Christmastime is here....and gone

I can't  believe 

Christmas is here 

and gone already!  

I love the spirit of togetherness and generosity that surrounds Christmas.  

But there's also places that it isn't that way.  And too many people have forgotten 

what joy is and where it actually comes from.  It doesn't come from pretty wrapping 

paper, thoughtful gifts, glitzy lights, fragrant trees, savory food, or festive music...

but from a baby 

wrapped in rags 

in a feeding trough 

who grew up 

to bear the sin 

of the world 

on a splintery cross 

and conquered sin 

and death once 

and for all.

Thank you, Jesus!

Mom had saved the filet mignon from our steer for a special occasion.
This was it!

We ate in the garage this year.
The kitchen/living room is not quite big enough anymore for all 19 people.

The little people made these.  The icing wasn't sticky enough and it was hard to get the houses to stay together.  We finally succeeded.

Family time - opening gifts, having fun, and the entire contents of the toy closet scattered around the house.

Breanne & Mariah

For a diy gift, I turned these paper mache letters....

......into this
I was pretty happy with how they turned out, except apparently I bought the last "L" that they made and then I thought I messed it up, so I threw it away.  Turns out it still would've worked, but the trash had already gone....so now I'm waiting on another L to turn "ove" into "love".

I've always wanted to try to make these little gingerbread men.
This particular kind is vegan.  But I don't think the niece was super-excited with these as a replacement for the marshmallow -snowman-topped cupcakes she couldn't have.

And some pics from earlier this month and last month....

This is the inside of an old general store...I forget the name.  Needless to say, I don't think they get a lot of business...Mom said she remembers this place when she was growing up.  Apparently sometime they stopped selling things, but never stopped accumulating them.

I looked for deer again this year, but no luck.  The day after the season closed, four deer stood outside my kitchen window for a few minutes....just my luck! :)

It wasn't all in vain though, I got to see some beautiful sunrises!

Piper is still as crazy as ever.  She would've laid here like this as long as I would've let her.