Happy New Year!! I can’t believe it’s 2023!
We had a wonderful December, and everyone in our house stayed well this year! Last year we had Covid, so we were home for most of December, which was pretty cozy and a different kind of blessing, but this year we were able to get out, keep all our plans, and enjoy fun activities. I have an embarrassing number of photos, so I’ll try and keep my comments brief.
We kicked off the beginning of December with our favorite peppermint milkshakes from Chick-Fil-A.
Our first Christmas party of the season was with our field trip co-op, and you can read about that here.
The next day we moms had a special field trip planned just for our teens to Eufala, Alabama for their Christmas Tour of Homes. The day was gorgeous and mild, perfect for walking around.
That evening we were back in our hometown for a Dickens Christmas!
A tornado came through our area during the night in early December, so we all ended up in the laundry room, pets included.
It was headed right towards our neighborhood and then turned, so we were safe but, sadly, many homes not far from us look like the one below.
We hosted our Dickens Christmas Tea which you can read about here!
And my husband’s office Christmas party at my brother’s studio. You can see the details here.
Our sweet little neighbor friends joined us for “Cookies, Cocoa, and a Craft” one afternoon and you can check it out here.
We also celebrated the anniversary of our daughter accepting Jesus as her Saviour.
We let her choose a restaurant for dinner (she chose Burger Fi–yum!) and we gifted her a C.S. Lewis study Bible.
We hosted our small group (aka Life Group) for our Christmas gathering which is always a special end-of-the-year time together.
The men have always taken turns leading the singing and Bible study and this year’s was especially meaningful.
My son and I called BINGO at the assisted living facility, and everything was very merry around there! This gorgeous gingerbread house was made in-house by staff and residents. Isn’t it something!
I learned so much from my Emmanuel Advent Devotional, enjoying it for all of December with slow mornings since we weren’t on our usual school routine. The kids were usually still in bed, so I would curl up with my morning coffee, a blanket, a fire, and usually a cat joining me.
These two kitties just loved Christmas! Floyd joined me one night while I addressed Christmas cards. I don’t always get those done every year, but already having a family photo from our daughter’s wedding made it very easy this year. I addressed half and my daughter addressed the other half.
My girl and I managed to get in a couple of baking days. I love how wintry the view looks out the windows here.
Christmas cut-outs are a must every year! We’ve been making these since my first daughter was born.
Such a sweet tradition!
And of course we always have to make some a little crazy!
My son made donut snowmen for the younger cousins’ dessert table. Cute!
My family requests butter horns every year. This recipe comes from Refresh Her’s blog, and they are fun to make and delicious to eat.
A few nights before Christmas we had our family Nativity Dinner and decided to invite a couple of other families still in town. You can read about this tradition here. It’s one of our favorite meals of the year.
We spent Christmas Eve mostly cooking, wrapping gifts, and getting everything ready for the next day. Since we would have church on Christmas morning, we gave the kids the option of opening their gifts on Christmas Eve night since we’d be leaving early the next morning and then be gone all day. Our son and daughter are older now and “in the know” about Ho-Ho so they didn’t mind doing gifts a little early.
On Christmas morning they got their stockings, and we attended a special worship service at church.
We ate lunch at my mom and dad’s and enjoyed a great spread of delicious dishes brought by everyone. Afterwards we did gifts, and the cousins had their “dirty Santa” game which is always hilarious! My sister brought her dog which happens to be from Liberty’s same litter, so they had fun playing at MeMe’s.
We later went to my MIL’s house for Christmas supper, another delicious meal! She had a little game for the cousins where they had to find certain ornaments on her tree with clues she gave them.
The day after Christmas our married daughter and SIL came over for brunch and gifts.
We served hashbrowns, scrambled eggs, sausage and bacon, fruit salad, juice, and hot tea.
After brunch we opened gifts and then played games at the kitchen table in the afternoon.
That evening we went out for dinner and walked around downtown, then back home to watch The Muppet’s Christmas Carol–a family favorite!
The week following Christmas we hosted our Winter Wonderland Tea which you can read about here.
I was able to meet a couple of prayer partner friends for brunch one morning. We try to keep a yearly tradition of meeting after Christmas for breakfast or tea and this year we tried a new restaurant that was really good. I had wonderful shrimp and spinach frittata that I’m going to have to try and recreate at home.
We celebrated Joel’s birthday with an overnight getaway to Callaway Gardens and the highlight of the trip was driving through their Festival in Lights! I have another post just on this little trip coming up.
And then there’s just been a lot of rest time at home, chilling on the couch with the hubs and kiddos and kitties and doggies and watching a few last Christmas movies and eating the last of the holiday cookies.
It looks like we did a lot, and well, we did! The last two Christmases had their challenges and that was ok, but this year we wanted to make up for some lost time and we were thankful to enjoy some fun activities and hosting again.
sewprissymissy
1) I want to do eufaula! That looks wonderful!
2) CD Lewis study Bible just went on J’s Christmas list for next year.
3) we used your cookies and icing recipe this year and loved them!
4) love the nativity dinner idea.
Y’all have been so busy! But it looks like such a memorable month.
Alinda
Missy, the Eufala home tour was right up your alley!! They do one in spring too so be on the lookout for that (April, I think) I’m glad your family enjoyed the cookies too this year! That touch of lemon is what makes them, in my opinion. And your girl would have a fit over the CS Lewis study Bible!