Christmas from our point of view...

Pre-Christmas Preparations

We had the FNL (BBC CHURCH) teens to our house on Friday, December 4th, so we put our tree up earlier than our normal. We purchased a new tree from Macy's floor displays at the end of the last Christmas, so we were anxious to see how the tree fit our room. We really like the compact size of it, since our family fills the room already! After some work on the lights, we were able to say "its done"!

A new tree topper with the "crown" that I love!

Jesus is KING at our Christmas, and our crown ornament

is a regular feature. The bead angel below it was made

several years ago by my dear friend, Rose White, who

is now in heaven!

Another favorite ornament... one of a variety set of colors and shapes.

One of Al's favorite ornaments: a Hallmark pickup with a tree!

Sally offered to come help finish baking our cookies on Monday prior to the "event". She is a great cook and she learned some new techniques this week!

Christmas EVE fun...

One of the funny gifts we gave each grandkid this year was a chocolate bar labeled as a $million from a great candy maker. We were disappointed to notice the Santa after we purchased them... not to worry... photoshop to the rescue! We redid the cover with the grandparents and pups photo!

We had the family come on Christmas Eve this year, due to schedule conflicts on Christmas Day. Grandpa poses here with the three oldest granddaughters: Grace, Sally, G-pa, Pearl.

After a movie, we put the Wii Kart races on for awhile. Two of the boys were right in the middle of it! The others were across the room "driving" their carts!

Jesse and Reuben drive their Karts up close and personal.

Charles drives his Kart from the sofa, while Nathan watches the game.

One of the FUN things we did this year was make "slider" burger cookies. Even the teens enjoyed creating their own "slider". I got the recipe from the blog of my Scrap Girl friend, Angela Nausbaum earlier in the month. They were such a hit, we decided to take two dozen to the church for a dinner on Sunday! People adored them! Aren't they the cutest? Someone suggested we package them in containers, so we tried that too! Just too darling! AWWW!

Hope finished her "slider" in record time!

Anders puts the finishing touches on his cookie masterpiece!

Sally takes a "bite" of the slider!

A dozen "to go!"

Christmas was a tremendous blessing to us this year, because of the presence of our loved ones. Every grandchild was present with us on Christmas Eve... for the first time in several years. It was a blessing to spend time with each of them and to give them the gift of OUR PRESENCE for a day! God has been VERY GOOD to us!

Bandito Alice...

Bad Grace! Drew a face on her mommy while she recovered from her procedure!

Lots of busy this season!

The holidays are some of the busiest days of our lives. This year we don't have added choir and special music activities at the church, so it seems somewhat "relaxed."

The other day my husband surprised me with flowers! Christmas cactus have always intrigued him and mine died years ago. [I guess I need "hints" on how to live with them compatibly.] Isn't it lovely?

Joy and I treated Ruth to a "night out" for her birthday. We got all dressed up and I even wore my hair in an "UP-DO".

Anders was performing in the high school "Madrigal Feaste". He sang his heart out and wouldn't stop for the photo op, even!

The dinner was eaten without utensils... interesting! I wondered how we would eat the soup appetizer, but it came with bread for sopping.

Ruth eating her "utensil-deprived" birthday dinner: Cornish game hen, baked potatoes, green beans, apple cider, soup and bread, followed by bread pudding. Great meal!

We were the last stop for the teen progressive dinner earlier this month, so we hurriedly put up our decorations and broke out the elf hats for the event. I forgot to get one for the dogs, so I will photoshop them in for another project.

Pastor James is doing a great job with our teens... helping to turn their hearts to their parents. The night was a sweet time of fellowship.

Wedding album... another page done

I have slowly been working on Ruth's wedding album. Here is another page done. I will switch out a smiling photo of Jesse later. He was so happy he cried!

And here is the same photo online with comments from other scrappers at Scrap Girls.

Wedding.

Turkey Trot, Big Bird and fun for all!

Big Bird came to our house today... and we ate him!

Starting out the day, Al ran the 5K Turkey Trot race in a nearby town. He finished at 27 min 19 sec!! There were 1500-2000 runners and he was in the top 100 or so.

While we were at the race, we left grandson, Jon at the house to put BIG BIRD in the oven on time. The bird was 23.95 pounds! HUGE! (and no leftovers, either!)

I made the family favorite munchie: Sausage rolls. Basically they are breakfast sausage rolled in pie dough... yum!

In this photo l to r: Abby, Ruth, Al, Charity, Jon, Pearl and Sally.

Jesse discovered binoculars make for interesting views at the table, even backwards at times!

Abby observes Charles aiming at me, aiming at him! Most of the older boys brought their "weapon toys" and were in the park behind our house most of the day, playing war. Nephew Josh was able to come and he spent some good time with his cousins in the park.

Alice brought a puzzle to assemble, and she helped Joy before we put on the Stardust movie.

Savannah said, "I'm helping!!" and did some interesting placements! Note the food buffet was visited all day long! They ate pie all day and still had leftovers! Good meal planning!

We had a wonderful and interesting day with the 25 people able to come. We were thankful to God for all his bountiful blessings on our little corner of the world. He is GOOD to give us these wonderful gifts of family time.

Hazardous LIFE!

When this event happened, the first thing I did was lay down before I could pass out! As I laid there I thought I should get downstairs and get ice on my face! My sister was arriving in a few days and I would likely have a black eye!

SEE!?! I TOLD you dusting was dangerous (right, girls?)

[This is a true story... the names have NOT been changed to protect the stupid.]

VIEW online with comments at HAZARD

Sisters are for loving!

My sister, Jan, tagged along with her husband, Chuck, on a business trip and we were able to spend some time together at last! All my girls cleared their schedule to spend a few hours with her and the tea room seemed the perfect choice with no husbands or sons around! It was a sweet gathering and Jan was elated to spend some quality talking time with all of them.

We MUST do this again! When can you come by again, Jan?

Thank you, Chuck, for bringing her with you! It was good to remember the OLD TIMES again!

We took time to get breakfast before they left for Chuck's job.

Jan is passionate about Weight Watchers and her loss of 30 pounds! Good job, Jan!

Jan and I went to the Tea Room with all four of my girls and the three oldest granddaughters. WHAT FUN!

Digital art when I'm not scrapping...

Well, I don't have lots of time to scrap this week, but I have been using my digital skills at the office! This is the insert for tomorrow's bulletin and visitor letters.

At least I can stay "in practice" if I can't scrap!

Me? A brain?

South Kitsap's concert last night featured "If I only had a brain!" from the Wizard of Oz.

Afterward we snapped a few pix of Anders in his tuxedo and his comical expressions related so well to their "theme song".

I sketched the scarecrow and designed lettering and for this scrap page. TFL!

Online gallery with comments here.

My Life Verse as a greeting card...

SCRAP GIRLS turned five this past week and I joined in a class to personalize alphas taught by Anna. It was a great class with some very useful techniques. Then I used the WORDART to make this 4x6 card with my life verse, 3 John 1:4 "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." I used "Creative Spirit" kit from Scrap Girls.

Happy Birthday, Scrap Girls!

Online link.

Scrap Pages from the Convention...

We learned many new techniques and had so much fun at the Scrap Girls Convention this weekend.

Here are two projects I completed this weekend. The silhouette of Ruth and her bouquet will likely be modified somewhat... I am not happy with it.

The scrap page below was done for our friend, Sara, who was unable to attend the convention.

We sure enjoyed taking her with us everywhere!

Fairy dusted...

My roommates at convention are part of the Purple Shirt work crew. In the morning (pixie dusted sleepers) we awoke as fairies... Such a fun group of ladies...

My trip Tuesday

We went on a "photo expedition" Tuesday morning in the Big Cottonwood Canyon. Here are a few shots I took for bulletin covers.

And I took this photo inside the car of the temp outside... brrrrr! I did not wear warm enough clothing and spent lots of time in the car!

Later we went to an arboretum on campus where we are staying and I got some lovely shots of flowers and water plants.

And... we saw a MOOSE FAMILY... well, statues of moose!

Its been a great trip, all in all! More later!