Oh Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree!

What a fun day we have had today! It was cold and crisp, so much so that the snow was squeaking when it was walked on. Winter is here, Yay! It is SO nice to be able to curl up under quilts and snuggle. It is so wonderful to be using wood heat and having everything so cozy inside. It is SO good to NEED to put on a sweater! And, just for the fun of it, I put on some of my "funky" slipper socks this morning. These sock are extremely warm, and I rarely get a chance to feel cool enough to wear them instead of my regular, boring, white cotton socks. Dale gave these to me several year ago as a birthday present. I have to say, I love them.



My daughter, Esther, made up blueberry pancake batter for breakfast. It was her first time flying solo at it, and I have to say, she did an excellent job. They were delicious!

While Dale and Caleb went out to the library and to visit an elderly man in our church who just got out of the hospital, the rest of us worked on kitchen clean up, and some dusting and vacuuming, and general picking up. I also did some online shopping for Christmas. Most of our gifts will be homemade, but grandparents I like to do a little extra something for. Don't you love online shopping? No leaving the house, no messing with driving, or weather, or crowded stores.

After Dale got back we had lunch and put littles down for naps. Then Dale and Josiah went off to cut our tree for this year. Each year the kids take a turn on who will go with Daddy. It is a major event, and believe me, they know exactly whose turn it is, and look forward to it all year.

While Dale did the lights thing, Benjamin, Esther and I went over to church to clean and I practiced a piano piece I am playing tomorrow in church for the offeratory. Elizabeth and I are doing a duet for special music too. We are playing "How Great Our Joy" on the recorders.

When we were done at church, we returned home and then the family decorated the tree. I think it came out beautifully, but Dale and I keep joking about our "Charlie Brown" tree. We had debated for a couple weeks about even getting a tree. Between the cat and the baby I wondered if I would be able to put up with continually adverting a "CATastrophe". But in the end, we went for it. I figured both the cat and the kid were going to have to learn "hands off" eventually, might as well start now.



Here are some random pics of the tree decorating fun!

Benjamin and Josiah weren't too shy to jump right in.



Looky at my cute boyfriend!:)



He's Da Man!



Esther taking a turn.



Jerusha and Isaac had their own "thang" going in the background.



Elizabeth looking for a bare spot:



Of course this time of year, Aaron is never far from my thoughts, and this was the view from where I was. I thought it was sweet, and made it feel like he was part of the activities.



My wonderful family and good helpers!



It smells WONDERFUL in the living room right now. And things are looking quite festive! So, now onto more knitting and sewing like crazy. I need to think about some special baking too. I have been so busy doing everything else I haven't even thought about decorating cookies! Lame, aren't I?

Here is some of our decorating:





















So, picture our cozy little house, filled with the joyful sounds of Christmas music and children playing,(I won't tell you what it really sounds like!) wishing you all a very Merry Christmas! We rejoice not because of the presents, but because of the greatest Gift of all!