Holiday Fun

We've had lots of activities going on since we've been out of school for the holidays! First, we had the children's Christmas program at church. The main characters were stars...North Star, Lucky Star, Shooting Star, Superstar, and Matthew played the part of Falling Star, complete with a fake cast on his leg, crutches, and a bandaged head! Such a cute program!

We also paid a visit to a local light display, and took our pastor and his wife and two of their children (Matthew's buddies Zach and Savannah) along. Since they've only been in the area about a year and a half, they'd never been before. We walked around and looked at the displays, roasted marshmallows, drank hot chocolate, and had a pony ride. We all had so much fun!

We also took a day trip out of state to pick up a service truck for Tracy. After being in business for a little over a year, he's decided he really needs a service truck instead of a truck and trailer. We found one that had everything he needs. It's not the prettiest thing in the world, in fact, it's construction yellow, but it has everything he needs--a crane, a welder, an air compressor, etc. So he's considering "Old Yeller" to be his Christmas gift!

Finally, we received a very, very, very generous gift this Christmas. Tracy's mother surprised us by saying she'd have our driveway poured in concrete. We had it partially done, out from the garage and past the walkway, but had never finished it out to the road. They started the prep work and framing over two weeks ago, but due to the weather, weren't able to pour the concrete until last Monday. Then of course we had to wait for it to dry for a few days before driving on it. It was worth the wait, though, and really "finishes" our house. My next project is a new mailbox. I'd love to have a brick mailbox, but we aren't allowed to put any kind of "permanent" structure on the county right-of-way. In fact, some neighbors had a brick mailbox done when they built their new house and the county made them move it. So, I'm going to go with some type of wrought iron.

It's extremely cold here (to us, at least), so we've hibernated today, and have spent the day taking down the Christmas decorations. I love it all, but I'm ready for my house to be cleaned up and back to normal!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all my blog friends! My prayer is that this Christmas we linger a little longer, hug a little tighter, and say plenty of "I love you"s. Let us all be thankful for the most precious gift we have (or could ever) received, the gift of a loving, merciful Savior. I pray that the things we've been through this year bring us closer to each other, and closer to the Lord.

I look forward to reading all about your Christmas celebrations! You all probably know about this, but just in case, it's really fun for the kids to track Santa online throughout the day today. http://www.noradsanta.org/en/index.html

I'll be spending today doing lots of baking, and then staying up late tonight wrapping, unless Tracy can get Matthew and Luke out of the house for a while today! I am always last minute on wrapping. :-(

Our Christmas card. I think this is my favorite of all the cards I've designed. I really look forward to creating our card every year. Obviously, the ones we mailed didn't have that big smudge on it...just edited it for posting on the Internet!

At my house this morning....

I had been practicing for church and had gotten up to do something. Next thing I know, I see Luke putting on the headphones and climbing up on the piano bench and "playing".

Deck the Halls

I really haven't changed much about my Christmas decor this year, but still wanted to share it with you. I love to see how other people decorate for Christmas to get ideas!

I went back to a live tree this year. Tracy first talked me into a live tree two years ago. I'd never had one as a child; in fact, for many years we had one of those silver tinsel trees with the color wheel, because you couldn't put lights on it. Then we did upgrade to a regular green artificial tree. Anyway, I decided to try the live tree and LOVED it! Last year, however, with trying to get Tracy's business started, it just wasn't in the budget! So I put up my artificial tree and wished the whole season that I had a live tree! I changed the ribbon this year, to make it a little less formal, and also did the the berries and stuff on the top instead of just a bow. Ihad a terrible time with lights this year! About three strands from last year didn't work, and i had a couple of extras, but needed some more. Well, don't run to the Dol***r Ge***al to get lights....I bought four sets and only one of them worked when I got home. So at the after-Christmas sales, I'm stocking up on Christmas lights!

Vertical swag on the front door. I put a lighted garland around my door with red bows in the corners. I didn't put my wreaths on the windows this year, and I'm glad. It's been so cold and windy, we'd have been chasing them all over the yard.

I love this fiber optic snowman on top of my refrigerator. After Christmas last year, I managed to happen up on the smallest tree. There were only the two larger sizes when I bought them. I'm all about odd numbers with decorating...unless I'm being symmetrical, which I unconsciously have a tendency to do!

This year, I added some ribbon and ornaments to the live greenery on the mantel. The greenery comes from what they cut off the bottom of my Christmas tree. However, I have learned that even if you don't buy a tree, most lots will let you go through their clippings for free! I had bought some beaded, battery operated pillar candles at Michaels, but then one of them didn't work, so I just said forget it, and I'm going to return them and look for some more next year. I had bought the last two they had, and I really needed more than two anyway. (Remember the odd number thing?)

Once again, I didn't set my dining room table with Christmas china. I'm still a little afraid of Luke accidentally pulling the tablecloth and everything crashing down. I still have the candy cane stuff in my kitchen, as you can see in last year's post.

I really haven't done as much the last couple of years as I have in years past. We got a new TV and entertainment center a couple of years ago, and it's tall, so there went the spot for my Christmas village. My other entertainment center was only about 4 1/2 to 5 feet tall, so I put my North Pole village on top of it. Now I can't figure out a place to put it. I would like to do something on top of my new entertainment center, but just haven't figured out what yet, since it is so tall--about 6 1/2 feet! I do love to decorate for Christmas though, and will probably do more once the boys are a little older. I miss my china. It's Lenox Holiday, a Christmas gift from my mother-in-law a few years ago. I think I've just run out of steam (and time!) the last couple of years!

Last, let me issue a disclaimer. Please know that I am not listing all these brand names and links with the intention of bragging in any way! I just know that if I see something I like on someone else's blog, it would be nice to know where to get something like it, if I want to duplicate it. Is that okay? I'm not always the most creative gal, but I can duplicate an idea if I see it!

Luke's 3rd Birthday Party

We spent last weekend celebrating Luke's 3rd birthday. We had a small party here at home with family and some friends from church, a morning affair because (a) he is much happier in the mornings before he starts fighting a nap and (b) we had to work around the SEC championship game, because we're all big AU fans!

We asked our party guests not to bring gifts, and I do believe it was for the best. So many times, kids get so much stuff that it's totally overwhelming to them. Luke got two gifts from us, and one each from the grandparents. That's it...four gifts....and it was great! He actually was interested in and played with all of them, and is still playing with them! I figured four new toys would get him through the three weeks until Christmas!

Here are some photos...

My mom had this sign on the door for him when we got to her house on Monday the 29th, his actual birthday. (My mom keeps him every day while I work.) So sweet!

The party invite...probably could've made it myself, but due to lack of time, purchased from Etsy. Click here for the seller; she was great to work with...super fast!

He did more slobbering on the candles than blowing!

So he got a little help from Matthew and Zach!

This is our friend, Anabella. She may be Luke's girlfriend one day, but for now, she just drives him crazy in the nursery at church! He says, "She crawls and messes up my stuff!" Sorry, buddy, but now she's WALKING and messing up your stuff! :-)

The kids from the party

The boy and girl are Zach and Savannah. They're our pastor's children, and we just love them! They are 11 year old twins, who actually have different birthdays--Zach was born just before midnight; Savannah, just after midnight. They are big buddies with Matthew, but they love Luke too. Everytime they come over, Luke thinks they've come just to play with him! They are so sweet!

While I'm on the subject of Zach and Savannah, let me just say how blessed we are to have their dad as our pastor! Our church situation had gotten kind of rocky...the former pastor finally resigned in November of 2008. Pretty big split in the church...you know the drill. We existed on various "supply" preachers for six months, and found a wonderful retired minister to serve as our interim. The day after we called Bro. Holloway as our interim pastor, the chairman of our pulpit committee died unexpectedly. Talk about throwing us all for a loop. After a few months, the committee regrouped and again started searching for a pastor. They went and heard some people, but just didn't find anybody that they wanted to even consider. Finally this spring, they happened to hear about Bro. Lee. He had pastored a large church in Tennessee that had burned, they had gone through a large building project, and he resigned to just take a little time off to be with his family and work on finishing his degree. He wound up at the Baptist college in a little town about 8 miles from here. Wasn't even actively seeking a church when we found out about him. To wrap up a long story, he was the one! I am ashamed to admit that after we called Bro. Holloway, I thought that we wouldn't be able to find a full-time pastor as good as he was. Then I realized that it was really stupid of me to think that...I was selling God short, thinking He couldn't send us a good pastor. So we all kept praying that God, in His time, would send us the man He had chosen for our church. It took a full year from the time we called an interim, but boy, was it worth the wait. God is doing some amazing things through Bro. Lee, and I just can't wait to get to church every Sunday and Wednesday! THAT'S how church is supposed to be!

Three years ago today....

Happy birthday, Luke!

We love you soooo much!

Tracy's Deacon Ordination

Finally getting around to posting photos from Tracy's deacon ordination service. It was such a special night. Unfortunately, I didn't get too many photos because I was trying to be fully "present", rather than seeing everything through the lens of my camera.

Also, part of the time I was crying so hard that I couldn't even begin to think about pictures! There is a part of the service where all the ordained men (deacons and preachers) who are present come by and lay hands on the candidate and pray over them. Needless to say, that is a very emotional part of the service, but even more so for us because Tracy's daddy is a deacon as well. The closer Howell (Tracy's daddy) got in the line, the more I cried! Tracy said he was about to lose it too, because he could hear me on the front pew just boo-hooing! It was such a sweet time. It's also customary for the church to present the men being ordained with a Bible. Well, of course Tracy's dad was chosen to present his. Our pastor, Bro. Lee, gave him (Howell) an opportunity to say something, but bless his heart, he was crying too, and he just said, "I can't talk!" So sweet! After that, the congregation was given an opportunity to come by and speak to Tracy and me, and all I could do was cry. As people came by who have been so special to me through the years, I just cried and cried. Afterwards, we had a a reception/fellowship...and boy, was it a spread! It was just a wonderful night.

Our pastor, Bro. Lee, with Tracy and Glenn (the other deacon being ordained)

Not a very good picture, but the best I could get of Tracy's dad presenting him with his Bible.

You can probably tell from this photo how much I had cried--my nose was all red and my eyes were puffy!

Tracy with his parents. He is the third generation to serve as a deacon in our church.

Our associational director of missions, Bro. Dicky, (L) has known Tracy all his life, and he preached the charge to the church, and our pastor, Bro. Lee (R) preached the charge to the candidates.

Look at the spread!

Tracy's mom is a florist, and she always does a beautiful job!