Christmas Happenings

So I'm a little late getting these up but once you hear everything that has happened the last few weeks, you will hopefully understand why.  

The week before Christmas, my MIL came for a visit.  One of the activities we enjoyed with her was making Christmas cookies.  We made sugar cookies, peppermint patties, snowballs, and reindeers.  The reason we made so much was due to a party I was hosting that night. 

 

 I also made Orange Sugared Cranberries with a recipe I found on Pinterest.  I didn't have orange so I used lemon instead.  They were absolutely delicious!!!  Definitely a keeper!

My mom was at the party and my brother James drove her out.  He brought his new friend, Buddy, to meet us.

 After MIL left Sunday, we had the fun of a wedding.  Michael was invited to play his hammered dulcimer at a small wedding.  Another lady from our church played her cello.  It sounded very lovely together and added to a very sweet wedding.  You can listen to it here.

Due to girls' work schedules, we made a switch in how we normally celebrate the holidays.  We had Christmas eve at our house with my side of the family.

 The girls got a gift of beauty from their Aunt and Uncle so Abigail gave her mask a try.

 My mom learned to knit at Thanksgiving and made scarves for all the girls.

We also got a Twister game so we played a few games of it.

 After everyone went to bed, the gifts were set out under the tree in anticipation of the morning.

 Christmas morning, I woke up to a sweet surprise.  A cardinal was sitting in our maple tree.  We don't get to see many of them so it was a very pretty sight.

 Before the girls came downstairs, we did our traditional reading of the Christmas story from the Bible and counted the money in our Jesus Box.  We are giving the money to a friend who is going on a mission trip to Finland this summer.

 I also took our traditional picture of my girls.  Not too many more years that all of them will be home on Christmas morning.

 Then we headed downstairs and the gift giving began!

"I found Baby Jesus!"

 Hansel even got to come in for a short while and join in on the fun!

 I think someone was a little jealous that they didn't get a Sonic Screwdriver.  If you don't know what that is, just ask someone who watches Dr. Who.

 She was excited to get a sweater that looks like Daddy's.

 After opening our gifts, we headed over to Mike's dad's for Christmas with his side of the family.

 Aunt Mandy had to give a hand in opening Puddin's gift.

 so did her oldest!

 Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!