The Greatest Gift

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!


Wishing all of you the blessing of God's peace, the joy of His hope and the gift of His promise.

May His abundant blessings pour out upon you and your household and may you accept the gift of His salvation, the GREATEST GIFT OF ALL!!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Holly

What's a mother to do?

Tyler decided recently that he wanted to get his ear pierced.... Shoot me now!!

After my initial shock, and some communication between dad, Tyler and myself, we said "okay"!!!

So this morning Ashleigh and I, along with his friend Joci, accompanied Tyler to the mall. We ran in to Sidney and Brooke and took this cute little photo!!

Then off to claire's! Where they wouldn't let me take a picture!!! What's up with that? Isn't every piercing a photographic moment? Don't other people protest this rule? Nothing I said could persuade them to change their policy!
While you aren't able to experience the pain and suffering, or see the crowd of friends gathered round, here is the result of the previous few moments!! Can't even see it, it's so small! Not sure if I like it or not, but don't hate it either. He thinks he likes it, but figures if he doesn't, he'll just take it out and let it close.

He got a nice "ear care" bag with some nice product! He asked me if I'd carry it...NO! He asked Joci...NO! We made him carry the pretty pink bag announcing the deed!!

I did draw up a contract and had him sign it before I'd let him get his ear pierced...

He didn't use his real name, but I know it was him and I'm pretty sure it's legal!!

A Night to Remember...

And a day to remember!!!

This is a picture of our house at about 11:30 a.m. The wood floor has just been finished and is being cleaned, and the lady on the left is installing all the cabinet doors and drawers. The stove is not hooked up, the island is in the front of the picture, the refrigerator is in the hallway and we're having a party at 6:00!!!!

We HUSTLED!!! Everything in place by 4:00 and then the cleaning...and putting stuff in the cupboards, and decorating a little more outside, and hiding all of my boxes, and PRAYING no one goes in the laundry room or my bedroom!!!!

Last night was TOLO, the winter, semi-formal , all county dance. Tyler and his date, Joci, were going with 3 other couples and I thought it would be fun to have all the parents over for pictures and appetizers. Nothing like a deadline to get you motivated!!! Thank goodness for shrimp trays from the grocery store, as there was no time for me to make anything!!!

Everyone brought something, actually many things...thank you all so much!!!

Eight kids, thirteen parents , a few siblings and friends too, not to mention everyone had a camera! There were so many flashes the neighbors probably thought we were doing fireworks inside!!

Tyler and Joci!

Joci and her pretty nails and flowers...not to mention that smile!

All the guys...Chad, Jesse, Tyler and Max!

All the girls...Kassie, Erika, Emily and Joci!

The cute pose!

The serious pose!

Kassie and Joci...

My goofy, lovable boy!

So cute!!

The whole group...

Heading out to dinner!

It was about 22 degrees outside and these girls didn't have coats on!!!!

They all went to dinner in Bellingham. Only two of the guys can drive with passengers, so it makes for interesting transportation!

We had a great time with all the parents and enjoyed meeting some of them for the first time.

Great food and conversations!

The kids all had a great time, got home safely and before curfew!!!

This is what the kitchen looked like at the end of the night...much improved from the morning! I love how the cabinets turned out and the floor is amazing! We have managed to ding a cabinet already though!!

These rooms are almost finished... a little carpet tuck left, but we love the way it's turned out!!

Now, for the pantry............

Christmas Bunco

It was a night to behold...all the glitz and glamor you could imagine as the bunco girls got together for their Christmas party!

This wasn't just any glitz and glamor! No, there were some mighty fine original outfits!!

Annetta, on the right is wearing a bridesmaid dress from , get this, BEFORE she had her four children! Collective gasp, please!! Linda, in the middle, got her dress at the thrift store for $3.00!
Such thrifty and "green" women amongst us!

We started the night at Lee's with drinks and dinner...and Oh so much FUN!! Lee is on the right!
Linda, Jolene and Kristi...

Lydia and Me!

Kisses from my dear friends, Ellen and Lee, the hostesses of the night!

Debbie came as Miss Mistletoe!

Linda and Debbie...

Karen and her friend Foxy! Karen got her entire outfit from her Grandma!

Debbie, Jolene and Holly!

Her sweater came from Grandma too...so she says! Look at that festive drink in her hand!

Carol, my son's Spanish teacher, and Linda

When we arrived, we were given a coupon organizer with some notes and some monopoly money inside. One of the first things we did was vote for the most beautiful. We paid money to the person, based on what we thought she deserved. Debbie, Miss Mistletoe, won!

Little did we know that she had a speech prepared, just in case she needed it!! It was adorable! A little diddy on the history of mistletoe, mistle meaning "dung" and toe meaning "stick". Hence, mistletoe means "dung on a stick". This was very well researched with many facts to back it up! I don't know how she did it, but she kept a straight face and was very serious through the whole thing! I do have video, but have no idea how to load it! Trust me, it was priceless!!!

We got money from banker Ellen, all night, for various reasons: over 50 years old, saying the blessing, singing a Christmas Carol, singing a carol in Spanish!, telling a joke, having a Christmas name, etc.

We also played a really fast dice game and got money for the most points.



Lee's daughter Amy catered dinner for us and it was heavenly good delicious!!

Prime rib, cooked to perfection, glazed carrots with cranberries, an incredible salad, rice pilaf...it was all so good!

Festive drinks which were awesome!! I don't drink and I had two, yes two, glasses of this delectableness! Champagne and cranberry juice combined in to glasses rimmed with crushed candy cane. So festive and like I said, so good!!!!

Amy cleaned up too...more than just the dishes!!! Just kidding-she's posing, not drinking!!!

After dinner, we headed to Ellen's for dessert and prizes.

Aren't these adorable? The cones were rimmed with chocolate, drizzled with white chocolate, filled with chocolate mousse and a marshmallow at the bottom! She shave milk and white chocolate into the bottom of the glasses and stood the cones in them! delicious!!

Beautiful and quite delicious as you can see!!

Doing a silly pose for our annual Christmas picture!

We're heading into our 13th year together, getting together once a month for dinner and games! A lovely group of ladies and such dear friends! How wonderful to have a group of Christian women that share your joys, pray for your weaknesses and are there for you ALWAYS.

Thank you so much girls! It was so fun!

Merry Christmas to you all!!

Christmas is in the air!!

This doesn't exactly scream Christmas, but bear with me!

Now that the remodel is done, we're moving on to what inspired the remodel in the first place. The leak that damaged the wall in the pantry, and the floor in the kitchen that led to needing to replace it all so we may as well change everything else!! We didn't want to put in the new floor with all the construction going on so now that that's done, we're onto stage 2!! And since we're pulling out the floor we may as well paint the cabinets too!! So this weekend was spent ripping out hardwood, pulling out appliances, cleaning out cupboards and getting ready for the painting and the floor this week.

Brian's dad came and helped on Saturday. Is is really worth the money we save by doing it ourselves? A question often asked!!

The kick-off to Christmas in Lynden really begins with the lighted Christmas parade. It's my favorite Lynden event, not to be missed!! It was soooooo cold! Northeaster blowing all around and well below freezing! Ashleigh's home so we all got to go as a family this year...Yea!!
Pictures are a little dark, but there was quite a turn out. A few thousand people lining the streets for about 15 blocks.

There are floats, cars, tractors, horses and people all lit up! Prizes for certain divisions, etc. It's so pretty!

Big trucks, fire trucks...anything that drives that can have lights on it is usually there!

One of my favorites is the Edaleen Dairy float. A giant bowl of ice cream with the scoop dropping it in the bowl.

And the eggnog being poured into the mug. Flora has a beautiful float too

Tyler ran into his FAVORITE teacher, Mrs. Kroonjte! They have quite an affinity for each other!!

Tyler's friend Joci! (Very cute coat! )

Tyler and Joci are going to TOLO next weekend so Tyler and I went shopping after church.

Things are so technical these days...taking pictures in the dressing room, texting it to her for approval and getting a response all in the matter of a few minutes!


Her dress is red so she requested this outfit!

Our friends Dave and Angie came up from Marysville and joined us for dinner. It's always so nice to see them. Dave is a master story teller and time flies when we're together!

Today is my Grammy's 89th birthday. I forgot to get a picture to post, but will try and find one for later. Got to have a nice phone chat with her . She is just the sweetest thing and such an awesome grandma. I am so blessed!

Ashleigh goes home tomorrow morning. Two finals this week and then off for Christmas break. She'll be working down there for a few weeks and then joining us in Leavenworth and at home for Christmas. So many things to look forward to!