During the first week of December, we made the most of my sister Sarah sticking in town for awhile after Katelyn's baptism and went to a nearby Nativity/Creche Exhibit! It was stunning and so beautiful to see SO many different cultural versions of the nativity, depicting the birth of Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. :)
For an FHE activity in early December, we decorated our family gingerbread house and had some yummy gingerbread cookies! So festive and pretty! Nice work, team!
Fun play with Aunt Sarah and everyday life with this Mister Dumpster of Smoothies! How can we not still love all of that surprised cuteness despite the nasty clean-up job ahead. =P
On Dec. 1, 2016, we even got to take Aunt Sarah out on the lake with us because it was so sunny, even though the water was a bit chilly! She was still up for some wakeboarding fun and the kids were happy to tube with her too!!
Pretty Christmas ligts set to music nearby! It was AMAZING and focuses on Christ! SUCH a GREAT FAMILY DRIVE around CHRISTMAS time. :)
We also were so thankful to go pick out our VERY FIRST REAL CHRISTMAS TREE as a family with Aunt Sarah...FIRST PINE SMELLING AMAZINGNESS EVER the first weekend in December!! Since Daddy was at MBA class, we sadly had to decorate most of it without him, but he was there in our hearts and how beautiful it turned out to be!!
Here are some more December adventures including teaching Preschool about Christmases Around The World, Making Christmas Treats Galore and delivering them with carols to neighbors, singing at an Elderly Care Home with a homeschool group and as a family....and everyday moments with our crew!
Caroling at an Elderly Care home :) One of our favorite traditional activities each year!
Seeing the local LIVE nativity put on by our church!
Ward Christmas Party picture with Santa :)
Monopoly games- the kids have sure been loving monopoly lately!
We went to see the Deerfield Neighborhood Lights, so pretty! They have competitions each year for most traditional, funny, children's favorite and best overall. We loved the ones with lights set to music, the towering lights and nativity ones too!
Love seeing signs like these all around our neighborhoods here in Texas. Love the God-fearing, upright, faithful families around us, no matter their religion :
Oh the random silliness of this little character! Love that Joshy boy!
On Christmas Eve, we kept up the ages-old family tradition of acting out the nativity! It's always fun to have cousins close by so we could fill all the needed parts and spend this wonderful Christmas Eve together!
Daddy the donkey!! Joshy (1 year old) the shepherd!
Katelyn (8 yrs old) as Mary! She sure loves this part!
Gracie (3 years old) as a darling little sheep!
Nathan (5 years old) the wise man!
On their way to Bethlehem....
Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus (I think that was Jared and Sereen's baby Aurora) :)
A Christmas Eve Family Picture!
....AND then it was Christmas Morning!!! Couldn't start the morning without the Ralph side traditional stair picture!!
Stockings!
Love this family of ours! Having these sweet people in our lives is one of the GREATEST GIFTS OF ALL!
Merry Christmas morning, handsome boy!
Special breakfast of cinnamon and orange rolls, pumpkin waffles with real maple syrup, strawberries, orange juice, bacon, eggs, and egg nog! Mmmmm!
Joshy with a fun light up spinner and car toys!
Gracie got a cash register and pretend food to play family!
Daddy and a nice new shirt!
Joshy loved this light-saver, oh boy!
Smiles!
Sibling gifts. Nathan got Gracie this cute kitty and her carrying sage. :)
Katelyn in her new pioneer outfit/dress-up! Thanks to amazon for rescuing this poor momma who didn't get around to making her one homemade. :)
Nathan and his new book, Katelyn and the fort set Daddy built her, as a sibling gift from Joshy!
Nathan with a superhero shirt!?
Gracie and a beautiful princess dress!
Grandma Susan saved the day, since Gracie had lost her favorite snuggly Soft-Dog, and grandma surprised her with another one. Thankfully, Gracie found her original soft-dog a week or so later in the pretend kitchen cabinet, but now Soft-Dog had a best friend or sister to go along with her!! All the more for snuggling and loving!
Ladder toss ball game for Daddy!
Love my sweet other half! Merry Christmas Sweetheart!
The biggest surprises this year were nerf shooter guns for some intense family nerf battles...AND...
a ride-on electric GATOR tractor/car!!! Good thing we found this used (only $30) and with a new battery, THIS thing was one of the best finds EVER!! They were all so thrilled!
A little motorcycle from last year that came extra, we decided to set it up for another riding option for Gracie or Joshy. So fun!
We sure had a memorable Christmas and are so thankful for the blessings of family, Jonathan's work, which enables him to provide so diligently for us all, for the gospel in our lives, and MOST IMPRTANTLY for our SAVIOR whose birth and life we celebrate during this SPECIAL TIME OF YEAR. We truly owe all that we have and are to Him and our loving Father in Heaven. Merry Christmas to all BECAUSE HE LIVES, we too CAN LIVE AGAIN! :)
We were thankful to try out our ladder ball game the next day and enjoy some discounted fro-yo as a family too! The big gift for the WHOLE family was a basketball shooter from grandpa and grandma Ralph...and man or man was everyone excited for some fun bball challenges against Daddy!
Sure love these people who fill my days with energy, excitement, a little smidge of craziness, laughter and LOVE!
Merry Christmas!
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