What a wonderful month December has been! I've enjoyed it from beginning to end. (Didn't really mean that to rhyme;) )
At the beginning of the month I was invited to go with some friends from work to the Athens Christmas parade. It just happened to fall on the same night as our ward's extra Relief Society meeting. I have to honestly say that I have not really attended Homemaking/Enrichment/Extra Meeting in a V.E.R.Y. long time... at least not since we moved to Madison, so I didn't really feel guilty about going to the parade instead. But, the closer the time came, the more I felt like I should go to RS, and I'm really glad that I did. It was a simple program, but I came away with a wonderful feeling, and felt a little bit closer to my Savior.
The next weekend was the Stake Christmas festival. I had invited a friend to come with me, but she had to cancel at the last minute, so just the girls and I went. The concert was awesome, the trees/nativities/quilts were beautiful, and the live nativity was inspiring. I appreciate all the hard work that everyone puts into this festival. I know it is a TON of hard work, but it really is the highlight of the season.
The next weekend was the ward Christmas party. I was in charge of the "carnival" that we had after a yummy brunch. We did activities for the primary age chilren... a craft, face paining and cookie decorating. The awesome youth of the ward helped me out a ton, and it was a great morning.
I was really excited to decorate the house this year. I have had so much fun crafting. I haven't crafted like I did in a long time, and it felt really good to just be creative again. I made a sign for the front entryway, decorated a new wreath, etched some glass to hold candles, created some fun ornaments, made some blocks for the mantle, a Christmas countdown, and even made my Christmas cards this year! I must admit... I had a some help with some of the materials, but it was fun to put it all together. We opted for a live tree this year... mainly because out artificial tree was being put to good use elsewhere. This is the first live tree that Barry and I have ever bought... we have gone out to my parent's and cut down a few trees, but they mainly have cedar trees, and the last one we brought home about killed my allergies. I was tickled with the tree we picked out, and we were thrilled that it didn't cost us too much. The only major disappointment with the live tree was that a lot of our ornaments were too heavy to go on it, but it still looked beautiful. I have put my "charlie brown" trees out front on my porch for years now, but this year I decided that they needed to come inside. I found the perfect home for them on either side of my entertainment center.
The week of Christmas had us busy making goodies and visiting. The kids and I always make something to take to Barry's work and visit with him there for a bit. He enjoys showing off the kids. :) For as long as I can remember, we have spent Christmas Eve with some good friends of ours, the Sparkman's. Barry and Mike worked together at the Cookie Company when Barry and I first got married, and we all moved to Nashville together as well. We then moved back to Huntsville together a few years later, and continued the tradition of Christmas Eve together. We meet up at Mike's parent's house, and Momma Sparkman makes a feast of Italian Sausages, chips, dip, cookies, pies, cakes... you get the idea! We always stay there way too late, but we enjoy the company and catching up. We also started a tradition years ago of heading out early and looking at Christmas lights before we go to the Sparkman's. This year we headed down to South Huntsville, and found the best neighborhood ever! Every street you turned down had one awesome display after another! We got so wrapped up looking at the lights that the Sparkman's had to call us to see if we were coming or not!
This is the first year ever that Barry and I have stayed up all hours of the night putting together a gift. We got the boys a ping-pong table, and that thing was a beast to put together! We didn't get started until after 11:00 PM, and finally got it finished around 3:00 AM. After it was done, Barry headed out to see if he could find any gas stations still open, because he needed a Mountain Dew! When he got back he told me that it was starting to sleet outside, and maybe we just might get some of the white stuff the weather men had been saying was coming our way.
We have a rule in our house... the kids are not allowed up (or at least not allowed to get us up) before 7:00 AM. I have to admit that most years I am the first one up, and usually it is much earlier than 7:00, but not this year. I was still so tired from being up so late that I slept until the kids couldn't take it anymore, and came to grab me so I could see the snow. It was about 6:45 when they got me up, but I decided to stay up and light the fire in the fireplace and enjoy the beauty of the falling snow. Barry was up a few minutes later, and we read the Christmas story from the Bible, then went to open presents. The kids and Barry were all thrilled with their gifts, and Barry surprised me with a Silhoutte die cut machine! After the living room was picked up, and we had breakfast, we headed outside for some fun in the snow. It has been a really long time since we have seen snow like that come down around here. The last really big snow that I can remember was at least 15 years ago, but never on Christmas day. It was like an added present, and made for a perfect Christmas.
I had to include the above photo... this is the "after" of our morning, but it's the only picture I got of all the trees and mantle together.
Thankfully road conditions allowed us to get to the Callahan's for Christmas dinner. We enjoyed yummy food, and time with family. The kids exchanged handmade gifts, and had a ball! It was so much fun to see how creative they each got.
We were supposed to go to Fayetteville on Sunday to spend Christmas with my family, but icy roads kept that from happening. Instead we all stayed in on Sunday and enjoyed a quiet day. Things cleared up enough on Monday that my mom was able to come and stay with us for a few days, then we finally got the whole crew together on Wed. night for our family dinner and cousin gift exchange.
I have been so filled with a Spirit of Peace this month, and so grateful for my Savior. I am thankful for each and every blessing. I am thankful to have family and good friends to share the season with.
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