Happy birthday Jesus!

Claire and I had a wonderful day yesterday baking. We started right away in the morning, and as you can see in the slideshow, Claire didn't make it out of her pj's until getting ready for church! We made some Christmas cookies and cupcakes for Jesus. It was so much fun spending the day together baking and playing. I wish we could have more days just like that. Last night after church we came home to open presents and this morning we got to watch Claire open her gifts from Santa. She was so excited to get the things she asked Santa for. Good thing our elf Eddie paid attention while he was causing so much trouble at our house!
This Christmas is our first without Dad. Of course that makes it difficult but I am so very thankful that because of this special day, we will soon be able to be together with Dad again in Heaven. Thank you God for sending your son to take away our sins and allow us to spend eternity with You! The entire concept is so overwhelming to me.

The meaning behind the candy cane

Getting ready for Christmas!

As you know, Claire loves to bake. Here she is putting her skills

to work and mixing the batter. I look forward to Dec 24 when we

both will be home and plan to bake some Christmas cookies!

 Being crafty working on some Christmas cards to send out!

 We were blessed to have MeMaw and PawPaw join us for

a puppet Christmas program earlier this week. It was such

a special treat to get to spend the evening together!

 We went to the Really, Really Big Christmas Show on Friday evening.

We got there early and were able to enjoy checking out the big model train display they

had set up. It was another fun evening.

We have had some fun times getting ready to celebrate Jesus' birthday.

We are looking forward to making His birthday cake, baking, and of course heading

north to Dallas to pick up G-Ma in only a few more days! So looking forward to having her

visit us for a while. Claire counts down every morning how many more days until we can go

to get her! I have a feeling Claire might get a little more spoiled when G-Ma arrives (if

that is possible!).

Claire's Christmas party at school

The school put on a cute little party for the kids before their break.

First Claire got to build a snowman out of marshmallows,

pretzel sticks, raisins, and a carrot. We had a tough time making

all the pieces stick...

 but we got creative and it turned out really cute!

 Claire with her good friend Aniya

 Then it was time to eat her creation!

 After her snack, Claire got to create a snowflake

ornament with her picture on it.

 Before I left we got Claire and Cameron (her neighbor)

to take a picture together. Hopefully these two kids will

remain good friends!

Naughty little elf...

Our elf Eddie returned the beginning of this month. He has

proven to be quite the trouble maker this year! He returned by

getting into the fruit loops and spelling out a message to

Claire.

Then he thought it would be a good idea to hang upside down

using pipe cleaners!

 One night he got into a tape ball fight with the little animals and

ended up losing the fight!

 He got into Jeff's shaving cream and decided to

try out the shaving for himself. Clearly he

didn't do very well at this task!

 He had a run in with Claire's doll Allison and ended up finding

himself dressed in one of her dresses and taped to the bathroom door

with a note that says "caution, naughty elf".

Needless to say, we have had a fun time with Eddie this year! We just never

know what he is going to get into next!

Christmas time with Snugglebunny though the years

Our first Christmas without Snugglebunny...I wanted to put together a short video of Dad with Claire throughout the years around the holiday season. There are so many good memories and I couldn't be more grateful. Dad was so amazing with Claire and I miss watching them together. Even though we miss Dad every single day, knowing that he doesn't have to suffer any longer gives peace. He said before he passed away "I will always be alive if you keep me in your heart". Dad...you will always be alive in our hearts! Thanks to Jesus coming on Christmas day, we will one day get to be with Dad again in Heaven! Praise God that Christmas changes everything! Merry Christmas!