Christmas Festivities

I can’t believe it has been two weeks since I last blogged…this month is flying by!  We have been having lots of Christmas fun so I thought the best way to show you would be to post LOTS of pictures.  Hang on for the ride…

–Christmas Baking – We are going to be doing our family Christmas baking tomorrow (which sounds fun and glorious but is really a day for this type-A momma to lean on the Holy Spirit LOTS as I trust him for a triple doss of patience and joy amidst the messiness of the kitchen and kids), but all the women on our staff team got together to learn the art of making Sharon Mehaffie’s cinnamon rolls and Avis’ glazed sugar cookies (she decorates them in all kinds of cute designs for weddings, showers, birthdays, etc.).  Ya’ll – these two things are to. die. for.  We had a blast and learned a ton.  I am attempting the cinnamon rolls for Christmas so we shall see 🙂

–Christmas Caroling – Our M2M (Mom to Mom) group at church went caroling at an assisted living home. They go every year but this was the first year we could tag along.  It was lots of fun and the older people LOVED it!  Highlight of the experience – After explaining to Kinsley the whole way there what an assisted living place was and that there were lots of older people there (and being asked by Emerson if I was old), Kinsley replied quickly after leaving to head home “Mom, those people were old!”

–Christmas Parties – We have had 3 more Christmas parties.  Our church small group, my dad’s side of the family, and our M2M group Christmas party.  I would love to show you pictures from all of them, but I just simply forgot to take pictures.  Somehow keeping 3 kids alive and fed took priority.  Here are the pictures from our M2M party.  We had the kids make ornaments, we ate lunch together, and we had cupcakes and sang “Happy Birthday” to Jesus.

–Disney on Ice: 100 Years – Last year, we took Kinsley to see Frozen on Ice.  She LOVED it and while Emerson was too young to go, we knew she would be the perfect age this year.  We left Blake with a friend (thanks Denise!), loaded up, and traveled up to Raleigh to see the show.  Last year’s show was just Frozen and was a little dragged out and long.  This years was MUCH better as it went through a ton of different Disney characters and songs – from Finding Nemo to Pinnochio to Frozen to Beauty and the Beast to Mulan to all the princesses.  Of course, the girls LOVED it and even started crying when it was over because they wanted more.

–Visiting and celebrating Christmas with family – Because Ed’s parents are coming to our house for Christmas, we traveled to Georgetown to celebrate with my family.  We ate at my parents’ restaurant, we saw LOTS of family, we went to James Island to see the huge display of Christmas Lights (one of the best shows in my opinion complete with a train ride and carousel and smores-making area), and we got to love on our niece and nephew.  The girls both got to feed Brantley, our 2.5 month old nephew, a bottle and they were in heaven taking care of a real baby (how quickly they forget that we had one of those too only a few months ago!).

Blake’s favorite part of gift opening: eating the wrapping paper!

Emerson’s response upon opening the pirate ship – “That is just what I always really wanted” – Funny thing since it wasn’t even on her list.  I love seeing her excitement when she opens every gift.  Every. single. one.

Love her look of pure excitement opening her gifts.

Ya’ll – this dress has been on her wish list for months and months.  She has literally worn it ALL the time since opening it.  Love her and her “girly-girl” self!

And, lastly, her is a catch-up of Blake’s monthly pictures.  I can’t believe he will be a year old next month.  TIME SLOW DOWN!!

We are praying your Christmas is just as exciting, merry, and fun as ours has been so far!  We also pray that your family takes time to remember the real reason for the season – Christ!

Christmas Parties

Ya’ll, I love me some Christmas.  I love Christmas parties, Christmas trees, Christmas music, celebrating the birth of Jesus, etc.  But I am already just about Christmas partied out and we have, oh, about 7 more to go (a slight exaggeration, but still). Whew!

So far, we have had Christmas parties at Campbell, NC State, and our staff Christmas party.  At the Campbell party, we had a great time eating food, playing Fish Bowl with Christmas words, and hanging out.  At the NC State party, we had a great time singing Christmas songs, getting our picture taken with Santa, and eating good food.  At the staff Christmas party, we had amazing food and a blast exchanging gift cards while playing the White Elephant game.

This is a picture of my girls hanging out with the other staff kids at our NC State Christmas party.  This is by far one of my favorite parts about being on the NC State team – not only do we absolutely adore our team, but our girls also adore having other staff kids to play with.  And they all get along – can I hear Hallelujah?

We had our Staff Team Christmas Party tonight and one word comes to mind when I think of it – besides fun that is.  The word that comes to mind is thankful. After a very hard few years and months, I am so thankful to the Lord for bringing us to this team at a time when we desperately needed it.  I am so thankful for the way this team has loved us, spoke truth to us, and reminded us that ministry isn’t about results, but about loving the Lord first and following and trusting Him to work.  I am so thankful for the laughs and the good times that we have together.  I am so very thankful that God’s ways are not my ways.

On top of fun Christmas parties, Ed and I also got to run in our first race together!  We joined with some other people from our church and small group to run in the Jingle Bell run in Raleigh.  It was a 5k and man, there were a ton of people racing in it!  Thankfully, one of our sweet friends from church volunteered to watch the girls while Ed and I both raced (Ed pushed Blake).  Ed and I both got personal bests in times!  Blake worked so hard that he even fell asleep (yes, during the run!).  And what did we do with everyone after the run? Eat, of course!

Next on the agenda – more Christmas parties, going in the car to look at Christmas lights, visiting my parents to celebrate Christmas and see Christmas lights there, Disney on Ice, and celebrating the birth of Jesus.  Fun time of year!