Feliz Navidad!

born Thy people to deliver,

born a child and yet a King,

born to reign in us forever,
now Thy gracious kingdom bring.
by Thine own eternal Spirit
rule in all our hearts alone;
by Thine all sufficient merit,
raise us to Thy glorious throne.

 

***

He has come for us, this Jesus

He's the hope for all mankind

He has come for us, this Messiah

Born to give us life

***

I celebrate the day that You were born to die so I could one day pray for You to save my life!

***

"For today in the city of David, there has been born to you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."

Luke 2:11

Christmas with the Carters

Today was Christmas Eve lunch & gifts with my dad's side...SO much fun with all the little ones.  They get so excited!  Here are a few of my favorite pictures :)

I wish I could get away with that hair.  Hard to believe this girl slept in my lap all last Christmas Eve & was tinier than a baby doll.

Sisters...

the boys.  my dad, his 3 brothers, my grandfather, brother, & lone boy cousin (on this side, that is...plenty on the other side!)  okay...got a good look at that one?  now check out this next one & see if you notice the difference.

 

Ben & I hate when Daddy tucks his shirt in without a belt...so I photoshopped one on.  :)

this may be the first picture with all the Carter grandchildren...until May, that is.

Annabelle (1), Abel (3), me, Addi Kay (7), Blair (3), Elizabeth (9), Emmie (5), Ada Klair (4), Ben (20), & Bryn (4)

 

she loved shaking this one...there was a tambourine inside :)

can you believe he wanted these arm warmers?  he'll certainly be styling making a statement when he runs & bikes.

 

the two big girls got bb guns!  they were SO excited!  Elizabeth kept saying "it's a girl gun!"

annnd...I just had to show you a little of what I got tonight. :)  so excited to use these...one day when I have a house!

also, tomorrow I will be taking pictures in style with this beauty!

Merry Christmas Eve to all!

wishing you a day of pure joy tomorrow as we celebrate the greatest birthday in history.  without Christmas, there would be no Easter...& that's the greatest gift we have!

#70. tons of family to celebrate with.

#71. watching little ones open gifts!

#72. church family + game night [+ winning]

#73. lots of little girls who think I'm cool...& a little boy who thinks I hung the moon.

#74. such a reason to celebrate!

#75. a family who knows me.

Christmas Traditions

 I really like making lists.  Hope y'all don't mind...  Plus everything's so busy right now, I feel like there are 1000 things going on & none of them really go together, so this is my best effort.

one.

I've seen lots of posts & linkys asking about favorite holiday traditions...& I think I have a different answer every time.  So here's one more.

We've had this advent calendar as long as I remember, but haven't been able to find it the past few years.  A few weeks ago, I climbed on the counter to get a Christmas mug out of the cabinet over the refrigerator...& my calendar was buried in the back.  It's a little ridiculous how excited I was.  I pitter-pattered my almost 24-year-old feet back to where my mom was taking a shower & knocked on the door to tell her.  And just like that, I reclaimed my position as official mouse-mover each day.

two.

Now, for a few more Christmas pictures...

I'm really loving our gift wrap this year.

three.

Last painting project is officially finished!  A step stool for 2 of my little girl cousins.  Their bathroom is pink & green, so I think it'll be perfect.

four.

Last night when I got in bed, I sat down to read my Bible.  And it looked like this.  There's just something comforting as a sleeping cat...especially when he's as lovely as this little fellow.  Okay, maybe not little...but lovely all the same.  I never thought I'd really care so much about an animal...so not me.  P.S. think this is one of my new favorite pictures.  :)

five.

I got this recipe at Picky Palate by way of Savannah...hot chocolate cupcakes!

Turns out I was going to have to devote hours my whole life to making these, so the rest turned out a little more like this because I was not feeling patient tonight...& got tired washing chocolate batter off my hands.  The recipe said it made 24, but for some reason, my batter made more like 1000.  I guess Jesus was up to multiplying again...doesn't He know He should be relaxing during His birthday week?!

Next order of business: finding a good Christmas movie on tv.  Adios, friends.

Happy Christmas Eve Eve!

#66. Christmas traditions

#67. holy anticipation.

#68. hustle & bustle of the week of Christmas.

#69. an empty house + new recipe + loud Christmas music.  I love my family, but when I'm cooking, I'd rather have loud music, no one to judge what I'm doing, & space to dance around while I cook.

glory in the highest

a little video someone posted on YouTube from our Christmas cantata the other night.  my mom is on the right, 2nd from the top.  I come in towards the end :)

i love a good list.

I missed linking up to miscellany monday this week, & now all this miscellany is just building up & I don't know what to do with it.  so, I'll just make a list...  

one.

just realized I never shared these with you.  when it was real cold a few weeks ago, the fountain at my favorite park looked like this.

two.

last night I went out to eat with high school friends & then to Eli's to play games.  this is one of my favorite times every year because these boys (yep...I'm the only girl) love games as much as I do & will play for hours!  favorites of last night: Clue (Office edition) & Scattergories.

three.

if I never have to see paint again, I'd be okay about it.  okay...that's not exactly true, but after I finish my last painting project tomorrow, I want to be paint-free for awhile.  I got to work this morning around 8:30 & didn't leave until after 9 tonight.  painted allll day.  maybe some pictures of my latest after I finish tomorrow.

four.

just when I thought I was finished crafting for the day, we needed something to wrap for my grandmother.  her real present (2 little Christmas trees for her front porch) is too big to wrap, so I made a little something for her to open.  & I love it.

five.

a few months ago, I set up a blog for one of my Bible study girls.  like many that I've recruited to blogland, she swore up & down that she would actually write on it.  today she wrote post #2.  however...I was really proud of her for it.  a few weeks ago, we finished talking about the women in the lineage of Christ.  that night as we talked about Mary, I read them part of this post that I wrote several years back.  I wanted to encourage them to really put themselves into the Christmas story...we are, after all, a part of it.  we're the sinners that that baby came to save.  so today, Jana posted Mary's story from her point of view.  proud to see her digging deeper & also using the gift of writing that God's given her.

six.

little bits of Christmas songs recently discovered/re-discovered & now on repeat: 

  

Winter Snow by Chris Tomlin & Audrey Assad [I accidentally typed 'Hepburn' at first...where is my mind?]

could've come like a mighty storm with all the strength of a hurricane

You could've come like a forest fire with the power of Heaven in Your flame

but You came like a winter snow, quiet & soft, & slow

falling from the sky in the night to the earth below

He Has Come For Us by Meredith Andrews [or Chrystina Lloree Fincher on the new North Point Christmas album]

He has come for us, this Jesus

He's the hope for all mankind

He has come for us, the Messiah

Born to give us life 

I think that's it for tonight...

the rest of my week:

tomorrow: 

{am} cook for Christmas eve & day

{pm} work

Christmas eve 

{am} finish cooking, load car with presents!

{pm} Christmas with my dad's side, Christmas eve service at my church, dinner & Bunko night (never played...is this an old people game?) with church people, Christmas with the Robinettes, midnight mass at the Episcopal church.

Christmas day 

{am} Christmas with just my family (love this), packing & loading the car again

{pm} Christmas with my mom's side, spending the night there.

Christmas Party Fridays!

things I've made this Christmas:

one. gifts for my Bible study girls.  wooden letters from hobby lobby, painted, decopauged, & decorated.  I don't have a picture of all of them, but here's McKinlie's hanging on her wall...she sent me this last night...don't even ask why she's framing it with her feet, because I have no clue.

two. my favorite: wreath for my cousin.  styrofoam wreath from hobby lobby, LOTS of ribbon, & metal letter from hobby lobby.

three. cards with Samaritan's Purse gift details on them for my family's stockings.

four. still working on a letter for my favorite little boy cousin (I only have one on that side of the family, so I can call him my favorite).  actually am doing this because I was in love with the dinosaur paper & needed to do something with it.  works in my favor that the boy is crazy about dinosaurs.

that's all for now, but after this weekend, lots & lots of food could be added to the list :)

happy Christmas creating, everyone!

& link up here!

fill-in-the-blank friday

{one} giving is...my favorite.  I love picking out the perfect gifts for everyone on my list.

{two} receiving is...fun, too.  especially when you know the other person has put a lot of thought into the gift.

{three} the best gift I ever received was...ugh...no idea.  the most unique: my grandmother had some of my great aunt's autographed black & white photos of old Hollywood stars enlarged & framed for me a few years ago.

{four} the best gift I ever gave was...I made a lapboard for my cousin a few years ago with TONS of pictures of us from the time we were born until that year.  I don't know if she loved it as much as I did, but I was real excited about it.

{five} something intangible that I wish I could receive is...a great voice.  you know...sort of an Ariel/Ursula transaction, except minus all the evil.

{six} something intangible that I wish I could give is...love...isn't that what we're really trying to do with tangible gifts anyway?...show people how much we love them?

{seven} the one gift I always wanted as a child, but never got is...a pony...duh.  but let's be honest...I would not have really wanted a pony.

wee bit of me wednesday

one. did you buy a Christmas tree this year?

nope...pulled one out of the closet.

two. what is your favorite holiday tradition?

going to the Christmas Eve service.  this year we'll be hitting up two.  my church & also going to midnight mass at the Episocopal church.

three. do you open your gifts on Christmas Eve or Christmas day?

both.  my dad's side on Christmas Eve & my family & my mom's side on Christmas day.

four. at what age did you stop believing in Santa Claus?

the first time I remember thinking much about it was in 3rd grade, when my best friend kept telling me she "believed in the spirit of Santa Claus."  like she had any idea what that meant...

five. do you fill stockings?

I still get a stocking at my house & my grandparents' house, & I put Samaritan's Purse gifts in my parents' stockings.

six. handmade presents or store-bought presents?

both.  I've made quite a few this year.

seven. do you have a favorite Christmas meal?

YES!  Christmas breakfast (cream cheese danish, garlic cheese grits, breakfast casserole, etc.) & lunch (all great appetizers at my grandparents').

eight. is your Christmas tree real or artificial?

artificial :(  but it will not be when I have my own house!

nine. what is your favorite Christmas song?

clearly, I have a hard time with this question.

ten. did you send out Christmas cards this year?

not yet...I know, a little behind...but everytime we plan to take the pictures, it rains or is FRIGID.  soon...

December 12, 2005

You know how much I love Christmas?  Everything about it - the whole advent season, Christmas trees, Christmas shopping, Christmas music, Christmas Eve service, etc.  

I think I get part of that from my grandmother.  She loves it.  On the day after Thanksgiving every year we decorate her house.  Several trees, a mantle with stockings for everyone in my family, quite a few nativities, outdoor greenery & lights...everything.

Exhibit A, this is her table on Christmas.  Look like she's preparing for royalty?  Nope...just my family. 

On the day after Thanksgiving, 2005, we did just that...decorated her entire house with all of our favorite ornaments, favorite trees that she'd had for years, & decorations my mom & her siblings had made as kids.

17 days later, on December 12, their house burned down.  Of course that's never easy, but especially at Christmastime.  There are things about a fire that I never though of until it happened to my family.  The hard part is that so many things, you can still see...you know they're there...but now they're useless. 

We went through the house multiple times, dug through ashes to find things that might've survived.  For example, my grandmother had a metal recipe box with her mother's chocolate icing recipe in it.  We dug through ashes in the kitchen until we found it.  There was one frame in the house containing a poem my mom wrote for my grandparents.  We didn't remember exactly where it was, but we broke the glass on frames until we found it, burned, but still legible.  

My grandmother has always been an avid reader.  For insurance purposes, everything had to be counted.  So my cousin & I counted every book in that house that was still there.  And if you find books on my bookshelf that are black & smell smokey...that would be why.

I took their front door.  Burned to the point that the paint was peeling, & very likely rotten, but I still have it in our barn & hope to make a table out of it when I have a house one day.

So that Christmas was the hardest one for my family.  Instead of getting together at my grandparents, as we always had, we went to my aunt's.  Instead of my grandmother having a stocking filled for each of us, we had grocery bags.  

Those first few days, I didn't think a day would ever go by when I didn't think about the fire.  But many have.  I didn't think going to their house would ever be the same.  It's not.  That house was bulldozed & now a new house sits there.  Not a yellow one with the familiar brown carpet that I learned to crawl on, but a tan one with hardwood floors & all new furnishings.  The house is not the one I spent so much of my growing-up years in, but it still contains those two people that I love dearly & every memory our family has ever made.

Before we left to go home on the day we had decorated that year, I took lots of pictures of the house.  We used those pictures to remember what all needed to be counted in each room.  And I used them to paint a picture of that beloved Christmas tree.

It'll never be the same...but after 5 years, we've seen that that's okay.

#57. Isaiah 40:7