It's starting to look "a little" bit like Christmas......

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

Thursday night, Friday, Saturday and Sunday......December 8th - 11th.

Thursday.....Time to decorate the Christmas Tree.

Thursday evening we started decorating the Christmas Tree........This year we opted for our smaller tree due to the fact we are exhausted from unpacking.....we had to stop working on "putting" the house together to pull some of the Christmas stuff out.  We dug out a few boxes buried in the garage and made the house look festive, but didn't touch 75% of what we actually have.  Maybe next year.....

Avery putting her ornament up on Friday night.

Our very festive mantel.  I have another set stockings with our names on them....in a box somewhere.  We found these on clearance last year at Target as backups and I was so thankful to find them unexpectedly. 

Fun, Family, Festive, Friday

On Friday, I surprised the family with a movie, dinner, arts and crafts and we added more of our decorations to the Christmas Tree.  It was a complete surprise, with building of a Gingerbread House, making a new ornament wreath (picture will come later after I find ribbon to make the bow), pom pom and wooden snowmen, Santa, and Christmas Trees.  We watched one of Bill's favorites, "A Christmas Story", ordered a  pizza and Chicken Fettuccine from Capparelli's, which they have the best Italian food we've ever had, and enjoyed a "family night" at home.  Bill and I were pizza'd out, so we ordered chicken fettuccine with mushrooms.  It was so nice to keep the kitchen clean, since the weather was yucky and we had  full evening of fun planned.   I picked up several crafts projects from the 99 cent store and Target.  At the 99cent store, I picked out Christmas headbands for everyone to wear.  It was part of the evening fun, wear a headband and you better be in the Christmas spirit!   Bill won the prize of wearing it the longest,  there really wasn't a prize, but we gave him credit for it!   I love that he's such a good sport about things like that.   Now, the evening wasn't all sugarplums dancing....here I had this great idea of everyone getting along and not arguing......family fun.....well,  Alex refused to wear his antlers, stared at the TV and got fussed at by big sister because he was supposed to be helping her, Allison got mad at the gingerbread house and Avery ran around taking the tree apart......but  it was a lot of fun!  Even through all the craziness, Bill, Allison and Alex got a gingerbread house built, a few crafts were completed, the tree was nicely decorated, but most importantly we did everything as a family.
Side note:  We do not have a fancy, non-kid tree, it is totally a kid tree because we have kids, and they will all be grown and gone one day, and I will cry the first year they don't come home for Christmas.  I cherish my moments with all of them.

 We haven't put together the gingerbread tree yet.....to be continued.....

Avery wanted to help decorate the gingerbread house. She's such a doll.

Yes, I found her laying inside the Christmas Tree while they were working on the gingerbread house.  She hasn't been back in the tree since I took this picture either.

Finished!

The ceiling fan kept tapping his antlers......of course he thought it was hilarious.  They both looked so adorable.

Saturday.....Christmas Bunco

We had another busy day.  Alex had to be at church for dress rehearsal by 10 and we had the sitter coming at 5 to babysit, so we could go our Bunco Christmas Party.  The weather was still nasty outside, we finished up a few inside decorating projects and  got ready for the party.  Nothing real exciting until.....we got to our party.....we had an absolute blast at the Christmas Party.  Only half of the couples showed up, but with it being "couples bunco", we always have enough to play.  We had a White Elephant Chinese exchange after eating and playing Bunco. We got one really good gift and one I silly gift, wine glass charms and a toy.  We will be hosting Bunco in June, so the charms are going to come in handy, since I didn't have any.  We enjoyed watching everyone else open their gifts and there were some funny gifts too.  One couple decided to give a box of chocolates, but inside the box of chocolates was a picture of them eating the chocolates.  Another couple gave a wine glass that held an entire bottle of wine, those are just a few of the crazy funny things people come up with. We are looking forward to next months Bunco now.....I will not forget my camera either, like I did for this one. 

Here's our gifts we won.

Sunday .....Let the children sing.

The Children's ministry at church put on a Christmas program during the 9:45 service and it was packed.  Alex had a part of the "Bible Reader", which he had to say John 3:16 (reason for the Bible verse on this post), after we got there, one of the boys who was supposed to play one of the three kings had gotten sick, so Alex filled in for him too.  Pretty easy parts for him.  He smiled and laughed when he had to get in front of the congregation.  It was really sweet. 

Alex is the tallest King in the back. 

Alex saying John 3:16.

Alex is the tall King standing behind the manger.

Allison's choir group joined the younger children on stage to sing Silent Night.  (I shot this with the 55-250 mm lens)

After we finished at church, we took the kids to Clear Springs and had a nice lunch.  We stopped by Target to see if they a few things we needed, then headed home to try and add a little Christmas spirit to the front yard.  Next year will be better once we can actually locate the outdoor Christmas stuff.

Avery LOVES to color!  We had our after church lunch at Clear Springs.

Getting ready to put out a few decorations.

Allison and Avery adding a few more ornaments to the tree on Sunday night.  I love how Allison is so patient with her.  She loves Avery and takes really good care of her. I never have to worry with Allison around.

The rest of the week has been basically the same with the weather dreary everyday and rainy.  We are not complaining, since we went for almost a year without rain.  A week of yucky weather is tolerable.  Allison has a Choir Christmas Concert this week, so that will be my next post.  We are enjoying everyday this holiday season in our new home.........................

My favorite pictures we shot that weren't added already.

My absolute favorite picture!

She's a runner.

Look at that face!

Apparently plastic ornaments are the best for making a wreath, until the top part starts popping off and you have to get the hot glue gun out and redo the wreath.  Hence another reason there isn't a picture yet.

I don't post a lot of pictures of myself but Bill took a bunch of pictures of me on Friday night while Allison and I were trying to make an ornament wreath with our new living room colors.  I had been running around all day, my hair was all yucky from the weather and he shot this......I wanted to post it because it shows I'm finally not stressed and enjoying working on a project with Allison.  The fire is a nice effect also.......

Snoopy loves to snuggle.  We keep her shirt on her during the winter because she is always cold.