Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!  May God bless you as you spend your time with family and friends and worshiping at church as we celebrate the birth of our Savior!

Three lovely ladies posing for their annual Christmas photo. 

The new room isn't quite finished but we needed it for Christmas so we moved  furniture in.  On the side of the room you can't see we have three couches and the piano.  Not quite sure about furniture placement yet and we move things around almost every day! We haven't had a real tree for years and years so Isaac got us one.  First he climbed way, way up in the top of a very tall pine and cut the top off and then climbed down and cut the top off of that.  After risking his life, we realized it was too small in diameter so he climbed another tree, not so tall as the first, and cut off the top.  It is a  beautiful tree that is full of pine cones.  God made such beauty!

I love Christmas.  As a girl it was always such a special time with cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents and great aunts and uncles, second cousins, etc.  The focus was on Christ with Luke 2 being read by my grandpas on both sides as well as leading in singing carols and long, long prayers. At least they seemed long when I was young!  On my dad's side of the family we always sang Blest Be the Tie at the end of our visits together. (not only Christmas but birthday and other holidays) As the older generations move on to their final home in heaven, it's enjoyable to see the spiritual side continue with new generations.  We never had a lot of gifts as we weren't the richest family but we sure felt rich!  The Christmas program at church was a highlight as was the baking and buying gifts for my parents and sisters.  We would make our yearly Christmas shopping trip to a nearby town and by the time we got home my sisters and I had pretty much told everyone what we bought.  It was too fun to keep things a secret!  Most years my sisters and I would spend the second half of our Christmas vacation in Winnipeg at my grandparents house.  We would take the Greyhound bus home that stopped in our town.  It was such an adventure for us girls. When we got older we enjoyed the after Christmas shopping in Canada.  We shopped at a nearby mall or Grandma and Grandpa would take us shopping at The Bay or Eatons.   My birthday was in there as well so that made it even more special.  I hope you all have wonderful Christmas memories of your own, but if not, it's never too late to make new memories! Thanks for letting me go down memory lane!  Have a wonderful Christmas!!