Decorating Highlights

We had fun decorating for Christmas on Saturday. Here's just a few highlights . . .

Since we're traveling north for Christmas this year, we kept things a bit simpler, including using the small Christmas tree we've had since we were first married, rather than the larger one I picked up on clearance last year.

Peter was very pleased with his contribution to the decorating efforts! :o)

Lights are always interesting.

Hannah loved putting ornaments on the tree!

I am so thankful to have a place to display our village out of reach of little hands! Yes, when we remodeled the kitchen, we specifically chose to install shorter cabinets so that we could use the space above them for the village. (We even have outlets up there for the lights!) The realtor who evaluated our house for us this summer gave me a really strange look when I explained the reason for not installing cabinets to the ceiling. :o)

My wonderful husband took care of unboxing everything and plugging in the lights, and I got the fun part of arranging everything. :o) My height (or lack thereof!) makes it a bit easier for me to spend extended time on the counter.

And here is one of those classic pictures so aptly capturing our children's different personalities. :o) Ah, the joys of parenting!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas is coming!

We enjoyed one of our favorite "start of the Christmas season" traditions this evening--the annual lighting ceremony at Bob Jones University.


The evening starts off with the singing of traditional Christmas songs like "Jingle Bells" and "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas," etc. In recent years they've started projecting the words so that everyone can participate on more than just the chorus and first verse. :o) Dr. Bob then reads Luke 2 and the lights are turned on during the climax of "O Holy Night." After that we sing all of the traditional Christmas carols like "O Little Town of Bethlehem" and "Away in the Manger." It's a wonderful evening, and the lights are beautiful!

The kids loved the lights!

And Peter wasn't disappointed by the Christmas cookies in the Bookstore either! :o)

As anyone knows who has ever tried to take pictures of Christmas lights, pictures don't do them justice, but hopefully they can give you an idea.

For those familiar with the traditional layout, they designed a new creche this year due to the work being done on Rodeheaver. It's nice.

And the angel said unto them,
Fear not: for, behold, I bring you
good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David
a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe

wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel
a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace, good will toward men.

(Luk 2:10-14)

Our Cousins

Thought we'd share some recent pics of our cousins, Sam and Bryce, in NY . . .

And we thought WE had to bundle up!

We're looking forward to seeing everyone at Christmas!

What to do with two days off?

Since sleeping in is out of the question when you have two little ones, we made our time off for Thanksgiving extremely productive! What a blessing!


We did "Toy Swap." Since we have been blessed with more toys than we have reasonable space to enjoy on a consistent basis, we keep about 1/3 of them in the attic and rotate every couple months. It's wonderful! It's like Christmas every time we switch. :o) It's amazing how much more life we get out of toys, books, and buddies when they become "new" again every few months. :o)

I cleaned out the kids' closet--packing away and donating outgrown clothes and hanging up Peter's 24-month stuff. I love to see how the Lord provides for all of their needs without breaking our budget every time they switch sizes--be it through hand-me-downs, grandparents, or Safe Harbor! What a blessing!

We reorganized and cleaned out some extra stuff from the attic. Doesn't it look pretty??? :o)

Chris installed a house fan (a long-time pet project!) :o)

And he also finished up the inside trim on the living room and office windows!

Peter enjoyed just sitting and looking out the window (although I'm sure he would have rather have been outside himself!)

Whew! It's encouraging to get some of those items off the to-do list!

Thanksgiving Fellowship

We hope you enjoyed a blessed Thanksgiving! We thoroughly enjoyed our fellowship with the Smiths! After dinner while the kids napped, we had fun with a couple rounds of "Ticket to Ride." It's a great board game which requires strategy but not a lot of experience. (Somewhere between Candyland and Chess.) :o)


Dan and Debbie vividly remember "the old days" when we had to move the refrigerator to squeeze everyone in and Dan was "stuck in the corner," so the dining space was a special blessing as well. :o)

The way it used to be . . .

The Kiddos

My little guy who is next to impossible to get to smile for pictures, was very pleased with himself for designing his own "truck." I took advantage of the opportunity!

Hannah thoroughly enjoyed attending her first birthday party. :o) Happy Birthday, Patrick!

Peter loves dogs right now--be they found in books, buddies, or backyards! :o)

Yes, we do have to bundle up this time of year--even in sunny SC!

(Hannah dashed out only briefly.)

The leaves did finally get raked . . . thanks, Daddy and Grandpa!

And Jenny pulled out the sewing machine to make an Indian vest for Hannah's Thanksgiving Feast at school. It's amazing how much shorter all of the seams are in a toddler's outfit than in an adult's!

Life misc. 2

Yikes! Life keeps moving even after Grandma and Grandpa leave! The next few posts will be an assortment of picture highlights from the last couple weeks . . .

We love you, Grandma and Grandpa H.! Thanks so much for coming!

Peter is definitely not into having "stuff" on his fingers. His vocabularly is expanding and now includes "truck," "bug," "ball," "mama," and "uh-oh" along with his signs for "please," "no," "yes," "more," "dirty diaper," and "all done." I love this stage where they're starting to learn to really communicate!


Banana Chocolate Chip muffins were definitely a much more pleasant use for the over-ripe bananas stinking up our refrigerator. It's fun to watch Hannah's kitchen skills developing! She's really starting to become pretty proficient with baking. :o)

Peter is still in practice mode . . .

And of course, time with Daddy is always a blast! :o)

Thanks for the extra Legos, Grandma and Grandpa! We hit the ceiling!

TIMBER!