December Happenings

What a wonderful time of year! It has been great seeing the excitement of everything through Avery's eyes this year. She is excited about the music, the baking, the trees, the lights and even Santa in her books. We haven't attempted going to see Santa in person this year. Last year was not successful, so I'm not sure about this year. Two weeks ago we had our mother/daughter bake day. I've had this day with my mom for as long as I can remember. We pick a day in December and spend most of the afternoon baking Christmas cookies, candy, fudge, and chocolate covered pretzels. It's a great time to relax and just spend time together. We always make a mess and have an oops recipe, but its always one of my favorite days of the year. Last year we included Avery, but her help was limited to sitting on the floor with a ball of dough. Her one year old attention span just wouldn't last. This year though, she loved it. She helped with the chocolate covered pretzels. She was covered head to toe in chocolate and ate more than she dipped, but it was so fun. My mom and I finished the rest during naptime. We now have 8 or so containers of goodies on the counter that keep calling my name. I need to give them away! 

  This past weekend we started the family Christmas rounds. We had a Christmas supper club complete with dirty santa. It was great to see everyone after so long. Then Sunday we went to Josh's grandmothers house for a Christmas lunch. It was yummy as always and Avery enjoyed loving on her great nanny and great papa. We ended the busy weekend with a great Christmas concert at a friends church. Their worship team sang and then Big Daddy Weave played. It was refreshing and a great reminder of the true reason for Christmas. 

  Last night we had some friends over for a great Christmas dinner. It is such a blessing to be able to use our new home to bless others and to spend quality time with people. Josh made a homemade, completely from scratch lasagna that was very tasty. My contribution was emptying salad bags into the bowl and putting rolls in the oven. :) I do not enjoy cooking, so I leave that to him. I did wash a lot of dishes though. It was such a great evening of laughter and I even pulled out our rarely used china to set the table. 

  Today has already been wonderful, complete with a 20 minute dance party with Avery to Christmas music (my cardio for the day, haha). We have to finish wrapping gifts tonight and pack for the weekend. We are spending the weekend at "Stella" with my family. I can't wait. Its always  a relaxing, fun time. I can't wait to listen to Christmas music, decorate cookies, play the annual monopoly game, watch Christmas movies and laugh with the family. I am so blessed and so very thankful for all the Lord has given me. My family means the world to me!

 Merry Christmas everyone, enjoy your time with family and friends :) I'll update after the holidays. 

Eating the chocolate from dipping

dipping pretzels with her grammy {or gee as she is now called :) }