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| Just a few of the scarves/cowls that I made for Christmas gifts this year. I wish I had thought to pile ALL my Hooky Christmas gifts together for a picture like Sarah did before I gave them all away. Oh well.....live & learn. |
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| For Clay's birthday (Dec. 20) I gave him Miss Kay's cookbook since he had been looking at it & really wanting it. He was SO tickled & began making a mental (ok, verbal) list of the recipes he wanted to try. His first choice was Egg Custard Pie. He said he remembers eating it at church dinners when he was a kid. I'm proud to say that they turned out awesome. My man was 'Happy, Happy, Happy!' |
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| I didn't have quite the same luck with my pumpkin pies. Ok, maybe I did......maybe it's because they were just so tasty that Charlie couldn't resist sampling one. I tell ya, I about strangled me a cat when I heard that he was up on the table eating my Christmas pie! *sigh* |
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| Now that our kids are older & stay up later than we do......'Santa Clause' had to kind of do things backwards this year. Instead of sending kids upstairs to play video games/go to bed while Santa worked his magic....WE went to bed & figured that since Clay wanted to video opening gifts.....meaning the girls would need time to primp in the morning.....Santa Clause would come while the girls were primping & the guys were still snoozing. Whatever works, right?! |
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| Frederick looked so cute with his red Christmas bow.....though it didn't last very long at all. |
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| This right here was one of the main reasons we were videoing this year. We pulled off a really cool surprise.....along with Brendan & his folks. Ashley had been needing a good camera for her classes & so she can hopefully shoot for the school newspaper this coming year......so Brendan came to us with the idea of all of us going together to get her a good camera for Christmas. He & Clay had been texting/researching since before Thanksgiving. There was alot of texting/messaging/deleting of messages going on. |
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| And even though EVERYONE knew about it......no one slipped up.....& we were able to pull it off! |
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| Just look at that face! It was great!! What made the surprise even better was that several times Ashley had mentioned to me that she & Brendan had decided to start saving all their loose change so they could go together & buy a nice camera. And Clay & I had even given her loose change & a dollar here & there telling her it was for her camera fund. We can be pretty sneaky when we try. |
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| Homemade cinnamon rolls for Christmas breakfast made by me & Ashley. I think these turned out the best ever. I guess practice makes perfect. |
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| Alli took all these pictures of her goods. She knew MOST of the stuff she was getting, but the ukulele was a total surprise for her. |
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| She was really spoiled by her brothers this year. Chris knows the way to this girl's heart.....a CHOCOLATE cookbook. She says she & Cori MUST have a sleepover soon so they can try out some recipes. |
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| Faith & Purity |
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| And the ipod is from Jon. His room-mate was just going to get rid of it....said the battery was weak & he wanted a new one. So Jon took it & surprised Alli with it. Only Ashley knew about this.....so, another great surprise pulled off. I really thought she looked like she might cry when she opened this one. I just love how my kids love each other! |
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| Christmas evening at Maw's house. The lighting was terrible for pictures, but I took them anyway. |
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| Sarah's really 'glowing' there! And just for the record.....Clay & David have on matching flannel shirts. LOL! Totally NOT planned. That's what happens when you find flannel shirts on sale at JCP for $4! |
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| Poor Anna felt so bad.....you can see it in her eyes. |
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| Sporting her new 'Olivia Owl' hat that made for her. |
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| I love my super-sized Chickfila cup that Sarah gave me!! |
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| David thoroughly enjoyed playing Alli's ukulele all evening. I think that might give Sarah an idea for future gift buying. |
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| I love this painting that Alli did for Clay & I! |
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| Ashley, Jon & I went to meet Brendan at the train station in Charlottesville last night. He spent the night & then I took he & Ashley back & put them on the train this morning going to DC to meet his mom & brother. They were going to spend the day in Baltimore & then I'm not sure what else is on the agenda for the rest of the week. |
And they are off.....Ashley was excited to ride the train for the first time ever & mark yet another thing off her bucket list. From Charlottesville, I headed back to Lynchburg & did my usual Friday grocery shopping, etc. Now as I sit here typing.......I realize just how tired I am!! It's been a busy week & looks to be another busy one coming up as we ring in a new year.
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Counting my Blessings--
Birthday dinner with Clay at Macados*coffee*sunshine*hanging clothes out on the line*Ashley's cleaning around the house*Taking Jon Christmas shopping with us to Richmond*Clay shot an 8pt.*homemade cinnamon rolls*celebrating Jesus' birthday*Christmas dinner at Maw's with family*health--last year this time everyone was sick with the flu*Brendan got to come visit*Putting Ashley & Brendan on the train to DC this morning*new flannel sheets on my bed!
