the tissue paper back, that it was going to be something good! And, I was right!!! Wasn't' I? :) Can it be any more of a perfect color for me? Be still my heart........

This next picture is a gift from my husband. I love the t-shirts that say "Life is Good." Even when I feel like mine is in the tubes, my life is still good because of what Jesus has done for me. So, I try (even when it is difficult) to remember that always. So, back to my shirt. He got this cute light blue t-shirt for me with this fun gal sitting in her tub soaking. That is sooo me! I take a bath almost every night. I take a shower in the morning....but I love to relax and soak in a hot bath at night. Ahhhhh!

This next picture is a book that I saw one day at Borders and thought it would be such a fun book to read. It is called Dewey and it is a true story about a kitten that was dropped into a return book slot at a library and the library kept him and raised him for the next 19 years! He became very special to that town and the people in it. I like stories like that! Stories that make you feel good. Those are good!!! So, I will be curled up in my chair sometime very soon, I hope, to read this little baby.

This last picture is me with a sweet print my sister got for me off of Etsy. I think it is just so cute! I can not remember who she said the artist was that drew this, but I think is is just so darling! Someday, when I have that little studio I am dreaming of, I will hang it in there for a little bit of sweetness for me to look at while I create. Until then, I believe it will hang in my bedroom for me to enjoy. Did you notice that it had some pink in it? Boy, does my sister know me or what?!?!?! Hee hee!

So there you have it....some of my Christmas goodies that people that I love dearly gave to me. I hope that you had a wonderful Christmas with those that you love and I do hope that you got a little something special under the tree this Christmas that made you smile too. Merry Christmas!! :)

A few more pictures to share....

I wanted to share a couple more pictures from our home this Christmas Eve. This one is our couch with the stockings all filled and ready for the morning. Looks like everyone has been good this year since they are filled to the brim! We all got new socks this year. Guess which one is mine? Yup! The pink one with the fuzzy cuff. Isn't it lovely? :)

This one is our Santa plate for cookies. As you can see, Santa enjoyed the snack we left him. There are only a couple crumbs left on the plate. Even the carrot for the reindeer is gone. (Wink!)

And this last one is the mug that holds the eggnog. (yuck!) It is empty as well. It says "For Cookie Dunking" on the inside. See why I had to put it out this year in this house of non-believers? It is just simply to cute to leave in the attic. :)

Our message tonight at our church service was about silence. It was about being still and quiet so we can hear God and His message to us in this noisy busy world in which we live. It was about God's gift of a baby. God's perfect gift. We sang some wonderful songs. I saw some of my most favorite people. I sat in a long pew with people I love. I remembered tonight what this season is all about. It was an awesome night.

Merry Christmas!!

Luke 2:11

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.

Welcome baby Jesus.......

Santa's footprints

It is tradition in our family to have Santa leave his footprints in the house on Christmas Eve when he leaves the presents for good girls and boys. Tonight, on my way to bed, this is what I found! Santa's boot prints! It is "magic snow" from the North Pole because it never melts! :) We have done this as part of our Christmas Eve ritual for the past 13 years. Tonight it was no different. Although this year, no one in our house believes in Santa but me. I still set the plate out with cookies on it. Still filled the Santa mug with eggnog because that is what Mr. Clause likes to drink. Mrs. Clause DOES NOT by the way. Hee Hee! I still set out one carrot for the reindeer too. Just in case they needed a little snack too. It was hard to think about not doing all these little things for my girls this year. So, I did them. And, I feel pretty happy about it to. And, I bet my ten year old will appreciate it in the early morning when she gets up and I even bet my moody 13 year old will appreciate it too. Even though she would not dare to admit it. :)

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!