Long Past Due - More Christmas!

Well, I had high hopes that I would post almost daily during this wonderful Christmas season. And yet, here it is Dec 21 and I haven't posted since we put up Georgia's tree on the 6th. Shame on me.

Lots of those days were spent decorating - the outside, the inside, and eventually the tree. I love putting up my tree. The kids get ornaments every year that they will eventually take with them when they have a home of their own. I love looking at them and remembering. The year Kimberly was so into Barbies. The first year Rebekah was in a Christmas Carol. Katherine's first Christmas ornament. The year we saw the lighthouses on the NC coast. Flamingos. Penguins. All of Keith's nativity ornaments. The star I made when I was 5. The Love ornament Keith got me when we were dating. We have a lot of history on our tree. Oh, and the strung popcorn. We string it every year. I love it. The girls tolerate it. But I just can't imagine a tree without popcorn!

Don't you just love the 3 beautiful ornaments at the bottom of the tree!

We also went to Apex and saw a nativity display - over 800 different nativities. It was amazing. And overwhelming. In 3 days, they had over 5000 visitors! We got there while a group performed Handel's Messiah. It was beautiful. It put Keith in the mood to find more nativities. We now have one that is white and says Joy with the nativity in the O. We also got one that looks like little children - reminded him of the years he used to do the Christmas Pageant - as a small boy, he was the "Littlest Shepherd."

We also made our own cards this year - 61 of them. That is a lot of cards. A lot of cutting. A lot of stamping. And a lot of addressing! But we've heard nothing but good reports, so it is definitely worth it. We borrowed a friend's Christmas stamps this year and that gave us a lot of new variety. Katherine is the best because she is patient and willing to work long hours to finish her share. She is very creative. I tend to find one or two varieties that I like and then I make all of them that way. Kimberly loves stamping. Rebekah likes each of her cards to be different and delights that she is able to do so. And calls me a slackard for not doing the same!

Let's not forget the snowflake cutting. We decorate the hall between the bedrooms with hanging snowflakes. My girls think they are outgrowing this - well, Katherine doesn't think so. She likes to make hers very intricate. I have no idea how she makes them. I'm still stuck at level 1. She must be a level 5! This year, we had the joy of having 2 grandchildren help us - Eric and Claudia. It is so fun to have little ones around. It even got my older kids to cut a few - but don't tell them that I told you!

Isn't Eric cute? And concentrating so hard!

Ta da!

Claudia is a beautiful child - and no, I'm not biased or anything!

I'm sure you are ready for me to be done, but I'm not. So, head on to the bathroom. Get yourself another cup of cocoa and a cookie or two, and then sit back and read the rest of the post!

We baked a lot of cookies this year. Double batches of the following: Sugar, choc chip, mint choc chip, oatmeal, ginger snaps. And then a quadruple batch of my grandma's Sour Cream Date Drops. These are to die for. I had woman at church rushing me as I left the building with a few left on the platter. I was lucky to make it out alive! This is the first year that I've made them because I just got the recipe from my mom. I'm sure that they will be a yearly cookie now. And, of course, we always do our sugar cookies. Rebekah thinks they look childish. I think they look like Christmas. I'll show you a picture and let you decide:

And what do we do with all the cookies? Go caroling, of course! We catch a few neighbors and some friends. We have a few folks that expect us now. I wonder how they'll feel about the addition of the date cookie? I guess I'll have to take a poll.

So, what's left, you ask? Well, we are going to play Secret Santa tonight. No pics, of course, because then it isn't secret! We are, if the rain has stopped by then, going on a hayride to look at Christmas lights on Thursday night. We are having Claudia and Eric over on Friday morning, and Gena and Jaxson over on Friday evening. I still have to watch my Christmas movies - Rudolph, Frosty, and Grinch. We are having the missionaries over on Christmas Eve for homemade soup and homemade bread. I figured it was significantly different than what they'd get Christmas day! Matthew is coming home on Friday. There's the Christmas story to read Christmas Eve. And of course Christmas Day with presents, our Christmas breakfast, and a lovely service at church.

Well, folks, that is it. That's what we do in December. It is busy. It is crazy. And I love every minute of it!