Parting Shot!

As the old year winds down and a new one arrives, I must post two more pictures from Christmas. They are two of my favorites.

my kiddos, of course

My daughter with one of her cousins! She's wearing this dress.

Happy New Year. May it be one of following God's will and bringing glory to Him!

Snapshots of a Merry Christmas!

We spent our Christmas holiday with my hubby's family in Florida. It was fun to visit with siblings and cousins. Here are a few snapshots of our time together:

Visiting with Santa Clause!

What's Christmas without a toy train? A man in the area has a huge display of his model trains each year. It has become a tradition to visit it when we are at Nana and Papa's for Christmas.

My kiddos help Nana set up the wooden reindeer on her front porch. Then the two of them decided to pull a bench up for the sleigh and add ribbon and bells for reigns. My son kept insisting on feeding the reindeer, so Nana let him leave a bowl of mini-wheats for their enjoyment.

These cousins are very close in age: M (in the middle) is 9 months older than my daughter (on the right) who is 9 months older than A (on the left). Nana had a slumber party for the 3 of them one night while we were there. They had such a fun time playing together!


Crab legs on Christmas eve! This has not been a Christmas tradition,
but maybe it should be now. Nana and Papa bought enough crab legs for everybody. We enjoyed a delicious feast of crab legs, cheese grits, salad and garlic cheese biscuits.


Our daughter's first taste!


Papa and some of the siblings and in-laws dig in to a crab leg feast.

The kiddos left cookies and milk for Santa on Christmas eve. After watching Santa Clause 2, our son insisted on leaving carrots for the reindeer. He woke me up on Christmas Day and whispered, "Mom, I hear reindeer."


He was excited to see that Santa and the reindeer had enjoyed their snacks.


My hubby read the Christmas story from Luke on Christmas morning.

Here are all the cousins....almost. Two were not able
to come to Florida. We missed them!

For me Christmas has always meant time spent with family. Opening gifts is fun, but being together is what's most important. I am grateful for lots of family and the opportunity to be together to celebrate Christ's birth. After all, the birth, life and death of Jesus Christ make our adoption into God's family possible.

Merry Christmas

From our house to yours. May your Christmas be filled with family and fellowship as you celebrate the Lord's birth.

We are off to spend the holiday with family....see you sometime after Christmas!

The Truth of Christmas

"He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood , the forgiveness of sins."
-Colossians 1:13,14

Couldn't Resist

I couldn't resist posting this artwork of my son's. I found it on the marker board easel that we use for school. I asked him what it was, and he told me, "It's Daddy and me playing football with my friends." I bit my tongue and refrained from telling him that they look like aliens in jail. Nevertheless, I'm proud of his beautiful work!

Look At This!

You may be asking yourself, "what in this picture merits an exclamation point in the post title?"

This poinsettia plant was given to us four years ago at Christmas by a lady in our church. After enjoying it indoors through the holiday season, I moved it to the garage (I was afraid my infant son would eat the leaves and/or berries) until Spring. Then, I planted it in one of our flower beds. Each winter, it has died back. I would cut it to the ground, and each spring it would grow into a small bush again. The leaves were always green - never any red ones, and I was content with that. After all, the plant was still alive after four years, and in my world, that's saying a lot. You've probably gathered that I'm not a garden aficionado. I love plants. I admire other people's beautifully landscaped yards, but at this stage in my life am not devoting much time or energy to my own. I'm pretty sure that garden gurus know the secrets to getting a poinsettia to produce red leaves, but since I'm not one...I don't. So, imagine my surprise and thrill when I noticed this week the RED leaves on my four year old poinsettia! Yes, it warranted an exclamation point or two in my post title! ! ! !

Granted, its nowhere as grand or beautiful as the plant the same lady gave us this year:

But its my poinsetta plant... that's planted in my yard...that's four years old...that's alive....that finally has red leaves....did I mention that it's still alive after four years?!

Holiday Par-Tay!!!

I discovered this party yesterday...just in time to participate. Find some of my favorite recipes here and here. Don't eat too much...what am I saying? Eat as much as you want - I am!

Been Busy....Been Missing Y'all!

I have been very remiss in my posting this week. But its been for a good reason. The fun things about the Christmas season are happening, and I just had to let go of the blog to take part in them!

So here's a quick report on what's been going on:

*Working my homeshow business (yea, Christmas money!).

*Babysitting for a friend so she can Christmas shop.

*Attending our small town's Christmas parade.

Our daughter rode on this float...she's the one bundled
in the lilac coat just above the letter D.

Here's a self-portrait of our son and me as we wait
for the parade to start. The weather was actually a little nippy
on this night, and we got to bundle up!

*Eating yummy Saturday brunch at a friend's Pampered Chef party (loved the German Apple Pancake).

*Making pretzel wreathe ornaments with my kiddos while dressed in our pjs!

Here is the wreathe before I put the bow for hanging.

*Laughing with friends at our Sunday School Christmas party.

*Creating Christmas ornaments at my daughter's Keeper's At Home meeting.



*Crying tears of pride and joy as I watched my children in our church's children's Christmas musical.

That's my son singing Christmas songs with
the preschool choir (he's the one in the middle).

We were thrilled that our seemingly shy 6 year old
did a wonderful job singing
"Away in a Manger" solo! My heart was bursting!

*Decorating cookies....my kiddos made some really colorful ones!


If you've made it to the end of this post, you must be Grandma or Nana to my children...or you are a sweet friend who humors me by reading my blog....or you're pretty bored today and having nothing else to do. I know this post was lengthy, but I had to make up for a whole week of not posting, didn't I? Regardless of your reason for making it this far, thanks for stopping by. I hope you are having fun living Christmas with your friends and family, too!

Sent By The Father

One more time you've heard the story
Of our Savior's birth
Heard how few beheld His glory
When He came to earth
Oh but soon every eye shall see Him
Angels at His side
See Him now on a great white stallion
In the eastern sky

Sent by the Father
"Jesus go and call my children"
A trumpet sounds and the angels sing

Like never before
With shepherds and wise men
We humbly bow
And every tongue confess that He is Lord

When He comes in all His glory
Comes to claim His own
We won't need a star to guide us
We'll be going home

Once a baby in a manger
No room at the inn
Now a king who reigns forever
Over death and sin

Sent by the Father
"Jesus go and call my children"
A trumpet sounds and the angels sing

Words and music by Ray Boltz and Steve Millikan
1997 Shepherd Boy MusicASCAP (adm. by Word Music) and Weedom

Snowfall Blankets Portions of Southeast Alabama!

Yeah, in my dreams!

And sometimes courtesy of this:

That's right! Our nearby large town held its Christmas Festival this weekend. One of the highlights was snow in the downtown area. Since that's a VERY unlikely occurrence around here, we have to satisfy ourselves with the manmade kind. We joined our neighbors for an early (for Saturday) morning excursion. The kids threw snowballs at each other then enjoyed watching the snowblower.



I guess we had the best of both worlds today: 55 degrees, sunny and SNOW at 8:00 AM!


All in all, a real nice way to start the month of December!