It occurred to me that this might be the last Christmas picture of the kids under the tree. Quayd could be who knows where next Christmas serving his mission. He brought that up many times during the evening!
The snow has just continued to
come. It's been lovely, off and on, all week. From what the weatherman
says, we should wake up to more falling snow! We got our White
Christmas!
After dinner, which I didn't take one shot of because everyone was starving...Doug gathered us together in the den for his devotional. We read Luke 2 this year and then he bore his testimony of our Savior, Jesus Christ and expressed his gratitude for Him who we celebrate this wonderful holiday!
The kids listen to Doug with great attention during his Christmas thoughts. It's one of my favorite nights of the year. Quayd had worked a seven hour day moving carts from the parking lot inside and bagging for the last minute holiday shoppers and was pretty tired tonight... until it was time for bed! Then, he was wide awake, along with his sisters!
After the devotional, everyone opens new jammies. This year, Doug went first. He got a pair of fleece-lined sweats with pockets... which he said he could keep his guns and his floss in. (Hmmm... I didn't know he had any pocket guns.)
Grace's first words were "MINT!" Her favorite color and everything has to be mint for Grace!
Quayd got a RED shirt and opened another gift because I gave him the wrong one for jammies! Oops! Tomorrow, he gets new bottoms. When I bought this shirt, I thought of Spiderman and it was Quayd's first words. Some things never change!
It hit me tonight that I've not really shared many photos of the house with all of it's halls decked!
The yellow sures stands out in these pix, but it much softer looking than this. I miss my pumpkin colored walls at Christmas, but this cream and white and yellow living room makes me smile!
I can not say how many times I've been moved to tears because I finally have a real mantle to decorate for Christmas! As a matter of fact, I have three! This has been my favorite thing this year, next to the fire. I've sat here and just stared and enjoyed it for hours!
With and without lamps...
Zeej thought it would be fun to walk the neighborhood with our jinglebells to let all the little kids know that Santa was coming. This is the first year of their lives that Santa didn't ring the bells for them! She wanted to start a new tradition, so, she and her dad went for a very chilly walk and rang the bells around the neighborhood. While they were gone, Grace cleaned up the kitchen and put out milk and cookies for Santa and Quayd settled down for a long winter's nap.
My favorite tablescape of the year is always Christmas!
After much debate and discussion, Doug finally made the decision for us all... we will celebrate and open gifts in the den. It's warmer, it's Christmassier (is that a word?) and we just love being there! So, after the kids were downstairs, supposed to be going to sleep under the downstairs family room tree, we moved all of the gifts from the living room into the den and set up Christmas. Next year, we decided, I'll get another bigger tree for the den and rearrange things so that it's just "expected", Christmas is in the den. I'm so glad that this was the decision because it's what I really wanted to do all along!
But, this mantle... it's so beautiful... I really wanted Christmas in there too. ;)
Decisions, decisions!?!?
I couldn't love these kids anymore! What fun we had!
My cute niece, Jocilyn, designed this pillow for the company she works for and called yesterday to let me know that she had one for me. LOVE IT!!!! And it's perfect in the living room!
These pix are in such random order, but this is how they popped up and I'm getting in the hot tub as soon as I hit post! So, this is the order they'll be in. Here's the den, after gifts were moved. Did I say this already? It's late!
These giant body pillows will be a fun surprise for the kids in the morning. They are as soft as any fleece blanket I've seen this winter! Can't wait to see their reactions to them because they always want to play on mine!
Here's my funky tree topper. Very different. I'm too traditional, I guess, but these pokey outtie things are still not my favorite thing.
life is good! I am blessed! Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
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