Making Christmas Cookies

Making sugar cookies on Christmas Eve!

Christmas Program

The kids had their annual Christmas service the week before Christmas. Asher was nervous about all the lines he had to memorize, but he did fantastic. And Rhylah was Mary! They all did a fantastic job. Gabriel looked so grown up!

Christmas Cards Over the Years

Well, for the last few years, we've been too lazy to do Christmas cards ... which is too bad really, especially when I got to looking at the previous cards we've done and saw how fun it is to watch the kids grow up from card to card/year to year. So, I'm sharing our previous cards, just for fun. They start in 2002 and go through 2010.

Birds

So I have all these bird feeders outside my kitchen windows. The summer is a low-activity time of year (strangely). But in the winter, I get all kinds of interesting guests. This guy, who I THINK is a downy-headed woodpecker, has been around often in the past few days. I also have a Cardinal named Clark, his wife, named Ruby, and another woodpecker named Walt.

Christmas Bazaar

I'm part of a crafting group up at church/school. And every December, we hold a craft bazaar for the kiddos at Christ Lutheran School. They are able to come in and buy some affordable, and well-made, HAND-made gifts for their family members. It always gets me in the holiday spirit! This year was no exception!

Sugar Plum Dreamer

She didn't have the hat on when we put her to bed ... but this was how we found her a few hours later...

Decorating the Tree

After dinner, we put up the tree and decorated! Asher and Rhylah were excited to help, but Gabriel joined his dad in watching football this year, although I did talk him into hanging a few of his ornaments! :) Rhylah was MOST excited to set up the nativity on the mantle. We always put it on the mantle so we can see it better and it doesn't get lost from sight under the tree!

2nd Thanksgiving

Grandpa Art Harrmann passed away right around Thanksgiving this year, so we were in Milwaukee for the funeral over the holiday. While it was a very sad time, it was also a wonderful "coming together" of the Wisconsin family, and it was good to see everyone. But when we got home, we had the hankering for more turkey. So on the day we bought our Christmas tree, we also cooked a big fat turkey bird and made mashed potatoes, cranberries and all that stuff too. It was delicious, and a great way to end the day!

Baggin' our Tree

There really aren't words for this ... :) Nate wanted to see if he could do it. He could, of course!

The Great Christmas Tree Hunt of 2013

We got our tree at Bredewig Acres again this year. We LOVE this little, family-run tree farm. So quaint! The trees were a little scraggly this year, and the one we bought was a bit crooked, but we loved it anyway!