Berry Nice!

We were on our way to church this morning when I spotted

this tree with bright red berries.

And they were topped with little snow caps.

They were so gorgeous, I made Chris stop on the way home

from church so I could take a picture.

They were so appropriate for the season, don't you think.

A perfect little snow cone atop a bowl of bright red berries.

O Christmas Tree

So this is our Charlie Brown Christmas tree

We bought the tree and told Courtney she was in charge of

decorating it, because she wanted it so badly.

  I finally forced her to put lights on it, but that's where

it ended.  Then I got a brilliant idea.

I should have thought of this three years ago, what 

better decor for our missionary tree, than missionaries.

 I threw on a few candy canes for color.

I took some cards off the board

and put them on our tree, perfect.

This is what it ended up looking like, except picture

 it on an angle.  It kept tipping to the left, I'm 

talking extremely slanted.  Oh well.  Courtney got her 

tree, and there's nothing better than the smell of fresh pine.

Courtney's Here!

We were so excited to have Courtney fly in for

Christmas.  We will have had her with us for all

three Christmas', what a blessing.

We have lots of fun and exciting activities planned.

Traditional dinners, treats, movies to watch and

Christmas "have to's".

Can't wait to get started, first let's just get her home.

The 5th Week of Christmas

21.  On the 21st day of December we will gather together as a

family, enjoy each others company and the Christmas season.  

We'll start with a nice dinner and maybe watch some family movies.

Can't wait to be together with family again.

22.  On the 22nd day of December we will consider a few new

traditions, like crackers at dinner.  These are very popular in Canada.

They are fun to pop open and see the little surprise inside. 

23.  On the 23rd of December I will make Mom's sugar cookies,

make the dough, roll them out, cut fun Christmas shapes (I've added

a few over the years, holly leaf, candy cane and gingerbread), bake them

makes lots and lots of fluffy frosting and

decorate!  Dozens and dozens of them.  They are supposed to be 

for Santa, but I learned years ago that he prefers chocolate chip.

So the sugar cookies end up on my plate.

Fun, bright sprinkles are the best, they make the cookies even better.

I just love making Christmas cut out cookies, probably one of my

top favorites. If I had to cut back, this would definitely stay on the list.

24.  On the 24th day of December, no holds barred.  I will make sure

we visit and revisit every family tradition ever started, at least the ones 

we want to.  One of my very favorites, eggs benedict and frosted bread

braid.  Is that a problem that all my favorite traditions involve eating?

25.  On the 25th day of December, we will all sit back, remember

why we celebrate the season, read the story of Christ's birth again and

again, bask in the love that is family and truly be grateful for all of our

blessings, being alive and being together.  

The gospel and a strong family is all we hope to ever have.

Christmas In Canada 2

Here are some more lights to celebrate the holidays.

This is South Edmonton Common, 

it's an outdoor shopping mall, one of my favorites.

And these lights were soooo pretty.

Love these ones, blue lights are so peaceful.

We saw these lights when we went out to buy a Christmas tree for
Courtney.  We hadn't planned on getting a real tree this year,
I thought Courtney wouldn't mind, but when I talked to her about
she seemed a little hurt.  She wants one for her room, she said.
So we drove out to IKEA and picked up a $20 tree.  There weren't
many left on the lot and the one we picked was pretty sad.
They come all wrapped up, so you don't know what you're getting.
Charlie Brown tree, what could be more perfect.

Charlie Brown, You Blockhead

Love my blocks, tried to make a different message each week,

but didn't have enough of the right letters.

I wanted this one to say, "O Little Town . . . .

But this one, I put up for Christmas Eve.

Lindt

They opened a new store in the South Edmonton Common.

Can I just say, oh my gosh!

Now this is my kind of store, candy at a discount.

Chris discouraged me from buying anything, but I went back.

How can you not buy anything, it's Christmas and it's chocolate.

They had my favorite Lindt balls, white truffle in the middle, covered

by milk chocolate.  I picked up a recipe card at the check out counter.

It's for Lindt hot chocolate, you heat a cup of milk and stir in three

Lidnt chocolate balls, sounds delicious.  Of course, 4-5 balls couldn't hurt.