I'm writing this entry tonight after having a wonderfully relaxing evening with my sister last night and a wonderfully relaxing day with my family today.  I have been so terribly stressed trying to make everything perfect for Christmas, that I had totally lost joy in the season.  SO, after the Lord so gently pointed out in so many ways that I was so terribly off track....I have turned it all over to Him, and feel a wonderful sense of peace.  This blog entry is going to be just sharing some of the things we've been doing around here for Christmas!  Enjoy! And MERRY CHRISTmas!!!

Last night the kids had their Wed. night classes at church.  The kids and I prepared some Baby Jesus cupcakes for their classes and leaders.  I got the idea from a fellow homeschool mom and want to thank her for sharing it! I think they turned out really cute, and the kids loved making them! (we made a lot of mini cupcakes since we had quite a few we wanted to make)

I also decided to share some pics of my favorite Christmas decorations.  Some are traditional ones we've had for years, some are new this year.  I love to see people's homes at Christmas time, so I thought I'd share my own and maybe inspire others to share too!

This year is the first year we decided to go with a color scheme for the tree.  I'm really pleased with how it turned out.  We decided to go with blues, greens, silver and white with a few other accents of color here and there.  Ethan even made a blue and green cross in Sunday School and I thought that was so sweet that he thought to make it the colors I love!!
 You can see Ethan's cross ornament here.

This is my wooden Santa that I love! I've had him for a few years.

These next two pics are new displays this year...the DR light that I adorned and the sofa table display (the ornaments/snowflakes hanging from the light move ever so slightly even when there's no 'breeze' by them and they're kind of fun to watch)

 and last but not least, the fireplace that I painted this summer.  I wasn't sure about the lights across it, but the kids love them. 

 You can also see the Graham Cracker Gingerbread houses we built this year! It was LOTS of fun! We got Gingerbread flavored graham crackers, and made lots of frosting and made an afternoon of it!

Here's Grant at Heather's (my sister's) last night, where she treated me to a wonderfully relaxing evening of Christmas music, hot cocoa, Christmas goodies and warm conversation! Grant had a BLAST playing with the dogs too!!  The other kids were at church so Grant, who isn't allergic to dogs, got to play with them to his heart's content!! 

And last, but not least, a dear sweet friend of mine has kind of 'adopted' my children as her grandchildren! She has been so sweet and loving to them, always remembering them and taking an interest in them.  She started a tradition a few years ago to send them money at Christmas so they could buy gifts for each other, then have a pizza party and hot cocoa, as she always enjoyed doing it with her brother and she does it in memory of him.  Well, the kids have taken their time shopping for hours, carefully choosing their gifts, wrapping them so carefully, placing them under the tree and anticipating what the recipient will say when they open their gifts.  We usually let them exchange a few days before Christmas so that they have a few things to play with while the anticipation of Christmas really swells.  (we also have to do it around Daddy's work schedule so he can see them exchange)  Today we EXCHANGE day!!  Here's a few photos of the exchange.  We're having pizza and hot cocoa tomorrow night when Daddy's weekend starts. 

Wishing you ALL the most BLESSED Christmas ever, and the HAPPIEST of New Year!!!!