A Few More Christmas Memories....

My Last Few Fond Memories of Christmas 2011....

* Candlelight Service at CPBC on Christmas Eve. Always my favorite night of the year.

* The following thank you letter I received (I am the "Ma'am" in the picture) from one of the children whom our food pantry Christmas baskets fed. That brown box in the picture is our box of food. This picture made it worth all the hours of work.

* Nothing beats Christmas on Sunday! We had a great service Sunday morning - packed with guests, some of whose churches around us were closed - and came home to tear into packages.

* Christmas with a 9, 7, and 4 year old. What a treat!

Below, John is my child who is happy with aboslutely everything...

Christopher got his fill of action figures. This was a Star Wars year for sure. Anna's first ride on her brand new bike!

* Visiting family and friends in West Virginia.

Tim's parents...

My family...

Our friends Tim and Diana, AJ and Alison...

Christmas Eve at Our House

Christmas Eve is always a magical time in our household.... We all head to the candlelight service at church, and then come home and spend a wonderful evening as a family. Below, Daddy reads the traditional Twas the Night Before Christmas while the kids drink hot chocolate.

Mama always makes the kids pose infront of stockings. They don't grumble about having to pose for pictures. Much.

This year, Anna Jean and I whipped-out our matching Christmas aprons and whipped-up some brownies for Santa. We wanted to break the cookie trend. Too cliche. :)

The kids made a plate of brownies and a cup of hot chocolate for Santa. Christopher wrote this letter to Santa. Christopher wanted to make sure Santa was saved, so he left Santa a gospel tract. Wow.

On Christmas Eve, we have a tradition of the kids all piling-up in John's full-sized bed and sleeping together. Anna was so excited about this that she started asking about it months in advance!

And FINALLY, after hours, they crashed. "While visions of sugarplums danced in their heads..."

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

It's an amazing thought that today is (theoretically) Jesus' birthday. But as if the gift of sending His only Son to save us all wasn't gift enough, He lets us get all the gifts, and all the fun and festivities. How awesome is that???

My favorite lyrics from my all-time favorite Christmas song, "How Many Kings" by Downhere:

How many kings, stepped down from their thrones?

How many lords have abandoned their homes?

How many greats have become the least for me?

How many Gods have poured out their hearts

To romance a world that has torn all apart?

How many fathers gave up their sons for me?

Only one did that for me

MERRY CHRISTMAS JESUS!!!!

Gingerbread House Time!

To our wonderful friends, the Kearneys, who graciously gift us with an annual gingerbread house kit, let me ask for your apology. But Tim and I simply couldn't help ourselves... The kids were so incredibly excited to tear into the package that we turned over the decorating to them in entirety this year. Tim and I simply stood back and watched with laughter, taking videos and pictures along the way. The kids had A BLAST!!! Granted, we didn't make the most beautiful, award-winning gingerbread house. But we sure made some great memories!

Mr. Big Man, Christopher, age 9, begged us to let him do the icing himself. So we did. He was so very proud!

Anna was crazy into the royal icing. I mean crazy.

THANK YOU KEARNEYS!!!!

WE LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

More Christmas Stuff at Clough

Whew! Just finished a busy Christmas season at Clough Pike Baptist. Well, actually, I guess it isn't finished, is it? Still have Christmas Eve service and Christmas Day, too! Well, here are a few of things we've been up to...

Annual Christmas Senior Luncheon. Below, Sarah and Lou Schott entertained the guests with a duet. The "awhhh" factor was off the charts. Entirely too cute.

Below, Tim Cherry and I try to figure-out how to work his keyboard.

Leo Waggal, seated above to the bottom right, always makes wood ornaments for every person who attends the luncheon. Leo is actually blind in one eye, but his craftsmanship is amazing! Below you can see the "door prize" that was given away, a working wood coo-koo clock.

Next on the calendar, two nights of Live Nativity. Perfect weather this year. These pictures were taken on the night when Live Nativity was staffed with a lot of teens from the youth group.

Below, Ken Harrell, the "fire man" for Live Nativity. Ken has some crazy concoction that he pours on the bonfire that keeps it blazing through both snow and rain.

Children's Choir. We performed it yesterday, the 17th. I led the kids as they sang "Children, Go Where I Send Thee" and "The First Noel." The kids did a great job.

Pre-school choir. Heaven help us! The children sang "Away in the Manger" with motions, and then "Happy Birthday" to Jesus. Somewhere toward the end of "Happy Birthday," I completely lost them: they all started singing different tempos at the same time, screaming as loud as they could. It was joyful. It was a noise. I guess it was a joyful noise???