Christmas Fun

We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas season.  We were not too busy like we seemed to be last year.  Nate had strep throat for the first time and that did eliminate a couple of activities, but I didn't mind. :)

Here are a few highlights.

I was looking for some fun, Christ centered Christmas songs and came across Toby Mac's Christmas album and LOVED it.  I listened to it over and over again.  You should listen to it now, seriously.  Just YouTube it and listen for free. 



We had a fun Christmas party with or small group from church.  Don't you love the photo props?





We also had a fun day with our cousins making Christmas crafts, ornaments, and cookies.  They are sweet girls and we are always thankful when we get to spend time with them.





My niece, Ashlyn, came over and helped make a cake for Christmas Eve. This has become a new tradition for us.  This year we went with Red Velvet Cake with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting.  We always have some sort of cake making drama.  This year, all of our layers (4) were very difficult to remove from the pans. We had one that was totally ruined.  What do you do with a broken cake layer? Make cake pops!  We knew the basics of how they were made so we just went with it. I had some leftover sticks from Nate's birthday cupcake toppers and we dipped them in white chocolate.  They weren't perfectly round and they weren't perfectly smooth, but they were perfectly tasty.  Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of them. :(

We made some chocolate Christmas trees and snowflakes to adorn our cake.  Look out professional cake bakers. ;)




We always spend Christmas Eve with my family.  This year it was a little less festive because my brother-in-law, Chris, was sick and couldn't join us.

My parents got Nate a camo hat and...

a Nook.  He was very excited about this. :)

My sister's birthday is on December 23rd. Happy Birthday Jill!

My mom got my dad an Elvis CD.  The highlight of the evening was Ashlyn and Nate dancing to Elvis songs.  :) 

Nate told me about 10 PM on Christmas eve that he wanted to make Christmas hats for a few of his stuffed animals.  He said we would make them Christmas day.  I always have a stash of fabric scraps and just happened to have some red.  I decided to make the hats that night to surprise him Christmas morning.  At midnight I was putting Christmas hats on stuffed animals.  The things moms do for their children! :)

I put them on his night stand by his bed so he would see them first thing.  The next morning Darren and I were waiting for him to wake up when we heard giggles coming from his room.  That was his first Christmas surprise.

Nate is all about Angry Birds right now.  This was his favorite present.  Now he is also all about Star Wars, which Darren and I know very little about.  We haven't even seen any of the movies.

We always spend Christmas evening with Darren's family.  This year it was cut short due to possible severe weather, but we had a great time.  Nate got more Angry Birds stuff and a really cool telescope from his Aunt Lynn and Uncle Gavan.   

The next morning, we woke up to snow.  The flurries only lasted a few minutes, but it's always exciting to see snow in our neck of the woods.

Finally, have you ever seen so many pine needles?  I am still finding random pine needles.