Christmas Morning at Our House....

Could there be anything better than an 8-year old, 6-year old, and 3-year old

on Christmas morning???

I don't think so!

Topping the boys' Christmas lists to Santa this year were lots of action figures (Marvel and DC Comics, i.e., Superman, Batman, WonderWoman, etc.). Boy, did Santa deliver! He left most of the superhero stuff unwrapped so that John and Christopher could see them first thing on Christmas morning.

The boys were pretty stoked to receive a real Batcave! Unfortunately, Santa didn't take the time to assemble it before he left: Daddy is still trying to put all the little pieces of that thing together!

Christopher REALLY wanted a Hall of Justice. Unfortunately, Daddy and I had never been able to find one in any stores. But Santa delivered! How did he find that thing? Perhaps his elves shopped Ebay????

As a little tidbit of SuperFriends history, did you know that the Hall of Justice was an exact replica of the Cincinnati Union Station, which later became the Cincinnati Museum Center? Pretty cool for those of us who live here.

Anna Jean asked Santa for a baby that sucks a real bottle. She was so excited when she found one under the tree. Her baby also had changes of clothes, baby doll diapers, extra bottles, and a feeding set.

Our Christmas Day is a little different than other folks'. Since we visited our families the week before Christmas, Christmas Day is a total stay-at-home and relax day for us. We stay in pajamas all day and play!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve Traditions in Our House....

We leave WV every Christmas Eve morning, giving hugs and kisses to those we left behind there. We get back to Cincinnati in the late afternoon, grab a bite to eat, and head to the church at around 5.

We LOVE our Christmas Eve service at Clough Pike: many of the churches in our area no longer have Christmas Eve services, so we're always blessed with "new friends," people who join us from other churches. We sing Christmas hymns, read Scripture, light candles, and Tim does a devotional.

We come home and hit the PJ's, vowing to not take them off for the next 36 hours!!!

This is our traditional pose right before bedtime, infront of the stockings. We read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and then hit the sack, listening for reindeer hooves on the roof.

The kids were a bit too excited to sleep right away (hence the 3 hour nap driving home from WV earlier that day), so we let them all pile-up in John's bed and read for a while. At around 11:00, all eyes were finally shut for the night.

What Our Family Would Give Jesus This Christmas...

What would our family give Jesus for His birthday this year???

Tim: My worship.

Kara: A faithful heart to do what He wants me to do.

Christopher: Myself.

John: Five-thousand-million dollars.

Anna Jean: I not givin' Jesus nuffin' dis Cismas!
(And that is exactly why Miss Anna needs Jesus to come live in her heart!)

MERRY CHRISTMAS

FROM THE BARNETTES!!!

Baby, It's COLD Outside!

We woke-up to 6 1/2 glorious inches of snow Monday morning!!! I must say that this is the most snow I ever remember getting before Christmas, and while it is unusual (ain't global warming grand????), it's definetly very Christmas-y. Since Ohio now has a new policy that schools are only allowed a total of 3 snow days a year (and Ohio gets plenty of snow, believe me!), schools were not closed today. Can you believe that? Our family declared our own snow day, and we headed-out into the elements in the late morning. Here are our adventures...

Tim had a memorial service to do Monday afternoon, but since he doesn't have a sermon to write for this weekend, he was able to take the morning off and "frolic and play the eskimo way."

Today's high in Cincinnati? 16. Brrr!

Deacon Dinner

Friday night was one of my favorite nights of the year, the annual Clough Pike Baptist Church Deacon Dinner at Royal Oaks Country Club. It's one of the two nights out of the year (the other being our anniversary) when Tim and I get all dressed-up and head-out. We had a really good time this year, as usual, even though not all the deacons were able to come. Our church is exceptionally blessed with wonderful deacons and their spouses. We feel priveledged that they let us come to their dinner every year...

There's a story behind the full-length velvet skirt I wore. It was a little dressier than the "dressy casual" attire that was recommended, but it was special to me. My mom had this skirt made for herself when I was 3 years old (the same age as Anna is now), and had a dress made for me out of the same material. Mom and I wore our velvet to a special Christmas service that year, and we had our pictures taken together.

Mom gave me the skirt a few years ago, but it was too tight. If Mom could do it, though,I thought I could, too. So after several weeks of dieting and burning-up the treadmill, I got the skirt to zip all the way up for the first time Friday right before dinner: hooray! Granted, I couldn't take many deep breaths all evening (ha-ha). All I have to say, Mom, is that you were one skinny chick if that skirt fit you comfortably after three kids...

Daryl and Valeria Bisig

Stephanie and J.R. Bishop

Peggy and Wayne Garee

Patti and Greg Maschmeier

Kay and Daryl Gilliland

Sherry and Bob Dick

Al and Janice Adams

And our baby-sitters for the evening were Mike and Kathy Geers, who serve as "surrogate grandparents" for us here in Ohio.

The kids were so very excited for Mike and Kathy to come!

Gingerbread House

One of our absolutely favorite Christmas traditions is the decorating of our annual gingerbread house! For more years than we can count at this point, the ever-generous and thoughtful Kearneys in WV have sent us a home-made gingerbread kit, complete with freshly-baked gingerbread pieces, icing mix, and all the candies we need to decorate our house (and a few extras to snack on while we're decorating!). As you will see from our kids faces, they are SO excited to receive the gingerbread house each year.... I sometimes think they spend more time looking out the front window for the mailman carrying their gingerbread box than they spend looking up the chimney for Santa!

This year, our assigned responsibilities were:
Tim: General Contractor. In charge of construction. including both the building facility itself, as well as exterior sidewalks.
Kara: Family Photographer. In charge of photographing construction, and also making icicles that hang off the roof.
Christopher and John: Each was given his own side of the roof to decorate as he pleased.
Anna: Anna's self-proclaimed job was to lick the candy before we put it on the house. Ick.

So I present to you now...

HOW TO BUILD A GINGERBREAD HOUSE

by the Family Barnette

Step 1. Receive box. Open it.

2. Take out all the pieces and assort.

3. Construct the house using royal icing that Mommy made. PERFECT consistency this year: just the right ratio of icing mix to water.

4. Begin decorating!!!

Below is shown Christopher's side of the gingerbread house. Being an exceptionally "organized" child, Christopher chose to go with the "less is more" philosophy of embelishment. He said, "Rows and columns, Mom. Rows and columns."

John's side is shown at the top of the page.

THANK YOU KEARNEYS!!!!!!!