By the Chimney With Care

Christmas time at Nene's and Poppa's:

We had such a fun Christmas: great memories, abundant laughter, precious moments.

Dressed in Holiday Style

We got all the lights up and most of Christmas decorations out sometime the last week of November. Dana, as always, worked so hard to accomplish all the lights before Thanksgiving break was over. We had quite a time getting the lights up on the highest peak....(please note, I say "we" loosely....and too often, I might add. I watched in fear and trembling while HE put up the lights). And no matter how much he stretched himself and the ladder, it still would not reach that peak. My brilliant husband figured out a way to "prop" the lights so that it appeared they were attached to the roof line.

You can't really see that bamboo stick, can you? :o)

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Especially at night::

I worked on things inside, which took me much longer.

I wish I could throw it all out there at a faster (and less grumpy) rate.

And,

then....

I attempted pictures. My camera took very, very blurry ones, but I think it adds to the dreaminess and magical part of the memories of Christmas, don't you? At least, that is what I am telling myself so I won't kick myself for not taking better photos.

Or for forgetting to take some with the stockings hung (kick, kick, kick)

Not Yet!

I saw this card and thought it was so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so funny.

Isn't it funny? Don't you just get a quick chuckle from it? I'm not

sure if I said this or not, but::

I think this is sooooooooooooo FUNny!!!!

I know that they set this up (at least I hope they did) and they were very clever with this photo, but how typical is this of many Americans today? Only Dana and I have a cell phone, and rarely do our kids get to use it (sadly, I do not think they even know how to answer a phone since our phones are always in our pockets). So, we are not here as a family....not yet anyway! But what a funny, clever way to say Merry Christmas! Kudos to the sense of humor of this family!

Praise in Alaska

I just viewed this by suggestion of a friend and loved the video and the effort that went into it. These kids did a marvelous job! My favorite is near the end when the chorus sings, "Forever and ever, forever and ever"

Warm Welcome

Well....I tried for a warm welcome, anyway. I love all the colors of the mums and the different colors and textures of the pumpkins. Also, see the chair? I got it for $5 at a resale store. Dana sanded the chair, gave it a coat of primer, then he and I took turns giving the chair its coats of red paint. The only photo I have of the chair before the painting is this one:

It is really not a very good photo, but..... You can see how the chair sort of fades away in all of its light brown glory. As you can probably also figure, this is the day I bought the mums and many of them had not fully bloomed. I really enjoy getting blooms in all different times so color lasts all through the fall and into the Christmas month.

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And, these pumpkins!!!! They are so perfect!

Greenish-Gray (or is it grayish-green?)

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I love the bumpy melt-ish look on the bigger pumpkin, the paleness of the littlest one, and the star like points near the base of the green one.

Also....did you check out the twisty-curvaceousness of the stems? Fabulous! It amazes me how God puts beauty and enchantment in even the shape of a pumpkin stem!

He puts such care into the details of so many things....how much more care He must have for (and put into) each one of us!!?!!

Catching Gold

Autumn.

I love these days when the light seems so tangible and the plants borrow their gold and brightness and colors from the sun.

Celebrating MG

Next in the birthday line is the sweet and unforgettable MG.

She turned

!!!!~~eleven~~!!!!!

this year. AND, as she grows more lovely every day, her sweetness and patience grows, too. I can see God has some wonderful plans for her. She is so gracious (REALLY!!~~she does have to put up with 3

siblings and, quite often, some very difficult-to-please, demanding parents),,helpful and very, very creative. She wants

to please, and she also wants the freedom to stand her ground. This last part will be our hardest challenge as parents, for though we want her to stand her ground, too, our stubbornness has already clouded our eyes to those golden moments where her standing was truly good, noble,

right and pure...it was just not timed quite right! :o) But, back to the main point....

Celebrating MG!!!!

We made cake pops for her to share with her classmates at school:

And on her birthday night

we had our own "quiet" family celebration

with cake

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and presents.

Then a few days later we hosted a Crafting Birthday Party.

Since I knew it would just be me with a group of girls, I had to limit the amount of friends to come over. There were so many little girls that we could have included in

the party, but with the ones that did actually come, plus all of my own children, and THEN the

added fun of paints and glue and frosting and sprinkles and scissors and pens, etc, etc, etc... the small number was more than enough!!!

Momma-made cupcakes

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Cupcake decorating 5th grade style

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First craft

With this craft

the girls "drew" pictures with Elmer's glue

After it dried completely,

they painted over the

canvas and the dried glue with a solid color.

The idea was for it to turn out like the photo on the left. Since the

glue was not completely dry, the girls took home their own brush and bottle of paint. I figured this would happen, though.

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Second craft

I showed each girl what we were doing, step by step, and it was such fun to see them take the steps and make the designs their very own.

Same idea?

Yes.

Unique to each girl?

Definitely!!!

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Third Craft

Each girl picked out her own branch and her own vase,

and while they were writing on their "leaves" something they like about the other girls at the party, each vase was filled with stones and sand so hold the branch would stay in place.

Once the girls were finished writing the notes were tied to the girls' respective trees. Because we were running out of time, each girl received a baggie full of pre-cut

flowers/leaves they and their families could use to add more to their

Thankful Trees.