Merry Christmas!

stuck inside?

We are.  It’s been cold.  Not just cold, but so cold that you aren’t really supposed to spend long periods of time outside.   The kind of cold that if you walk the 10 feet from your door to the car without gloves, by the time you go to insert your keys into the ignition, you can’t feel your fingers.

So what do you do when you are stuck inside?  Hmm…I used to have grand illusions of what I would do (when I lived in Sunny Arizona) if I was stuck inside.  Read a book, watch a movie, cuddle up by the fire…in other words do nothing.  The problem with that dream? I didn’t include any small children in my visions.

I’ve made revisions to my vision. :p

Now we make melty ornaments, string cool necklaces with beads (Hugs’ always has a neat pattern – latest is red and green with white ones that have “merry christmas” on the white beads) and bake cookies.  And if mommy is feeling really adventurous, we decorate them. Best tricks of decorating with young littles?  Use cake pans to catch all the mess.  Put colored icing in zip lock baggies and cut off a small corner so they each get their own decorating bag.  Set out small bowls of candy to decorate with – but not too much – otherwise, every cookie may have every kind of candy on it.   He’s not mad, I promise. He was making a growl-y sound pretending he was going to eat all of the cookies in front of him!

“Power of Love”

Is it Huey Lewis? Nah….it’s better!

A  couple of weekends ago, one of Chris’ life-long dreams came true.  He had the opportunity to perform Huey Lewis and the News’ Power of Love.  For those of you who aren’t BTTF fanatics, this is the theme song for every Back to the Future geek.

Yup, he’s a BTTF geek, friends.  A talented one at that.  I know that he has been dreaming of this moment – for a long time.  It came to fruition at our last Married Life Live event at church (think Saturday Night Live for married couples).  My talented husband rocked with the house band on songs from Huey to U2 and Brooke Fraser.  That’s quite a spectrum; that’s musical talent.

Huey Lewis and the News?  Eat your hearts out….this man can sing AND he’s hot.

Anna’s quotes of the day (so far…)

Mommy:  Anna, it’s not nice to tease Hudson.  Stop.

Anna: But it’s fun to tease!

======================

Anna after she was spanked for disobeying ….

Anna (deep, theatrical sobs with sighs): I need to pray for him!  I need to pray for him to make me feel better!

Mommy:  (with a bit of exasperation)  Who, Anna?

Anna: I need you to pray for Jesus to help me feel better!  He will be my friend and help me be a better listener to obey Mommy!

ring-a-ling-a-ling

here’s your first hint what we did on our family friday night:

Did you guess?  Here’s your next clue:

And if you live in America, and you have been out shopping, you are certainly aware of what we had fun doing with my Mom to Mom group on Friday night.  All families were invited to spread some holiday CHRISTMAS (because we say Merry Christmas!) cheer to all of the shoppers coming in and out of the mall to raise support for the Salvation Army.  We had a blast!

All of the kids (and big ones, too) sang their hearts out, belting carols and singing of Christ’s birth letting not the cold weather bother us a bit.  (The occasional snowman and reindeer song may have crept into the mix as well!)  The singing was actually quite delightful and I tried to capture it on the camera, but this video is hilarious – not for the singing, but for the zeal of bell ringing, you can barely tell there are voices being raised in harmonious chorus!

ring ‘em loud–ring ‘em clear! Jesus’ birthday is here!

Ms. Dana made sure we had hot chocolate to warm up our insides and the kids kept themselves entertained with intermittent games of tag/chase/bell ringing.  The hour flew by…and nary a shopper passed by without the well wishing of a “Merry Christmas!”

winter’s first dusting

the horse farm across the road was just too good to pass up today…

sneak peek preview….

Special thanks to Colin – awesome shots from this weekend of our family – would you believe we’ve never had a real family shot since Anna was born?  Time to update!  These are just a few of our faves – but the best are being saved for gifts and Christmas letters!

Happy Advent!

Luke 2:8-12

There were sheepherders camping in the neighborhood. They had set night watches over their sheep. Suddenly, God's angel stood among them and God's glory blazed around them. They were terrified. The angel said,

"Don't be afraid. I'm here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A Savior has just been born in David's town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master."