Matt's Family Christmas (Part 1)

We spent Monday morning thru Wednesday morning with part of Matt's family celebrating Christmas. Some of the family was traveling out of country so we will conclude our Christmas with his family in January. We had some wonderful food including but not limited to ham, cheesy potatoes, eggs benedict, and sloppy joes. We also got some fun presents, enjoyed great company, and played several rounds of what I think is becoming the family game, Bananagrams.

Grace and Grandma going through her stocking.

Grace and Aunt Rachel.

I had to thow in one of Matt and me since we hardly ever post ourselves on the blog. Plus I like how our outfits coordinate. That's Matt's Uncle Scott in the background:)

Growing Baby - 4 Days to 8 Months

Every once in a while I am just completely amazed by how much Grace has grown. I took a picture of Grace with her Uncle Brett yesterday that reminded me of one I took when she was a couple days old. The way he is holding her looks so similar yet she is a totally different baby. I couldn't resist posting this on our blog.

Look how much she has grown (and Brett's facial hair has grown too)...

Snow!

We took Grace outside to play in the snow for the first time today. She couldn't really do much all bundled in her snowsuit but I think she kind of liked it.

Anne's Family Christmas

The day after Christmas my family got together and had a great day. We started out with a yummy brunch and proceeded to eat the rest of the day until a mid-afternoon meal. Grace was napping when everyone arrived and ate brunch so as soon as we were done we had to wake her up to open presents. I think everyone did a great job picking out and giving gifts. Some highlights were a new quilt my sister made for me, a cool picnic table my brother-in-law made for us, the digital camera my parents got for my Grandma, and some of the fun toys for Grace. After eating dinner we realized that because the weather wasn't great we all needed to leave at once. So we kind of rushed to get everything packed up and left in a hurry. Below are some pictures of the day.

Anne, Laura, Grace, and Grandpa

Grace is playing on her new toy that Matt assembled.

Cool picnic table Brett made with placemats and napkins that Laura made. It all folds up into a bag about the size of a camping chair.

Grace and Uncle Brett looking at his new screwdrivers.

Christmas Day

We started off Christmas Day waking up in our own house and doing our own gift exchange. Matt and I have traditionally bought each other stocking stuffers with a $50 total limit. The first time we did it we did a great job keeping to the rules. Now we cheat a little. I actually stayed close to the budget and all but one thing I bought fit into Matt's stocking (and it was really close to fitting). Matt on the other hand did not do a good job with the rules this year. He bought me a new wool winter coat. I really wanted one so I'm not complaining that he broke the rules but it was funny. A coat is no where near small enough the fit in the stocking:) We decided not to buy Grace presents this year but she had a fun time playing with my new spatulas. Around lunchtime we headed over to my parents house to relax and watch TV all afternoon before the rest of the family came in the next day.

I love this picture. She looks guilty because we caught her snooping in the presents.

Christmas Eve and Tang Dynasty

I'm going to blog about Christmas in a couple of installments just to avoid bogging our readers down with too many words. We started our Christmas celebration with our church family. We had a great worship service and then headed out to eat with some of our friends who were in town after church. Of course our choice was Chinese food at an excellent restaurant in town. Our friend Celina (and family) always goes out for Chinese on Christmas Eve and she has been with us both years. I think because of her we are starting a new Christmas Eve tradition. If we go next year I will say it actually is a tradition for us. I didn't take any pictures at church but below is one from dinner.

Merry Christmas

"The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor." -- Isaiah 61:1-3

There is a lot of stuff mentioned in these 3 amazing verses from the prophet Isaiah. The summary is clear to me: Jesus came to save us. Thank God for Jesus!

So to the internet world and to the entire planet earth and even to our neighboring planets....from all of us at Pennyrile, we wish you a very Merry Christmas!