Weekend Happenings

Here are a few pictures from this weekend. We had many fun filled Christmas happenings this weekend. Our family decorated our Christmas tree on Saturday. As you can see, Michael was the one who climbed to the top of the house to put up the Christmas lights. This is the first year we have ever put Christmas lights outside. We inherited the lights from my mom and dad, and they sure look beautiful on our home.

For our family, we celebrate Christmas the entire month of December. I always want my children to remember the time spent together during the Christmas season instead of just receiving gifts on one morning of the year. We spend time in the kitchen baking cookies and candy. We spend time in the shop cutting out wooden ornaments and painting them for our Christmas tree. Michael and the older kids have spent many hours in the shop over the past years making special gifts for family members. Our second son Joshua has a wonderful eye for picking the perfect gift for our younger children. He comes with me on my Christmas shopping trips to help me choose for the other children. As a family, we spend many evenings in front of the Christmas tree just talking and enjoying the beauty of the lights. Matthew and I did this Saturday night until after midnight. (Why is it that teenagers always want to share their heart after 10:00p.m.)? This year I planned a special outing for Hope and I. As you can see from our family picture, Hope is our only girl in the bunch. She loves doing girl things, but often times our family focus is on activities for the boys. Hope jumps right on in there with the boys activities and always has a great time. This year I wanted to have a mom/daughter girl event. She loves ballet, and we went to see the Nutcracker performed by the Kingsport Ballet Company. Before the show, they hosted a formal tea party for the little girls. Hope was thrilled. The dancers in the ballet were the ones to serve tea to all the little girl guests at the tea party. Then each girl had her picture taken with the cast of the ballet. This was a BIG deal for Hope. We enjoyed the ballet so much, and it was great to have a girl outing. We purchased a special Christmas tree ornament to remind us of the fun of the evening. The ballet evening was part of Hope's Christmas this year, and I know we made wonderful memories for years to come.

I pray that your family will come up with ways to make the holidays special for you. As the month continues, I will share other ideas that we have used in the past to make memories for our children as well as others.

grace and peace,
julie