A Very Merry Christmas

I hope you all had a wonderful and blessed Christmas! We certainly did. As always, we stayed home in our pjs all day long. What could be better than that! After we get up and read the Christmas story then open all our presents, we make a big brunch. I made monkey bread for the first time. It was really tasty, if I do day so myself. Then we lay around until we feel like getting up to start cooking again. We had a feast late in the afternoon. I just can't imagine the day being any better than being with my family all day!!So, I finally was able to give Eric his gift! I wouldn't have dared told you what it was before because Eric reads this very often. He has found out what he was getting in the past and I was bound and determined he wasn't going to this year! I ordered it from Dad's computer, used his credit card and had it shipped to his house, just to be safe. Many of you know that Eric just loves Bobby Flay. Most nights, we watch the Food Network. It has become our favorite. Eric's favorite show is Throwdown with Bobby Flay. In fact, at any moment on any day, he will look at me and say, "Are you ready for a throwdown?" So, I ordered him an autographed copy of one of his cookbooks. The inscription says, "Eric, are you ready for a throwdown? Bobby Flay." I asked Eric how this ranked of all the gifts I had given him. He said it was right at the top! I missed the picture of his face when he read it. It was priceless!

Santa brings 3 gifts to our kids. They each represent gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Gold was given to Jesus because it was very valuable - a perfect gift for a king. Our gold gift is something they really want. Frankincense was a sacred substance. In Exodus 30:34-37, God commanded the Israelites to place frankincense in front of the tent of meeting to scent the place where he had promised to meet with them. Jesus was sent as a symbolic "Tent of Meeting" for all people, which is why it was a gift to him. Our frankincense is something that will draw them closer to Christ. In ancient times, myrrh was used to scent embalming liquids. Because Jesus was sent to die on a cross for us, this was an appropriate gift for him. In our family, the myrrh gift is something that is needed. All that said, Ethan's gold gift this year was a drum set. Yes, I said a drum set. :)

Maddie's gold gift was a portable DVD player. This picture makes my heart hurt. She looks more like a teenager than a five year old.

Ella's gold gift was an easy bake oven. Here she is baking her very first cake. It was quite humorous. She refused to let anyone help her. She just may be the next Bobby Flay! :) I had to include a picture of her sharing her cake with her daddy.

I recently got new curtains for the dining room, so I told Eric not to get me anything. But he did something really thoughtful, that not many of you will get, but I have to brag on him anyway! To make a really long story short, several months ago, my cell phone was stolen. Eric spent a lot of time on Ebay to find me one just like what I had. Unfortunately, when it came, it wasn't in great condition. It was cracked and was a really bright color blue. I was glad to have it anyway, but it has been the center of many jokes since. Eric used to have the same one, but it went swimming in a drink and had long sense been replaced. He took my phone and his old one apart and took what was good from both. The outside of his was in great shape and was black instead of the fluorecent blue. He put them back together in the shell of his old one. Now, I have a "new" phone. It didn't cost him any money, but he spent a couple of hours putting it together. All together - AWWWWW wasn't that thoughtfull!

I almost forgot - Mom and Dad gave me a new DIGITAL camera. I am finally in the 21st century! I am still the photographer though so I am not making any promises that the pictures will be any better.

My sweet baby is now Christ's sweet baby

My sweet baby, Maddie, was baptized on December 9. Back on October 28, we had a fall festival at a couple's house from our church. We did a trunk or treat, so the kids came home with LOTS of candy. They had eaten all kinds of sweets that day, so I told them they could only have a couple of pieces. When we piled in the car, Ella told on Maddie and said she had eaten more candy than she was supposed to. So, when we got home, Maddie and I had a talk about temptation. I read her a scripture and said that when you give in to temptation, that becomes sin. You would have thought I had broken her heart. Her exact words were, "Mommy, do you think Jesus will forgive me?" I told her He absolutely would and led her in the sinner's prayer. She was so excited that she had Jesus in her heart and called everyone she could think of to tell them. In our church, we celebrate the act of baptism twice a year - once around Christmas and once at Easter. Maddie was a little nervous about being baptized, but right before she went up I told her Jesus was with her and up she went! What a glorious thing-to watch your little one become Christ's own! The transformation in her life has been incredible. She has become so much more sensitive to others and it grieves her when she has disobeyed Eric and me. She prays often that Ella and Ethan would ask Jesus into their hearts too. One day, we were in line to pick Ethan up from school, and Maddie asked, "Mommy, do all these people know Jesus?" I said, "no baby, they don't." Her response was, "Well we need to get out and go tell them!" I love that God can use a 5 year old to remind us "wise" adults to get off our duffs and go tell the world about Jesus!

Out of the mouth of babies and infants,you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. (Psalm 8:2)

I have been tagged...

Jodi tagged me to share 12 random things about myself that are Christmas related. Here are the rules:
1. List 12 random things about yourself that have to do with Christmas
2. Please refer to it as a 'hoopla' and not the dreaded 'm'-word
3. You have to specifically tag people when you're done. None of this "if you're reading this, consider yourself tagged" stuff is allowed...then nobody ends up actually doing it. The number of people who you tag is really up to you -- but the more, the merrier to get this 'hoopla' circulating through the blogosphere.
4. Please try and do it as quickly as possible. The Christmas season will be over before we know it and I'd like to get as many people involved as possible.

12 Random Christmas Things About Tammy:
1. I absolutely love buying gifts. If I had lots and lots of money, I am sure I would give it all away!
2. When I find the perfect gift for someone, I have the hardest time waiting to give it to them. I have had Eric's gift for over a month now. I am so excited about it, that it is killing me to wait til Christmas morning to give it to him.
3. I love decorating for Christmas. And from a previous post, you know I am a little particular about it! :)
4. As much as I love buying gifts, I always wait until sometime in December to start. This year pretty much started and finished this past Saturday.
5. I love Christmas music, BUT I only like to listen to it during the Christmas season. I just can't stand to hear it before or after. Which leads me to number 6:
6. It drives me crazy to see Christmas decorations up before Thanksgiving. This year Hobby Lobby started putting theirs up in September - I am not kidding.
7. I love Christmas parties - going to and hosting. I especially love our 30's and 40's party. You just never know what is going to happen! :) Thanks Brad and Shana for hosting!
8. I adore seeing Christmas through my children's eyes. Maddie has been counting the days til Christmas morning since Thanksgiving. Literally! I'm surprised she doesn't have it down to the hours yet.
9. I love to just sit and stare at my Christmas tree. Maybe the sparkling lights are relaxing, I don't know really. All I know is I have loved doing it since I was a very small child.
10. We don't go anywhere on Christmas day. In fact, we tend to stay in our pajamas all day. When we had children, we decided that we wanted them to be able to stay home and not travel all over the place.
11. Every year for as long as I remember, Before the first gift is opened my Dad would always read the Christmas story in Luke. He still does it. When the kids wake up on Christmas morning, we call Mom and Dad and Jenny and they come on over (whether the sun is up or not) This just may be my absolute favorite thing about the Christmas season.
12. I LOVE celebrating the advent season. This year thanks to our wonderful children's minister at church, we had a family advent festival. We made our own family advent wreath and Jennifer put together a devotional book for each day of the advent season, written by families in our church. We have so enjoyed lighting the candle each night and reading a devotion together. It has really helped to keep our focus on Jesus. After all He is the reason for this season!

I now tag Shana, Meleia, Angie and Chelle and Cindy-didn't want to leave anyone out ;)
By the way, what is the dreaded "m" word??

A Day Full of Music

Yesterday was our Christmas musical at church. Our minister of music is fanatastic! He brings in professional musicians each year at Christmas. This year we had a brass ensemble and a floutist and a harpist. I have been in the choir for quite a few years, but after much prodding by several people, Eric joined in this year. It has been a hoot hearing him around the house singing Glory to God in his best tenor voice! We sang more traditional music this year, which meant it was harder than some of the contemporary stuff, but it turned out beautiful. At least I think it did. My right ear has been stopped up for a week, so I can't hear very well. :) Our wonderful children's minister has started a pre-school and elementary choir, so they got to join in on two songs. It occurred to me that while the children were singing, our entire family was up on stage - how fun! Here are the kids decked out in their Christmas best. Jodi - recognize Ella's dress??

Maddie has started taking piano this year. She takes from Jennifer Jones who is also our children's minister. Maddie had her first piano recital yesterday afternoon. I was so proud of her. She played Away in a Manger and Come and Play and did a great job! She really enjoys learning to play and Jennifer is an awesome teacher! Maybe she will stick with it longer than I did!

I admit I am no photographer!!

We took the kids to the Mall last night to see Santa. It was very humorous. All the way there in the car, they were constantly chatting about what they were going to tell him that they wanted him to bring. They each had a list a mile long. But, when they got there, they didn't even want to sit in his lap. We finally coaxed them into it. After the picture, he asked them what they wanted. They each only told him one thing. This is a horrible picture. Maddie looks a tad possessed, Ella looks mad, Ethan's eyes are closed, and it looks fuzzy. I left it small, because the bigger I made it, the worse it looked. I felt bad even taking one of my own, but I wanted to be able to post this adventure. I did buy some of the pictures that they took. Whew! They were not cheap! What happened to being able to tell Santa what you want for Christmas without taking out a loan?? But, they actually turned out cute. All three were smiling, which is somewhat close to a miracle. Bad picture aside, it was great fun to see the excitement in their faces and to take time in the midst of a busy season to "hang out"as a family. I pray that you all will have moments like these during this Christmas season!

Our ballerinas

Maddie has taken ballet for the last 3 years and absolutely loves it. For the first 2 years, Ella and Ethan and I would go and sit in the lobby and wait for Maddie while she danced. Just about every week, Ella would say something like, "I want to go with Maddie," or "When am I going to get to do ballet?" Well this year, she is finally old enough. I don't know if she loves it because her older sister does and she wants to do EVERYTHING Maddie does, or if she really loves it herself. Either way, she can't wait each week to go, and she's pretty cute if I do say so myself!

Maddie was finally old enough to be in the Nutcracker this year. All the kindergarten girls get to be little angels. It is a huge production. Our shy little Maddie absolutely loves being on stage. From the moment she steps on the stage, she has a huge smile beaming across her face. It is really quite amazing that a little girl who hides behind me when people talk to her would love performing so much. She is quite confident that one day she is going to play the role of Clara. These are all pictures from dress rehearsal. Photography was not allowed during the actual show.

Some things just run in the family

OK, I am sure you are wondering why I have posted a picture of a purse. Well when I checked our email yesterday, I wondered why I had an email from ebay saying that I had been outbid on a "Kate Spade Quilted Noel Maddie Handbag". I didn't even know what that was! I left it alone for a while thinking maybe I had accidentally stumbled upon a purchase that Eric was trying to make for my Christmas present. But, that just didn't sit well. This purse didn't even look remotely like something that Eric would get for me. I called him to ask him about it. Now, it was just a little suspicious that the purse had "Maddie" listed in the title, so we knew Maddie could have typed her name in the ebay search. I questioned her about it and she said she said she had told Ella how to spell her name. Now, Ella is constantly into things so there is not much that I would put past her, but she can't read so we pretty much ruled her out as a suspect. As many of you know, Eric buys a lot on Ebay, so he knew exactly what it would say when you click on "bid now". It will say you must enter a specific bid or more. So, Maddie followed the directions and bid on this purse. I find it all very humorous, because people laugh at all Eric and I buy on Ebay, and now our daughter is following in our footsteps. Here is the kicker - Do you know how much she bid on this purse?? $98.00!!! Thank the good Lord someone outbid her. It went for $99.00. Eric said that would have been her Christmas present if she had won! :) Maddie did finally confess, and we had a nice talk about what she can and cannot do on the computer.

Looking at yourself in the mirror isn't always fun!

I absolutely love the Christmas season. Every year as long as I can remember, I couldn't wait til the day after Thanksgiving to start putting up the Christmas decorations. My mother handed the job over to me when I was fairly young because I loved it soo much and she, not so much. :) This year, I saw that excitement in Maddie. Ella was excited too, but I think it was just because she wants to do EVERYTHING her older sister is doing. I let go a little and even let them help decorate the "big" tree. Ella of course only got to hang the non-breakable ornaments. Jenny, you would be so proud. I only moved a couple, ok maybe a few of them. :) Eric's mother gave me a table runner, which I put on the coffee table. I put the tray on top of it , kind of angled. I walked out of the room and came back later to find the tray lined up with the runner. I angled it again, only to come back later and find it straight. Now, I will be the first to admit I am a little on the forgetful side - that is normal with 3 kids, right?? But, I know that is not how I had it. Well, this happened a couple more times when I caught Maddie in the act of straightening it. I asked her why she was doing that. She simply said, "Mom, it looks better this way." As you can see by the picture, I am not willing to give up all control yet! Don't you just love how God uses our children as a mirror for us to see ourselves!

Maddie and Ella's "princess" tree

Ethan's "car" tree

Visiting Family

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We always travel back home to visit all of our family. It is always great to see everyone and catch up on how they are doing. Here we are at my Aunt Marilyn's house. It is a smaller group than past years, but everyone is spread out these days.

This is my dad and his brother, Carol, and two of his sisters, Joan and Marilyn. His other sister, Janet is in Colorado, and his other brother Rock couldn't make it. We missed you Janet and Rock!

Maddie and Ella were playing in the "pouting" chair while we were washing dishes. Ethan was off playing with the bell that Marilyn gave him.

We stayed with Eric's parents. They always make us a wonderful breakfast. This time Paw Paw let the kids help make the waffles. They were very tasty! We were also able to spend time with Eric's brother and his family on Thursday. We also spent time with our friends the Murrows and had dinner with my mom's family on Friday. I think we have had enough turkey to last til Christmas at least!

A Treefull of Thankfulness

In school today, we made a "thankful" tree. Maddie and Ella cut out "leaves" and wrote things that they were thankful for on each one. Maddie, our little teacher, got the whole family involved. Here is a picture of the girls instructing Pop.

May you all have a very blessed Thanksgiving!

A Good Start

OK, my good friend Jodi insisted that I enter the world of blogging, so here goes. I have been holding on to my 35mm camera, which I still like better! But, our family is spread all over the place, so maybe if I come into the digital age, we can keep in touch. If not, Jodi at least you can keep up with us. :)

This past weekend we went camping down on what is left of Lake Alatoona in McKinney Campground. Yes, it was cold, but we "rough it" smoothly. We have a camper with heat and so do my parents. The kids absolutely love going camping! This weekend was especially fun, because besides us and my parents, four other couples went. We took up a whole section of the campground! Ethan's birthday is the day after Thanksgiving, so we had a "camping" party. Our friends Brad and Shana came down to spend Saturday with us and let their son Bryce spend the night. The boys had a blast riding their bicycles down all the hills. I took more pictures, but they were with my 35mm - I told you, I'm still holding out! I'll try to do better next time.

Maddie and Bryce hanging out on Bobby's grill. You should have seen all the food that was inside!