It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas around these parts. We got several inches of snow last Wednesday, then a couple more last night. When you drive through the area towns, there are Christmas decorations on the lampposts and houses are lit up with colorful lights and plastic nativity scenes. Sometimes, you can get a glimpse into the houses to see their beautiful Christmas trees all lit up for the holidays.

We've been doing a lot of decorating here, too. We have our two trees up, the garland and stockings are hung, the nativity set is on the coffee table, and I plan on putting up my Candy-cane village today during nap time. Pictures of all that will come later today. Right now, though, we're going to talk Christmas traditions.

One of the long-standing traditions in our family is our church's Sunday school program. My children were the 4th generation of our family to be baptized in our church--my grampa, my dad, myself and now my girls. So there's a lot of time and tradition in that little church. Yesterday was the Sunday school program that my mom actually wrote, and with the help of my good friend and I, put on with the kids. It was about a little angel who was too little to do much of anything, but she was able to calm a crying baby Jesus with a sweet lullaby. Very cute and the kids did a great job!

Here's Alayna as one of the Teacher Angels

Here are Lilly (the napping Mary) and Mikayla the sheep (in the black pants)

After the Sunday school program we came back to my house for another family tradition--baking Christmas cookies! My mom, mother-in-law and sister-in-law came over and we baked and dipped and decorated and sweet-treated our little hearts out. We made sugar cut-out cookies, peanut butter star cookies, oreo truffle balls, pretzel wreaths, Bugle stockings and spritzes. I forgot to take a picture of everything sitting all over the counters and table, but did think to take one after all was bagged up. The pics below are just our part of the prize, after being divided out so everyone had some to take home!

There were only a few casualties during our baking--a couple cookies lost a limb or head and had to be eaten, my knuckle was burned on a pan right out of the oven, and my mixer was burned up by someone who shall remain nameless (but rhymes with "hi rom"--and she bought me a replacement by the end of the day) All in all, we had a great weekend. And now, it's starting to feel more like Christmas as well as look like it, too!