Christmas 2010

Christmas Blessings Mix

Bugles: Bring us the joyful message of the Heavenly Host, announcing peace on earth, good will to men.

Pretzels: Symbol of a mother's loving arms; as Mary wrapped her Son in swaddling clothes and laid him in the manger.

Red Hots: Red berries that decorate the holly plant, a reminder of eternal life and Christ's redemption.

Nuts or Seeds: Promise of a future harvest, one we will wreap only if the seeds are planted and tended with diligence.

Dried Fruits: Remind us of the rich gifts brought by the Wise Men

M & M's: Memories of those who came before us to guide us to a blessed future.

Hershey's Kiss: The love of family and friends that sweetens our lives.

Multiple Christmas Blessings this year!

We are blessed to have our whole family with us for Christmas Day! Plus having our friend, Rossy, here visiting from Cancun Mexico. We are still awaiting the arrival of # 11 grandchild. We are excited that Elise is sharing her first Christmas with us. She looks so cute in her little Santa hat.

Rossy helped each of the grandchildren share a Bible verse from the advent wreath, then receiving a yummy treat. One of our traditions also is to have a birthday cake for Jesus and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. Oh, the faith of a little child. It is such a blessing. We also shared the Christmas Blessing Mix. A friend had given me one so Rossy helped package these to give everyone at our Christmas dinner. Similar to the ones Amy and family made us at Thanksgiving.

One of the things Rossy requested for her children in Cancun was a Bible. Rossy was very excited when Dan and Jenny presented them with 36 Spanish Bibles for the children.

Rossy's First Snowfall!

Rossy's very first snowfall. God really gave us a beautiful snow for Christmas.

Rossy said, "Yes, God did this for me as I have never seen snow before."

Our son, John, even commented that this is one of the most beautiful snows he remembers.

We have had the privilege of having our dear friend Rossy from Cancun Mexico visit us for Christmas. It has been incredible (one of Rossy's favorite words) how God has pathed the way for her to come here. So now that she is here we have been able to introduce Rossy to many of our family and friends. The night before Christmas Eve John and Carrie invited us to their church service as Carrie was singing, so we went and were blessed with a wonderful message. "Christmas: The Untold Story"

Christmas is the story of the very first "God with us" and how that began something entirely new in the history of God's relationship with humanity: God's spirit being born within human beings like never before. And that would never end for all of eternity, and calls us out of ourselves and into God's mission of helping everyone become part of the never-ending story.

The Spirit of Christmas only lasts for a season, but the Spirit of Christ within us lasts through all eternity. Mary's gracious acceptance of God's calling her to be the mother of the Son of God, "As you have said may it be so with me" has really touched my heart and is my heart's desire as well.

Baby Girl Larson Born 12-26-10

Baby Girl Larson was born tonight at 9:00 PM at her home with all family and Grandmas present. What an incredible miracle to see a baby come into the world. All the children were there after the birth to see their precious little sister within minutes of her birth. We don't know her name yet but she weighed 9lb. 1oz. and is 211/2" long. She has lots of dark black hair like her sister Ellie had when she was born. Praise God Mom and baby are doing well! More to come later!

Caleb and Seth's Christmas Recital Sunday, Dec. 11th, 2010

One of the joys of the Christmas season is seeing Christmas through the eyes of our grandchildren. We had the pleasure of attending Caleb and Seth's Christmas piano recitals on Saturday where they did a great job of playing their piano pieces. You can check out the details on Amy's blog.

Becky Kelley - Where's the Line to See Jesus - OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO

Happy Birthday to my dear husband, Les!

Thanks for sharing this song with me.

Let's celebrate Jesus!

Caleb,Seth & Noah -Live Nativity!

Caleb, Seth and Noah set up our Nativity set before the big snow fall. They posed for this photo so I told them they would make a great live nativity.

What a fun time decorating for Christmas with all this great help. Caleb was great at putting up the lights. All three boys participated in the nativity set up. We could have our own live nativity. Noah was so cute setting up the nativity inside too. One of the sets didn't have baby Jesus, so Noah said, "This set isn't any good, it doesn't have baby Jesus." That is so true. If it weren't for baby Jesus, we would have no hope, but Praise God, Jesus did come and He will be coming back again someday in all His glory. What a wonderful day that will be.

Caleb and Seth played their piano recital songs. We even called Great Grandma Marian, so she could listen over the phone. She was thrilled to hear them play. The boys are becoming quite talented in their piano and have their piano recital next week.

While Caleb and Seth counted my Creative Memories inventory (what a blessing the boys were), Noah helped me get out some decorations and Christmas dishes, washed them and set the table so we could have our Christmas dinner, candles and all. After dinner I helped Caleb and Seth get started doing inventory and Noah came upstairs; he called me to come up because he thought he heard someone at the back door. I came to check and no one was there, but I did discover the candles were still burning. I told Noah God must have wanted to get our attention to put the candles out before they started a fire. God is so good and teaches us in so many ways through the eyes of a child.

Making Christmas cookies with Ellie and Grace 2010

Grace making her version of sugar cookies!

Ellie decorating her sugar cookies!

It's always fun to have Ellie and Grace come to help me with Christmas baking and a sleepover. Their favorites are the sugar cookie cut outs, so we were challenged right off with finding the cookie cutters. The container holding them was no where to be found, but we did find some extra cutters in the drawer so Ellie enjoyed making Christmas trees, angels and snowmen and stars and even Bob and Larry from Veggie Tales. And of course the sprinkles were the most fun.

It was a little more of a challenge with Gracie, as she can't have any wheat or dairy products as they causes her hearing problems, so we substituted coconut oil for butter, rice milk for milk, rice flour for wheat flower and dark chocolate chips for semi sweet chocolate chips. It's amazing how many things actually have milk and wheat in them. And Grace is real good about knowing what she can and can't eat. It's been quite educational for me too. I asked Amy what I could use in place of coconut oil as I couldn't find it shopping at Jewel. Coconut oil is the oil of choice as it is solid at room temperature as is butter and margarine. The cookies actually turned out good and Grace was happy eating them.

It's interesting the difference in the girls personalities. Ellie is more quiet and laid back while Grace is a talker and has that motherly instinct of wanting to direct Ellie in what and how to do things. Ellie takes it all in stride. It will be fun to see how God uses each of them and their gifts and personalities.

It's fun to see how Grace changes from year to year. What a sweet young lady!

Ellie is becoming a lovely young lady! Changing so much each year.