Whew, I last left you right after Thanksgiving & as we were preparing for Jack's 10th birthday celebration...and here I sit the night after Christmas.
A whole lot of life has happened in this last month...birthday parties, Christmas teas, concerts, programs & parties (yes, all plural!), Cookie Exchanges, outings with friends & all sorts of merriment & festivities! We decorated the house real purty, oh & there was the shopping, the laundry, the cooking & all the preparations for the aforementioned parties, programs, presents & the like.
There was a whole lot of picture taking going on...2500 photos taken in November & December alone! And, sadly, what was not happening during that time was blogging. I had the best of intentions & lots of ideas & blog-worthy events rolling around in my head, but they never made it to the screen. Partly because our PC has been dying a slow & painful death...at least that's what it feels like any time I try to do something. So photos didn't get edited or uploaded & blogs did not get written.
But {squeals of delight!!!} my dear & wonderful & thoughtful husband surprised me on Christmas & he surprised me good! For now I sit in my familiar office chair at the same desk I've used for at least 10 years, but there is a nice, new, shiny, pretty, awesome & fast iMac smiling back at me!!! My dinosaur PC is still hanging on for a bit longer while I figure out how to get all of my stuff (mainly 100 GB of photos from the last 10 years!) transferred over as quickly & efficiently as possible...so far it is somewhat challenging, but I am sure we will prevail! And once I'm up to speed on the new operating system, I am hoping to gain some efficiency blogging. My goal for the New Year is 2-3 posts a week...but that's a post for another day!
So tonight I just want to say that I hope you all had a blessed Merry Christmas. I do LOVE Christmastime & can't wait to share all of our fun things with you in upcoming blog posts. This time of year literally sparkles & that just makes me happy. But as the song says, "All the presents & lights make the holiday nice, but the real gift is you...Happy Birthday, Jesus...Jesus, I love you!"
These pictures are from our Christmas Eve...everyone so cute in their new Christmas PJs, but the night was fraught with imperfection.
Our church has three beautiful candle-light services on Christmas Eve. We were scheduled to serve in the nursery at church for the 4:00pm service & planned to meet family at the 6:00pm service. We needed to be at church at 3:00pm. At about 2:30 we woke Drew from his nap only to discover he had a fever of 103.5...so quick change of plans. Jeff took the big 3 to church to serve & attend the service, and I stayed home with a pitiful Drew & a perky Lucy!
I had visions of finishing up the present wrapping & snapping some pics of Lucy looking oh-so-adorable! in her pretty Christmas Eve outfit...
But, alas, I forgot what it is like to stay home with a sick little one...for he was a bit hyper & then a whole lot of needy. So we snuggled & had some together time & then I got both kids down for a nap...
And I wrapped about three presents before everyone was home from church & kids were up & the excitement of Christmas EVE had set in!!
 So we got the kids into their cute Christmas PJs & steered everyone towards the tree...
 Someone was moving, jumping, squinting or wiggling in every shot!

 Can you tell that Drew is feverish?!! Poor thing, he really was a champ!









 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One & Only, who came from the Father, full of grace & truth. John 1:14
 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. Galatians 4:4-5 
And so I celebrate our imperfection this Christmas because Jesus came to redeem the imperfection of this world...and that's the best gift I could ever imagine!

The day after Thanksgiving this year, we had the pleasure of getting together with all of my cousins on my Dad's side of the family.  My lovely cousin, Julie, hosted us all at her house. The occasion: to meet the newest family members...my cousin Bobby's new wife, Lexie, and their brand new baby girl, Janey! With the exception of my brother (who couldn't make it from Chicago), we were all there together for the first time in at least a decade, WOW! I have the fondest memories of summers & holidays spent at The Farm...eating huge meals, talking, laughing, taking long walks through the fields & woods to the pond, exploring the barns & climbing the huge mountains of hay. Oh, and then there were the Christmas cookies that my grandmother would bake for weeks & store in the side bedroom on the dresser in beautiful cookie tins. (The the shortbread cookies with apricot jam in the cut-out were my favorites!)
So we had six cousins & spouses with 16 kids between us (the eldest two "kids" were not able to make it) and 5 aunts/uncles. Kits, cats, sacks & wives...it all made for a very fun day!!
So here are all of the 14 cousins' kids that were at the gathering...Ava, Sophie, Jack Drew, Tucker, Riley holding Janey, Jessica holding Sebastian, Anna holding Lucy, Camryn holding Colin, and Darcy!
And here are a few of the 1,324 other shots I took of the kids hoping that I might get one with everyone looking in the general direction of the camera...