Christmas celebrations

Wonderful Counselor

Mighty God

The Everlasting Father

Prince of Peace

 So thankful to celebrate the Birth of Jesus!

Here are a few pics

Grandma and Grandpa came a few days before Christmas. They were a little shocked by the cold weather after being in Florida enjoying their retirement.  It's hard to catch up with them in between golfing, creating pottery, going to the beach, traveling, fishing, and hanging with friends.

Mom has become a professional at making pottery.  We are still working on creating this little bowl again after she left.  She made it look so easy.

Nana and Papa joined us Christmas Eve, we went to the Christmas Eve service and it was a sweet time of worship.

Olivia didn't make it through the service

One of our family traditions on Christmas Eve is to read the Christmas story, eat Shepherd soup and the kids dress up like Mary, Joseph and the Shepherd's. Olivia insisted she wanted to be Mary so she could hold baby Jesus. Olivia told us how Mary and Joseph knocked, knocked, knocked and there was NO room in the inn. She repeated this line several times and then said Mary had baby Jesus in the manger.

Papa joined the kids in dressing up, although we thought he looked like the Roman guard rather than a Shepherd *wink*

Reading out of  Luke

Olivia is our picky eater so she had Shepherd cereal rather than Shepherd soup (potato soup)

Our family tradition of participating in Advent is a sweet time. We read various scriptures throughout the month. Billy reads out of his Great Grandfather Logans' bible. It is a rich heritage knowing that his Grandfather sat with this bible many times to prepare for sermons.

Another tradition with the kids is they draw names to purchase a gift for each other that they open on Christmas Eve. The kids work hard to earn money in order to thoughtfully purchase a gift for one another.  The kids light up when the sibling opens the gift they purchased.  

Olivia was so excited that she couldn't go to sleep. 

The kids woke up at 7:30am, and this is the first glimpse of the gifts under the tree.

One of Breanna's gifts was a webcam to keep in contact with her mentor Jill, Melissa and friends. We all had a fun time with the special effects.

our abs hurt after using the webcam

ohh what a long day of playing nonstop!

"you'll shoot your eye out kid" yep, Logan received a Red Ryder BB gun. I was a little nervous about this gift however we are raising a "wild at heart" man

"Grammy sue" in the neighborhood gave the kids giant ginger bread cookies to decorate. The kids had so much fun decorating and eating!

Breanna sporting her snuggie and showing us her purity ring. She received several letters with her purity ring and she is anxiously waiting for it to come back from the jeweler with the resizing.

Maddy is super excited about her new bike.  She has had "hand me down" bikes so this is a treat to have her first new bike.

Luke 2

The Birth of Jesus

 ¹ In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ² (This was the first census that took place while^[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ And everyone went to their own town to register.

 ⁴ So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷ and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
 ⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
 ¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
 ¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
   and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
 ¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
 ¹⁶ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷ When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

This is Olivia looking at the blog waiting to read your comments : )