The Christmas story as told by the AWANA Cubbies

This year in Cubbies the leaders had the kids act out the Christmas story. It was too cute! The pictures aren't the best cuz it was so dark in there. I don't know if the kids got the whole idea cuz the lady in charge had a few issues. Oh well. It was still a really cute idea.

Mary

The angels getting in costume

Mary and baby Jesus

The shepherds coming to see Jesus

The "head" shepherd.  This is our SS teacher's boy.  He cracks me up.

The angels waiting to say "Glory to God"

One of the Kings

All the little kiddies

Sweet little baby girl

The Monday before Christmas I got to watch my friend M's little girl and her step daughter. I love getting my E snuggles. Thought I'd show you a couple of pictures so her. A few are from other days that I've watched her. 

My dog loves his rear end scratched.  And even tried to get the baby in on it.

Actually this was one Sunday afternoon when they were all here for lunch.  That's her skirt on her head.

Daddy and I found this onsie for her.

The 12 days of Christmas

December 13:  About 7 pm, the doorbell rang.  When I went to answer it, there was a chocolate pie wrapped up in pretty paper sitting on our front porch.  The tag on it said "On the 1st day of Christmas: Just a "holiday Hi" and a tasty pie. Happy Holidays!"  About an hour later, the doorbell rang again.  There sits a mini pine tree with little red bows all over it.  The little card attached said "On the first day of Christmas a present for you to see, bells and gifts and ornaments on a lovely little tree."

Oh so cool!  Wonder if we are getting something for the next 11 nights? Wonder who it is?  Wonder what we are getting.

Oh so cool.  What a neat way to help us get through the days leading up to a very hard Christmas-a 'first'.

December 14: Yup.  There were more presents.  "On the 2nd day of Christmas: wishing you a sparkling holiday season" and it was a bottle of red sparkling grape juice.  And the other "elf" (as we came to call them) brought some homemade wassail "On the second day of Christmas have some wassail, relax and reason, that Jesus Christ our Savior is why we celebrate this season."  But boy, someone left a LARGE footprint.  Hmmmm.

December 15: Now we are looking for them each night.  Wanting to catch them; but not wanting to catch them.   This time it was a pretty candle "On the 3rd day of Christmas in case your Christmas isn't bright, here is a little candle light."  And some homemade chocolate covered pretzels "On the third day of Christmas we share with you a treat, as we celebrate our Savior's birth some chocolate pretzels for you to eat."

December 16: I stand at the peep hole in the door looking for them.  But I miss them!  Elf #1 brings a roll of cookie dough "On the 4th day of Christmas everyone needs a little extra "dough" for Christmas" and Elf #2 brought another pretty candle "On the fourth day of Christmas a candle we do bear; let your light shine for Jesus, tell people everywhere."

December 17: "On the 5th day of Christmas what could be more merry than a chocolate covered cherry."  (Hopefully you can figure that one out)   and "On the fifth day of Christmas some Coke made with cherry; to help celebrate the Christ Child born of the Virgin Mary." (a 2L of Coke and a jar of maraschino cherries)

December 18: "On the 6th day of Christmas short bread cookies in a tin, as we hear about the Savior's birth the Christmas story to begin."   (Yummo!)  "On the 6th day of Christmas banana bread just for you, because you have so much to do."  (Haven't tried it yet; but I'm sure it's good)

December 19: "On the 7th day of Christmas an ornament for your tree; God in person has come to earth, our Savior He will be."  and "On the 7th day of Christmas may the joy and love you give away, come back to you on Christmas day."  They were both pretty ornaments; unfortunately the one that says joy fell and shattered as I was putting Christmas decorations.

December 20: "On the 8th day of Christmas it's hot chocolate to drink, as we warm our hearts with memories so upon this season we can drink."  Along with the actual mix was the recipe to make it if I wanted to make it some other time.  I actually tried it and it's pretty good.  And the other elf brought a CD of Christmas music "On the 8th day of Christmas may the sweet song of Christmas make your heart rejoice."  I love me some Christmas music!

December 21: "On the 9th day of Christmas have some peanuts for a snack.  We hope you haven't caught us yet as we turn to your house and back."  NO WE HAVEN'T CAUGHT YOU YET!  (It was a jar of honey roasted peanuts)  And the other "On the 9th day of Christmas hope your holidays are "poppin" with fun!" NO WE HAVEN'T CAUGHT THEM YET EITHER!  (This was a box of Fiddle Faddle, which I've never had before)

December 22: "On the 10th day of Christmas we're bringing you some candy; because we think your family is pretty fine and dandy."  It's a box of ribbon candy.  "On the 10th day of Christmas Remember Santa "chex" his list twice to see who's been naughty or nice."  A bag of chocolate chex mix--again something I've never had.

December 23: Daddy had off this day, Friday.  One of the presents came around noon--AND WE STILL DIDN'T CATCH THEM!  "On the 11th day of Christmas we leave for you some cheese.  Place it between some crackers and eat it as you please."  I love cheese and crackers (and they were butter Ritz crackers-the yummiest)  The other came that evening and the note with it was my absolute favorite!  "On the 11th day of Christmas Merry Christmas!  Here are some Pringles and just be glad you don't have the Shingles! (I think we are running out of ideas!)  Made me laugh!  I've since talked to the person who did this and she said she couldn't think of something to rhyme with Pringles, but now can come up with 2 or 3 things she could have used.  Isn't that the way it goes?

Saturday night December 24, we were at dinner at J&T's house.  She made us a good turkey dinner.  We were almost done with dessert when my phone rang.  It was my friend M.  She wanted to know when we be home.  She has a little something for me. (She had tried Daddy's phone and tried texting me too)  So about an hour later, I texted her to let her know we were on our way home.  About 30 minutes after we got home, the doorbell rang.  There was M and HER WHOLE FAMILY (well just about) singing to us.  There were 12 out there.  I invited them in; they wanted to see my dog.  As they came in, M handed me some cookies and hot chocolate.  I thought: "It was them!"  But alas, no; it wasn't.  But thankfully the note that was attached told us who it was.  It was my Preacher and his family. (Remember the large footprint?)  After everyone left the next elf came and left a tin of all sorts of homemade goodies and thankfully also told us who they were.  (She was the kids swim teacher from the summer.  It was her family.  She has 2 kids who I have babysat in the past.  The oldest boy is C's age and the youngest, a girl, was close to K's age)

 Let me tell you, this was one of the best things that could have happened to us right before Christmas.  I don't think I could ever thank either one of those families enough.  It was such a hard Christmas, made a little sweeter knowing there are friends out there that are still thinking of us.  I miss my girl.

PS:  Be on the look out for little elves.  There are at least 3 people that are planning on being "copy cats" next year.

Always in our hearts

Disclaimer:  This is not an ad for Tervis cups.  But I do have to say they are awesome cups!  They also have very good customer service.  Their QC department is just lacking.

Back story:  Eric and Sydney got Daddy and I each a Tervis cup last year for Christmas.  Mine is FSU and Daddy's is Yankees.  I really really like them.  They are dishwasher safe, microwave safe, hot or cold, and won't chip or crack.  I wanted a bigger one.

They also can add something you provide to one of their cups.  So I decided for Christmas to get one for family with the Kalei patch from AWANA.  (since I never really explained that, I guess I should put that in another post)

Anyways.  In order to personalize with something you provide, the order has to be sent in versus online.  So I printed off the form and filled it out.  I wanted 2 twenty-four ounce cups (for Daddy and I), 1 ten ounce (for C) and 6 twenty ounce cups for family presents. I also ordered a lid for each of those (which are specific to the size).  Let's add those all up, shall we?  2+1+6=9  So on my order form,  the final price reflected the cost for 9 cups and 9 lids.  I sent in 9 patches.  (I placed such a larger order and got free shipping.)  When I got my order, I got 9 lids, 8 cups, and 1 patch back.  Ummm???

So I called the company.  They were really nice and said "send back the patch and we will take care of it and not charge shipping."  So I used one of my stamps to re-send the patch back.  A few weeks later, I got the cup in the mail.  Look at the picture below and see if you can guess which cup I got.

A little crooked, doncha' think?  Really?  I can't believe they sent it out that crooked!  So once again, I called the company.  Once again, they were really nice.  The lady asked if I could send her a picture of the QC FAIL.  She emailed me back and said "wow. that really is bad."  Ya think?  This time she sent me a pre-paid envelope to send another patch back to them.

AND SHE SENT ME A CORRECT ONE!  YEAH!  *

And as a "sorry" she sent 2 extra 10 ounce cups.

*Well actually it was supposed to be a ten ounce cup and she sent a twenty ounce instead.  But I'm not gonna complain.  Except I had ordered a lid for the ten ounce.  So now I have an extra lid for a 10 ounce cup and am missing 2 lids for twenty ounce cups.  Bed Bath & Beyond carries Tervis brand items, so I might see if I can buy the missing lids that I need.  Daddy also has a Yankees coffee mug that he would like a lid for.

So all that to say, Tervis has great items and wonderful customer service.  Their quality department is just lacking.

Children's choir Christmas program

This year C is part of the older children's choir. His piano teacher is the piano player for the group. A few weeks ago the teacher asked 'how many beats is a quarter note worth?'. She was very proud when C was able to answer it. Anyone know the right answer?

 They sang a few different songs. The video is from my phone so not of the best quality. Daddy took a few pictures but there were other kids heads in the way. So bottom line: we didn't get the best pictures or video. Oh well.

Isn't he a cute shepherd?

Happy birthday!

Today is my favorite brother's birthday. Even though he doesn't read my blog, I'd like to still wish him a happy birthday. Poor guy is now working in a new department in the police force and had to work his birthday and Christmas this year. I love you bro!

C.MJ.23

Any guesses? C wanted a Michael Jordan birthday this year. He is a little obsessed with MJ right now. He had a MJ tshirt that we had given him awhile ago. My mom gave him a pair of shorts and some socks with the logo on it. Then with some of his birthday/Christmas money he bought a pair of MJ shoes. He was all decked out. Aunt T made the cake and as always did a great job. We had quite the houseful for his party. Including us there were 18 people! He made out. More money, a gift card, a new football, some puzzles, and from us a full size portable basketball hoop. After everyone left, E spent the night and the 2 boys got to play video games. We had told them they could stay uo til 2 am playing games. Daddy didn't think they would make it that long. They did. Next morning we got Dunkin Donuts before dropping E back off at home. I think C had a good time. I'm very thankful for good friends that made C's day a little more special.

Notice the shirt and the shorts and the socks and the shoes.

Nice Kraiger.  Only him.