Christmas at Nana's House

After lunch at Wayne's parents, we went to Cherokee to my parents' house. My mother found out on Wednesday that she has a stomach ulcer, so she wasn't feeling very well. Mother, Daddy, Chris, Stacy, John, Joseph, Wayne, Katy, Daniel, and I enjoyed time together. We enjoyed finger foods together: ham & cheese rolls, cheese ball, chicken ball, sausage balls, candied pecans, fudge, cherry delight, popcorn chicken, Bagel Bites, Granny cookies, sugar cookies, cookie sandwiches, and coconut cake were on the menu for this family gathering. After we ate, we opened presents. It was so fun to watch Joseph open his presents. He got so excited each time and would say, "How did you know that I always wanted one of these?" John brought Daddy a flag from Iraq - that was a special gift. Chris got Mother and Daddy a 26 inch flat-screen TV. We all got wonderful gifts, but we would all have traded them for Mother to feel better. Hopefully, she's on the road to recovery and next Christmas she will be back to her old self. Merry Christmas, Choat Family!!!

Christmas at MawMaw's House

We started Christmas Eve morning by traveling to Florence to Wayne's parents' house. We were joined by Wayne's sister Tina and her husband, Steve. Their daughter Stevie and her boyfriend, Landon, were also there along with their two dogs. Wayne's aunts Carlene and Faye also came as well as his cousin Zack. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch together: ham, macaroni and cheese, pasta salad, potato soup, grape salad, peas, and rolls. Dessert was a choice between turtle pie, lemon pie, rice krispie treats, pecan pie, and fudge. We all got wonderful presents. In the pictures Pawpaw Scott is opening knives he picked out; Daniel is opening a video game; and Katy is opening Transformers movies. Merry Christmas, Scott Family!!!

Cookie Exchange

Laura Beth invited Katy and me to her cookie exchange party. Becky made the cutest invitations for the party. Katy and I made reindeer noses for the party. We took three dozen cookies - 2 to eat and 1 to share. The girls made goody bags for some of the elderly neighbors in the neighborhood. The hit for Katy was Becky's chicken ball that she made by her grandmother's recipe. We'll be making one for our family Christmas gathering! We enjoyed the cookie exchange very much!!!

Christmas with the Welches

Wednesday night, December 31, Damon, Becky, Laura Beth, and Carter came to our house for supper and to open Christmas presents. We are so blessed to be friends with this special family. Katy just loves Laura Beth, and Daniel loves Carter, too. Becky has been such a blessing in my life. It's hard to think about a time when I didn't know her. She and I think so much alike about things. We love spending time together especially when we're working on one of our many projects.

I made lasagna (my aunt's recipe), salad, garlic bread, lemonaide pie, and yellow cake with "Granny" icing. My "Granny" icing didn't set up right, but it did taste ok. I was able to use my new Christmas plates and the plates Wayne got me from the bookstore last year. We enjoyed the meal together, and then the kids went off to play. Carter was once again his usual hilarious self. When they went into Katy's room, he announced, "No, I do not want to watch Makin' Music!!" Poor Carter, LB and Katy always want to watch Makin' Music, don't they?

Finally I went in and asked them if they wanted to open presents, and they came on into the living room to open a new Alabama shirt, a new Barbie and Barbie clothes, a Vera Bradley hipster, a personalized baseball card box, and Alabama serving plates. Even though we exchanged great gifts, the very best gift of all is having such wonderful friends who help us become better Christians every time we're with them. Merry Christmas Damon, Becky, Laura Beth, and Carter from Wayne, Kim, Katy, and Daniel. We love you guys!!

Christmas at Nana's and PawPaw's

We had Christmas at my parents' house Christmas Day this year. The whole group was there - Mother, Daddy, Chris, Stacy, John, Joseph, and my family. My aunt Evelyn came over for a little while and we gave her our gifts. We enjoyed a great variety of finger foods together - chicken fingers, bacon/Ritz crackers/parmesan goodies, ham & cheese rolls, cheese ring, cheese dip, crockpot candy, fudge, Granny's cookies, Katy's pecans, vegetables & dip, chips, pickles, chicken salad sandwiches, sausage balls, pigs in a blanket and Daddy's birthday cake (which I didn't get a bite of - I was too full!) Then we opened presents. It was so fun to watch Joseph open his presents. He was so excited. We really enjoyed out time together. My brother-in-law will be leaving for Iraq on January 3. Daddy said a special prayer for his safety before we had our meal. We all hope he has a very, very safe trip and that he's able to come home in six months as planned.

Merry Christmas, Daniel and Katy!!

It seems like once you start opening Christmas gifts, you just want to keep on. We had Christmas at Wayne's parents' for lunch on Christmas Eve and came back home afterward. We went to church here in Henderson and took Michael and JJ with us. After church Wayne took Michael home and brought Katy and I home and then took JJ and Daniel to Walgreens. We wanted to make sure that JJ and his family had plenty to eat. Wayne and I decided to let Daniel and Katy open their Christmas presents Wednesday night so they could sleep a little later on Thursday morning. What a Christmas! Katy's favorite gift was her IPod Touch. Daniel got a new TV for his room to play his video games on. Even though "Santa" didn't come this year, it was fun watching them open their presents and enjoy them so much. Guitar Hero and American Idol were also favorites. Both kids are so funny singing and playing along.

Christmas 08

I love Christmas! I seem to start decorating earler every year. I started before Thanksgiving this year so I could concentrate on spending time with my family instead of worrying about decorating. I love the way the tree looks this year! I have some ornaments that are extra special to me. The first one is a homemade bell. My Granny made it the last Christmas she was with us. She couldn't remember a lot of things, but she could sew up these little bells. It's the first ornament I put on the tree every year. I really miss her - she was a wonderful Christian and grandmother. My mother has given us several ornament through the years. The Mickey Mouse ornament and the snowflake ornament are two of my favorites. She knows I love Disney World! I also love Snoopy, so I have several Snoopy ornaments. Katy has Barbie ornaments all over the tree - we try to get a new one every year for her. Of course, Daniel's ornaments are sports-oriented. I love Christmas and all the wonderful memories it brings with it.

Christmas 07

Since I'm new to blogging, I'm trying to go back and catch up with all the pictures on my camera (which I've now downloaded to my new computer instead of keeping all 800 of them on my camera). What better place to start - last Christmas! Luckily our parents live very close to one another. My parents live in Cherokee, AL, and Wayne's live in Florence, AL, so on holidays we're able to visit both homes in the same day. Usually we eat Christmas Eve lunch with Wayne's family and open presents and then go to Cherokee for supper with my family and open presents. Then we travel back to Henderson to get ready for Santa's visit. I loved going back and seeing pictures of Chris, my brother; Stacy, my sister; John, my brother-in-law; Joseph, my nephew; my parents; my husband, Wayne; and my kids, Katy and Daniel. I'll definitely make more pictures of family this year so I can post a better blog. Merry Christmas 07!

Christmas Centers in First Grade

Today we enjoyed nine fun Christmas centers in my class. I have a wonderful group of 19 children and parents that are so helpful and supportive. Today's centers were:

1. Eating - We enjoyed sausage & biscuits, fruit, cheese, and juice!

2. Making candy cane reindeer with Mrs. Marla.

3. Making a Christmas Countdown chain with Mrs. Brigit and Mrs. Suzanne.

4. Making a Christmas tree ornament and coloring a Christmas tree countdown with Mrs. Becky and Mr. Tony.

5. Making a snowflake pattern candy necklace with Mr. Charles and Mrs. Laurie.

6. Opening all our gifts with Mrs. Kelly and Mrs. Amanda.

7. Sticker art with Mrs. Sandy.

8. Making cards for the nursing home with Mrs. Carol and Mrs. Lena.

9. Making candy canes out of bells with Mr. Bobby.

I've been with this class for an entire year and now half of another year. These children and their parents will also be very special. I truly appreciate each and every one of them. Merry Christmas!

Bible Class Christmas Party

Sunday after going to the funeral home and to a baby shower, we had a Christmas party for the four-year old and kindergarten Bible classes. We had several sweet children who came - Carter, Cade, Sofie, Sophie, Jacob, Gary, Josh, Joey, Lawson, Tucker, Alex, and Clint. We started our party by decorating Merry Christmas cards with crayons and stickers. Then I read a couple of Christmas books to get us in the holiday mood while Sandy and Becky sat out the snack for the day, Oreos, chips, and juice. We also played a quick game of 4-Corners, one of the children's favorite games. Then it was time for centers: we made reindeer food & snowman soup with Becky; did a Santa puzzle & made a pattern necklace with red, white, and green beads with me; and decorated a Christmas tree with sequins along with a Santa Claus beard countdown with Sandy. We covered cans with holiday wrap for the children to keep their goodies in. The end of the party was the highlight of the entire party though - we took the children upstairs to give their cards and Snowman Soup to some of the older members of the congregation. Mrs. Holly even made our picture for the newspaper. We had a wonderful time and even made plans to expand our activities next year. It's so wonderful to have such precious children to work with along with two ladies who are very special to me.