glimpse

the burtons left and the dillons arrived on saturday.  we enjoyed a cozy meal and anticipated christmas morning #2.

sunday was clear and beautiful.  there was a doll tea set and table,

(another) lightsaber — though that is exactly what he asked for! –, money for everyone from aunt diane,

and LEGOS, of course (always a hit!).

we gave nevie a baby huggems.  a tradition in our family.  its a soft, snuggly madame alexander doll like the one i got and loved to pieces as a three year old.  her eyes even open and close — everyone loves that part!

even though it was a sunnier day there was plenty of snuggling.  nevie couldn’t stop hiding behind the couch with sydney and hugging her, and of course there were plenty of thank you hugs.

cabin christmas was a big, BIG success.    as close to a ‘little house christmas’ as were willing to get!

we began with the traditional opening of one gift each.  the kids opened up new board games and movies.

then we had our classic fare: soup and monte cristos.

there was a ridiculous number of desserts.  and then it was GAME TIME!

elise was the favorite partner.

she got very into it!

christmas classics playing in the background, the fire crackling, the dog snoring and our family laughing and loving.  perfection.

for christmas this year we found a cabin to rent for the week and what a marvelous idea it turned out to be…

as we were driving up to highlands, nc, we watched as the snowed piles outside the car became thicker and thicker and we knew that this was a good choice.   in town the snow on the sidewalks reflected the colored lights in the shop windows.  it all made for a perfect norman rockwell painting.

the cabin we were in was comfy and spacious with plenty warm beds and two large fireplaces which we kept burning all week.

you could find sydney curled up on the floor (with elise on top of her) and often grandmother cooking up something wonderful in the kitchen.

c- searched and searched for a little tree for us.  he finally found a farm still open and brought home the most perfect tree we have ever had.  small, scrawny but with loads of personality.

we decorated it with big, fat colored lights just like the ones grandmother used to put on her tree, and we sprinkled it with old timey silver tinsel that i hadn’t seen in years ~ almost as good as pixie-dust!

we also made ornaments: jingle bell candy canes and jeweled snowflakes.

the cabin had the perfect spot for our new christmas puzzle and for card and board games!

we watched a charlie brown christmas and julie&julia, among others.    the kids and i got started on ‘treasures of the snow’ too, a favorite when mamsie read it to all of us when we were young.  all in all it made for a christmas that lasted as long as i remember it as a child.  we all just sat back and took it in…

on christmas eve we hiked down to dry falls.  the icicles were like daggers only beautiful…

our sweet church was led in worship by the kids on christmas sunday.  *heart* our church.

so i’ve made a new friend, a humble and fabulously creative girl named, ruthie.  ruthie began sharing her love of jewelry making with refugee women in atlanta to give them a way to make ends meet and to offer them an opportunity to share their stories of loss and hope.

if you ever have another chance to attend one of these, do it!! …or better yet, host one.  contact ruthie here.

before we had even eaten…tuckered out.

we sang our thankgiving song and the verses we had memorized and then shared what we were thankful for.

grandan and dendy shared scripture and prayers.

and then it was eating time!!

the whole crew.

just the dillons.

grandan and (some of) his kiddos.

lam and her kiddos.

evan had stayed the previous week at the lake.  dendy had bought him a little chainsaw to help clean the yard.  so he had to show off his serious skills.

’so joseph also went up from the town of nazareth…to bethlehem…he went there to register with mary, who was expecting a child…while they were there, the time came for the baby to be born.  she wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger.’

‘and there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night…’

‘an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them…’i bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.”

’suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ’Glory to God in the highest!”

‘the shepherds said to one another, ‘let’s go to bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.’ so they hurried off and found mary and joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.’

‘but mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ‘

this year instead of halloween we celebrated christmas with our cousins because it was going to be our last weekend with them for a very, very long time.  first, gingerbread houses!

wha-la!!  the finished products.

lili’s was the only one of these fragile little houses that fell during construction.  thankfully she didn’t mind a bit!

we decorated grandan’s tree and saved our bears until it was present time…

then it was time for a little football lesson from uncel chad…

it was the best halloween we ever had!