"Bring out the Holly!"

As soon as the leaves fell from the Thankful Tree, Christmas decor was out of boxes & beginning to make the house festive....soooo my favorite time of year in our home! I was quite excited to switch out our fall photos in frames throughout the main areas of our home & replace them with Winter ones. For a long time I had wanted to have four sets of seasonal photos to display appropriately throughout the year & I am finally getting around to knocking that off the list! My plan is to switch out the ones with Christmas decor with regular winter ones once January comes & that will take us through the end of March when we switch to Spring. But for now, back to this holiday season! The girls & I decided we needed some sugar cookies to start the season off right.  I think we need to cookies to start any season (or week) off right ; ) 

We got to work practicing our measuring & putting to use what we have been learning in Math both with CC & our home curriculum.  We faired well & the dough turned out delicious for being a new recipe I looked up when I thought I was without baking powder only to open the cupboard & find the baking powder as soon as the dough was complete. Common occurrence for me. 

Here are our baking assistants...

They couldn't help but sneak a bite every now & then....totally inherited that from their mama. So far, I have not contracted salmonella from all the raw eggs I have ingested over the years...knock on wood.

Once they were baked, we had some decorating to do. I thought it was just for fun but then someone decided to show us all up & it turned into a competition ; )

Daddy won as expected & coached the newest decorators in their techniques.

Charlotte was working on the hang of covering the cookie with icing all by her big self & was so focused she never even noticed the icing on her nose. Eloise on the otherhand forced us to replace the knife after just about every cookie because she licked it clean. Love that girl!

Our final product....some more sugary than others...

We continued the tradition of skipping dinner & eating sausage balls & pigs in a blanket which we all love. The only hiccup in the evening was the power went out right before we were ready to bake our evening "snackies" as we call them. It ended up being out for nearly an hour & causing a bit of stress since two little guys were grumpy nearing the dinner time hour. The girls reminded us that God could make the lights turn on & He did just as we walked back inside ready to prepare for a trip to a drive- thru. We were thankful & got to work on "dinner" bathed some dirty kids & got ready to decorate. 

The girls & I had split up the baby friendly ornaments from the ones that should be hung on the top half of the tree earlier that afternoon. Owen & Anson were so adorable when they walked out into the living room from their nap & saw a tree in their living room. They literally stopped & stared not making a peep for a good 60 seconds before shouting "tree! tree! tree!" They were very interested in the ornaments though not very skilled at actually hanging them on a branch. The two mini mamas were happy to show off their hanging skills & offered to help the new decorators. 

Lolo bird found a spot to relax when she tired of hanging ornaments.

The girls wore their 3T & 5T jammies from last year but it looks like we may need an upgrade soon ; )

It was Eloise's first time to get to place the star on the tree & she was nervous as Daddy lifted her up in the air. I had my portrait lens on & it was quite dark so the picture quality is not what I desired but I do love that it looks like pixie dust is falling from that sweet girl. We also love that ol'Beller is in the picture too. She of course (scared of anything abnormal) barked at the tree when she saw it. 

We all agree that having a fireplace, gas logs & mantle is a wonderful change from our Netflix fire on the TV screen with a space heater on the floor. It looks much more like what we had growing up & offers much warmth to the room.

a little poem to finish off the post:

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care 
& the morning after, two girls expected presents to be there. 

They were slightly disappointed but we continue to share
there is much more to Christmas than a toy or stuffed bear.

They are excited for gifts but we pray they understand 
the greatest gift came in the form of a baby who grew into a man. 

A man, who from the beginning of time
entered a fallen world knowing he would die.

Dying he did, but now he lives
and because of that gift we have something to give. 

We take this season & focus our hearts
on Jesus who came to a world that had fallen apart. 

His sacrifice was great & effects are unending
and we hope you are changed by the grace He's extending. 

We share this with others the whole year long
& in this time we celebrate though gifts & song.

Well that was random but that's how my brain works these days & not just because of my recent diagnosis ; ) We hope the time leading up to the celebration of the birth of Christ is full of reflection & thankfulness in your home & neighborhood.