Not Quite a Winter Wonderland, But...

...but more snow than we ever expected on our first Christmas Eve in Texas. It didn't last long, but it was actual snow!! So we took this video for proof.

Christmas Morning

The stockings were hung by the... fireplace DVD playing on our tv (no chimney here!)... with care...

I finally got everything wrapped...

Time for Christmas morning hot chocolate!

We opened the best gift first - baby Jesus from our nativity set.

My thoughtful husband realized his pregnant wife would probably appreciate a few high-quality chocolates (from Truman Chocolates - best in southeast Texas!) than a stocking full of candy.

Opening our stockings.

Christmas story before breakfast. Preach it, PK!

Yummy breakfast... Mommy can finally stomach cooking again!

Opening gifts

Thank you, sis!

We were so thankful for a relaxing Christmas morning in which we could be together in our home... and no one was sick or recovering from a hospital visit! A Christmas miracle!

The rest of the day we enjoyed a delicious lunch at the Price's beautiful home, great Christmas naps, and a laid-back evening of snacking and playing with new toys. Our first Christmas in Texas!

Christmas Eve Service

After the children's program, the church rounded out the evening with a candlelight service. Our family lit the final Advent candle.



Kevin gave a short message about the significance of the manger.



Zion Church traditions also include passing out bags of candy and fruit to the children, and singing Silent Night in German, remembering the fact that the church was started by German settlers and conducted services exclusively in German many years ago.

Tickling the Ivories

Enjoy the instrumental stylings of our very own Johnathan! (Sorry its sideways!)

Ticket to Christmas

Naomi absolutely loved being in the church's children's program for Christmas this year. She loved going to practices on Sunday afternoons, she loved playing her music CD over and over and over. And she was thrilled to be a sheep!




Our little girl, who would wear shorts and a swimsuit year-round if we let her, even willingly wore a fleece and sock "hooves" all evening!





Lee, Anna, and Cortland show "Billy" (aka Evan) the true meaning of Christmas.





Naomi and Cassandra lying in the fields by night.





The wise men and their camel on wheels.





Simeon tells his story of meeting the Messiah.

Today in the town of David a savior has been born to you.

It was so fun to see how Naomi has grown over the past 3 years of participating in Christmas programs. This year she actually sang in front of everyone, and she resisted the tempatation to keep baby Jesus for herself!

A quick clip of Naomi singing:

Merry Christmas from the kids at Zion Church of Kurten!

Christmas Cookies

A few pictures from our traditional Christmas cookie baking session...

These cookies came from our new nativity cookie cutter set. Though I think some shepherds and wise men may have been eaten before they made it to the scene!

What I learned from my pastor... 12-27

We learned this morning about "Regifting" - no, not "recycling" Christmas gifts, but using the spiritual gifts God has given us, from Ephesians 2:1-10. Kevin focused mostly on Ephesians 2:10, which reminds us that we are God's workmanship, created to do good works that He has prepared in advance for us to do. That means that, in Christ, we should see ourselves as God sees us, His masterpiece. And as we study His word and spend time in prayer, He will reveal the good works He's uniquely prepared us to do. And the good news is that He already has them prepared for us! It also means I need to trust God as he sets circumstances and challenged before me this year, knowing that in His sovereignty He is using those events to prepared me for the ways I will glorify Him in my life.

Millions of Lights

This weekend we went to Santa's Wonderland. It has a mile-long driving path filled with Christmas light displays and a little town with entertainment, shops, and "snow". What a fun evening we had! First, we got in line to drive through the lights display.

It had to have a tribute to A&M, of course!

Here's a video of part of the drive:

Naomi and Johnathan were excited because they got to get out of their carseats and help drive!

So pretty!

We especially liked the end of the display, which had a nativity scene...

...and the cross.

Next we went to Santa's Town, where we played in the "snow," listened to Elvis and Roy Orbison impersonators, warmed up by the roaring fires, bought a Christmas ornament, and ate peanut butter fudge.

We've often found it to be true that everything really is bigger in Texas! Even the Christmas light displays!

Extra, Extra...

Some people train their dogs to retrieve their newspaper. Others have a butler to perform the task. But we top them all. We have our very own princess who delights to bring us our morning paper, complete with pink dress and butterfly wand!

She even lingers at the gate to wave at passing cars. So congenial!

The Friendly Beasts

Naomi's preschool put on a great Christmas program on Wednesday, their last day of school. The little folks wore adorable animal hats to represent the animals in the stable, and Naomi's classmates were the camels.

After the program it was time for some birthday cake for Jesus. Happy birthday, Jesus!

Gingerbread Houses

Here are the gingerbread houses we decorated with buddies Ellie and Margaret.


Ellie shows of her serious craftmanship while Margaret tests the flavor of the decorations.

They are yummy! Save some for your house, Naomi!

Johnathan thinks this is a great project!

The finished houses...

And after all that work, the girls treated themselves to some homemade pretend pedicures!

What I learned from my pastor... 12-13

This morning's sermon involved a life jacket, "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon," and Kevin's true story about the time he asked Tiffani-Amber Thiessen (one of the stars of Beverly Hills 90210) to prom. Curious about the topic? It was about how Jesus was Born to Save. Sorry we don't have a website that allows you to download sermons - it would take me too long to explain all those references he included! You'll just have to ask him. Or stifle your curiosity.

Anyway, Kevin taught us from Matthew 1:18-21 that the name Jesus was a common one of that time, derived from the name Joshua, meaning deliverer. From the beginning, God always had a rescue plan in place to reconcile us to Him. At Christmas, we celebrate that Jesus chose to be born and enter our hopeless situation. And at Easter, we celebrate that the gospel of Jesus Christ has guaranteed victory over sin. Jesus is the only life jacket that can save us from eternal drowning. Kevin encouraged us to put on the life jacket, depending on Jesus for our salvation. And if we've already put on the life jacket, we can stop thrashing around, trying to swim to work our way into God's favor and rest in Christ for our salvation and strength.

Ornaments on our Tree

Most of the ornaments on our tree have a special memory attached to them - a vacation, a significant event, or a milestone. I thought it might be fun to share a few here and there with the stories behind them... So here are a few.

We'll start back at the beginning of our marriage. Kevin and I went to Cape Cod for our honeymoon. I hunted for just the right ornament to remind us of our trip, and found this one:

Isn't it pretty? Delicate and shiny and it has reminders of all the fun things we did - visiting lighthouses, driving the shore, whale watching. But when I went to pay for it, we got a bonus gift... of this ornament:

This angel has moss hair. And to this day Kevin always exclaims how this is his favorite when he unwraps it to put it on the tree. Why is it his favorite? Because it was free. A fascinating insight into my new husband's thought process for a young bride!


This next one is Santa playing the part of doctor. We got this one to commemorate two years in a row of hospital visits at Christmastime. First, Naomi was hospitalized for rotavirus the day after Christmas 2005. The next year, Rachel had an emergency appendectomy two days before Christmas 2006. Merry Christmas and ho ho hold the IV!

I just noticed that this picture also contains Kevin's elk, which we added last year to remember his first successful hunting trip and all the elk meat we ate last winter!


This one we added this year. We got it in Galveston after our first trip as a family to the beach. We rode the ferry and saw dozens of dolphins playing around the boat!


Hope you're enjoying all your holiday decorating!

Santa and his Deere*

Welcome to Christmas at the local John Deere dealership, where Santa rides in on a...



... tractor, of course!

We went to the John Deere Christmas open house because Mr. Johnathan loves tractors.


Hey, look! We're wearing coats! It's actually been pretty chilly lately (although I won't use the term cold, out of respect to my Casper, WY friends who are enduring below-zero temps right now).




Naomi rode the JD trike...

And they both loved the train ride to see all the different kinds of tractors.

I've been thinking all afternoon to come up with some sort of holiday-related catchphrase that could incorporate John Deere, but it's just not coming to me. Anyone else have an idea? I'll edit my post and give you credit!

*Thanks, Nolan! If anyone could come up with a farm equipment-related title, it would be you!!