SING-A-LONG

Monday night we went to our friend's the Rhees to participate in a sing-a-long. Our family joined a few other families from the neighborhood in the Rhees' living room gathered around their beautiful Christmas tree as Sandra played any Christmas song that the group requested. We sang Jingle Belles, Grandma Got Run over by a Reindeer, Still Still Still, 12 Days of Christmas, I'm Gettin' Nuttin' for Christmas and so many others.
The children were armed with bells to ring, which they used through each and every song. Sandra's 5 year old son Jeremy, who had informed her earlier that week that he wants to stop taking piano lessons to take conductor lessons, with chopstick in hand led us through the songs. It was a fun way to spend the evening. The only ting that could have made it better would have been for Steve to be there singing along with me.

Old Friends and New Ones

I have had a couple of opportunities to hang out with some of my friend, Sandra, friends from her old neighborhood. When they scrapbooked a few weeks ago they were kind enough to include me in their gift exchange/lunch. We met up at Paradise Bakery with our exchange gift.

This is a cool group of women. We had some great conversation, a few laughs and of course lots of photos were taken. I feel quite blessed to include Sandra as a friend. She is such an incredibly nice person. I have enjoyed getting to know he friends and appreciate the friendships I have made with them.

COOKIES

From the time I was a little girl Christmas Cookies has been a integral part of the holiday.

I remember my mom making the dough and rolling out cookies. As I got a little older I discovered cook books and that there were so many more cookies than sugar and chocolate chip that people could make. I would try anything that looked festive and different.

Since I have become a mother a huge part of my holiday is waking up at 4:00 am and sneaking downstairs to work on a batch of cookies. My love for creating these yummy goodies has rub off on my girls and they can't wait until they get to make their own Christmas cookies.

So this year has been not different.

The girls are off track for the entire month of December, so we have tried to come up with some fun activities that they can do. And what is better than making sugar cookies.

The giggles and conversation as they produced their cookies was fun to listen to.

I spent Friday morning and most of the day knocking out a couple batches of cookies.

Saturday afternoon our area was hit with quite a bit of snow, so to keep everyone from getting a little stir crazy being in the house we decided to decorate those yummy sugar cookies that the girls had a made a few days earlier.

It was funny to watch everyone creativity blossom. Becky mixed her green and red frosting and ended up with a beautiful grey which she frosted her candy candy cookies and then dubbed them "moldy candy canes". Hmmm...not very appetizing. Steve transformed his cookies into things such topo maps on Acadia National Park, the state of California, and he and I canoeing on a lake complete with our reflection in the water. I am a traditionalist and my cookies looked like that they were suppose to be. I guess I am just a little boring.
I did learn to not critique Steve's creations.


And of course the best part of making all the cookies is to taste them to make sure the are PERFECT.

It was such a good time. Lots of laughing and talking. The part I will remember the most is that we were all together. I just love my little family.

FESTIVAL of TREES

Saturday I took the kids to South Towne Center to visit the Festival of Trees.

There were hundreds of beautifully decorated trees in different themes.

Many of the trees are decorated in remembrance of a child or adult that has passed away. Next to some of the trees would be there photo and there were people who stood near the trees that could tell you the stories behind the trees.

There was a sweet spirit there with those trees.

It was a little piece of heaven for me. There were many brightly decorated trees that I fell in love with. There were a couple of trees that were "girlie themed" with purses and shoes. Those were also some of my favorites. Another one that caught my eye was the tree that was decorated with PEZ candy dispensers. Very clever. The kids enjoyed the trees too.

It was an excellent way to spend a chilly Saturday afternoon

FAMILY PICTURES

Last Thursday we finally got our family picture taken after a couple of failed attempts.

We took a few more traditionally posed pictures inside the house in front of the Christmas tree. Then Steve had an idea to take a few with us up in the willow tree in the backyard. So we all went out, barefoot, into the cold backyard and climbed up into the tree. I was not too sure if I would like these. But I ended up loving them. I actually love them so much that I blew one up to 11x14 to mat and frame and hang over the fireplace. So, I guess Steve does have some good ideas.