More Merry Christmas!

Pictures of our kiddos on Christmas Morning!

Merry Christmas!

Well, I tried to order photo Christmas cards and messed up the online order ... so those won't be here till January now ... ooops! But we did put together a 2009 Year in Review slide show to share with our friends and loved ones:

Make a Smilebox slideshow

25 Days of Christmas Ornament - #16

I just love the ideas my friend Carrie comes up with!! First the Alphabitty Moments and now 25 Days of Christmas Ornaments. Please visit her blog to see the MckLinky and take part or just to look at all the beautiful ornaments and stories that other bloggers are posting.

I really love nativity ornaments ... I have quite a few more but these three were hung near each other so I photographed them. Jesus' birth really is what we are celebrating, so it seems right to me that my decorations should reflect him.

25 Days of Christmas Ornaments - #12

I just love the ideas my friend Carrie comes up with!! First the Alphabitty Moments and now 25 Days of Christmas Ornaments. Please visit her blog to see the MckLinky and take part or just to look at all the beautiful ornaments and stories that other bloggers are posting.

For one more day we are trying to focus on homemade ornaments ... so here is one my mom bought for my hubby a few years back ... she bought one for me too, but I just photographed his. She purchased them at a craft fair, someone got old stamps and glued them to little white blocks. My mom purchased the years we were born and tied then on to our presents as name tags.

Cookie Recipie Exchange

Jessica over at The Mom Creative has graciously decided to host a cookie recipie exchange!! I'm so excited!!! I happen to love love love Christmas cookies.

To join the fun be sure to put this button on your blog post with your cookie recipe and then link the permalink (the post link, not your blog link) on the MckLinky back on The Mom Creative. I can't wait to share my favorite recipe and check out yours!


My husband grew up attending a Moravian Church, a wonderful little country church actually. And there was a delicious cookie that my mother-in-law made and still makes every Christmas: Moravian Sugan Cookies. You can even buy these pre packaged someplaces, but the ones she makes are thicker and much tastier if you ask me. They quickly became my favorite Christmas cookies.



MORAVIAN SUGAR COOKIES
----------------------

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1 1/4 cups flour
Topping
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Soften butter with sugar, baking powder, vanilla and salt. Blend in egg and flour.

Grease or butter 2 cookie sheets well. Spread half of the dough out on each cookie sheet to make a 10x8 inch rectangle (one for each sheet).

Mix together ingredients for topping and sprinkle evenly over the dough.

Bake at 350°F for 12 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown along the edges. Allow to cool 2 minutes, then cut into 2 inch squares. Cool on wire racks.

Makes about 40.


If you would like to read more on the Moravion tradition please click here or here or here

25 Days of Christmas Ornaments - #11

I just love the ideas my friend Carrie comes up with!! First the Alphabitty Moments and now 25 Days of Christmas Ornaments. Please visit her blog to see the MckLinky and take part or just to look at all the beautiful ornaments and stories that other bloggers are posting.


This week we are trying high light home made ornaments. I love this colorful star that Gus painted back in first grade at our homeschool co-op Christmas party ... that was several years ago now ... fun to remember

Miss Mary wanted to be in the school Christmas show

25 Days of Christmas Ornaments#10

I just love the ideas my friend Carrie comes up with!! First the Alphabitty Moments and now 25 Days of Christmas Ornaments. Please visit her blog to see the MckLinky and take part or just to look at all the beautiful ornaments and stories that other bloggers are posting.


These beautiful ornaments were loving carved by the same family friend who made the puzzle type manger scene in a previous post.

She is giving away what????

Did someone mention a give away?
Oh, a Mck-Giveaway??
Really???
What might that look like?
Perhaps like this????





Really? Really!
No, Really??? Yes, Really!!
Visit MckMama's blog to learn how you can enter to win this HP Touchsmart

25 Days of Christmas Ornaments #9 and Happy Birthday to the Man I Lovve!

I just love the ideas my friend Carrie comes up with!! First the Alphabitty Moments and now 25 Days of Christmas Ornaments. Please visit her blog to see the MckLinky and take part or just to look at all the beautiful ornaments and stories that other bloggers are posting.


And I should probably explain that today is also my wonderful, adorably gorgeous husband's birthday. Happy Birthday Honey!!! His mom was great to save some of his childhood ornaments too ... this was an arts and crafts project he made and painted one year:

25 Days of Christmas Ornaments - #8

I just love the ideas my friend Carrie comes up with!! First the Alphabitty Moments and now 25 Days of Christmas Ornaments. This week she mentioned that we could focus on homemade ornaments ... I'll have to keep looking to see what other homemade ornaments I can find, but I came across this darling decoration that my kids love. It was not homemade by me, but by a friend of hubby's family who is very talented with wood ... that counts, right?

Please visit Carrie's blog to see the MckLinky and take part or just to look at all the beautiful ornaments and stories that other bloggers are posting.





Oh and look its snowing here!!!!

I ♥ Faces for Dec 7th

This week at I ♥ Faces, the theme for their weekly challenge is "Sweet Dreams" , everyone is invited to post a photo of a person sleeping ... I happen to love sleeping babies and I looked back over many many sleepy pictures of my sweet kiddos as newborns. But instead of using any of their newborn photos, I decided to use this one I took just a few day ago:



I had laid our two youngest kiddos down for naps each on one side of our big bed ... but when I came to check on them only 15 minutes after they had fallen asleep this was what I found ... they seemed to neither one have ever awakened but had gravitated towards each other ... my heart just melts!

Click on the button below to visit the I ♥ Faces website, where you too can join in the fun and share your favorite sleepy heads with us!

25 Days of Christmas Ornaments - #7

I just love the ideas my friend Carrie comes up with!! First the Alphabitty Moments and now 25 Days of Christmas Ornaments. Please visit her blog to see the MckLinky and take part or just to look at all the beautiful ornaments and stories that other bloggers are posting.


Again, not an ornament ... more of a decoration, but my mom bought it at a craft fair and we love to count down. Although as you can see my boys think they might make Chistmas arrive sooner if they mess up the numbers ... silly boys, every time I turn around the number changes.

25 Days of Christmas Ornaments - #6

I just love the ideas my friend Carrie comes up with!! First the Alphabitty Moments and now 25 Days of Christmas Ornaments. Please visit her blog to see the MckLinky and take part or just to look at all the beautiful ornaments and stories that other bloggers are posting.



I've always loved hanging candy canes on the Christmas tree, and a few years ago my mom bought me some very pretty glass ones. They look so yummy that I have to warn the kids they are not edible. If you hang them just right by a light they really do sparkel (I'll try get a better picture showing that some other time). But one of the other things I like about candy canes is the story behind them ... go ahead google it sometime!


The true meaning of the Candy Cane



Look at the Candy Cane

What do you see?

Stripes that are red

Like the blood shed for me



White is for my Savior

Who's sinless and pure!

"J" is for Jesus My Lord, that's for sure!



Turn it around

And a staff you will see

Jesus my shepherd

Was born for Me!

25 Days of Christmas Ornaments - #5

I just love the ideas my friend Carrie comes up with!! First the Alphabitty Moments and now 25 Days of Christmas Ornaments. Please visit her blog to see the MckLinky and take part or just to look at all the beautiful ornaments and stories that other bloggers are posting.

This is not exactly an ornament I place on my tree but it is an ornament that has graced our front door every year of our marriage. When we were first married we lived out near Seattle WA, where Allen was stationed in the US NAVY. Those first few months were horribly lonely for me, being new to the area and new to married life. Allen was gone for both my birthday and thanksgiving that year, but I did find some treasured friendships in some of the other wives. One friend in particular taught me much over the years. She is a shinning example of a Christ loving mom, wife, woman of God. I still treasure our friendship. And every year when I hang this wreath I can remember picking out the ribbon and ornaments and buying my first hot glue gun ... she helped me make this wreath and many other fun things while our husbands were out to sea. It was especially fun to hang it on our new front door this year!

25 Days of Christmas Ornaments - #4

I just love the ideas my friend Carrie comes up with!! First the Alphabitty Moments and now 25 Days of Christmas Ornaments. Please visit her blog to see the MckLinky and take part or just to look at all the beautiful ornaments and stories that other bloggers are posting.

Today I took a picture of an ornament we picked up one year while on a trip to one of my most favorite places on earth ... Disney World! Our youngest Mary does not say too many words yet at 18 months but one word that she has had perfected for months is "MOUSE!" She loves Mickey Mouse as much as I do! Its hard to keep her from loving and touching the mouse ornaments: