Showing posts with label Friendship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Friendship. Show all posts

Monday, January 2, 2012

New Year Traditions

   Wow! hard to believe it is 2012! I am feeling so hopeful about this year, I don't know why...it's like I have a special peace inside. This makes me excited to see what God will do in the coming year...He's always so faithful to our little family!
   New Year's Eve was a fun night. We always invite our friends over as well as the kid's friends. It is so important to celebrate friendship! Friends are a blessing from the Lord and we should not (but often do) take them for granted. So for us, New Year's Eve is our celebrating the wonderful friends we've had all year and looking forward to the year ahead with them. We had close to 20 over and it's a tight squeeze at times (especially if 4 people are playing Just Dance on the Wii) but that's OK. Hopefully we will have even more over next year.
   Not only do we have amazing friends, but our kids have amazing friends too. It is truly a  pleasure to have these kids over and we have watched them grow up into wonderful people!
   Here are some highlights...
Dancing fun!



Our good friends Kelly & Tony and Brian & Lorilee

Mother/Daughter Dance Duo
( Chelsea & Tammy)

Zach, Brandon, Chels

Great kids!

Playing Spoons!

Intense game of spoons!

Watching the ball drop

Back to playing games :)

Our good friends Tammy & Mark






   New Year's Day we got up and went to church, a few boys spent the night, but amazingly we all got up and out the door on time!
   We are blessed with a great church family and a wonderful Pastor. It was THE way to start the year....After church we went to my husband's parents house to celebrate with family and a yummy dinner. There are always plenty of funny memories being shared and too much fudge eaten by all ( someday I will have to do a whole blog about my husbands Aunt Cook's fudge...and yes it's THAT good!)
.......Somehow I forgot to take my camera for this :(


   Another of our traditions is our Annual Wreath Drop. We have been doing this for the past 5 years and I don't know who has more fun ...the kids, or Dad! I usually stand in front of the house and video or take pictures. Dad runs all through the front of the house "releasing" the wreaths while the boys are outside guessing which wreath will be dropped next.... Mom, of course strongly urging them to not let them hit the ground. I wasn't too worried since I am replacing all the bows for next year. The old ones lasted 5 years so not too bad.
   Here's a visual if it's hard to imagine....





This should have been our Christmas card...maybe next year lol

My wonderful farm boys!




   I hope all of you have a wonderful year this year and that you will walk close with the Lord every step of the way. I'm not big on resolutions...I'm trying to take more time to "listen" to what God would like me to work on and let Him take the lead in making the necessary changes within me. Change is good :)
   Thanks for reading,
Blessings in the new year,
Allison

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Kicking off the Christmas Season

   Well it's December! I can NOT believe how fast the past two months have gone! I have so many deadlines to meet by the end of the year, but I refuse to let anything steal the joy of this wonderful season. Hopefully I will also find time to share with you some of our family traditions that make our Christmas special.


   The first kick-off was getting together with my wonderful friend Tammy to bake some cookies. We have been doing this since our kids were small and needed to stand on chairs to reach the kitchen counter....now our oldest two are freshmen in college!


My sweet friend Tammy

   Over the years the kids got more interested in playing and hanging out with each other than "helping" us make the cookies, but that's OK they were building memories of their own. Of course they always showed up for taste testing :)


   In years past we made many different recipes on baking day, but with our limited time we just picked two kinds to make and will have another day before Christmas to make some more...can't wait!


   We made our family's favorite Chocolate Chip cookies that are "must haves" for our husbands and kids. We have been using the same recipe for years and won't be changing that one!


Yummy!


   The next cookie we made was a new recipe I found on Pinterest ( oh how I love that site for recipes!) It's a Peppermint Sugar Cookie and you can find the recipe HERE. We added our special touch by topping them off with drizzled white chocolate and crushed candy canes...OH YUM!!!
Candy canes transform into pretty yummy pieces that go inside and on top



Rolled in powdered sugar and pressed with a fork...the smell is minty sweet!

My 12 year old Colton helping sprinkle the tops with crushed candy canes.


I wish you could smell these!And taste them too!



Colton's reward for helping :)



Tammy made a friend with one of the many Asian beetles that have decided to make our home their home ( I am so not impressed with them!)


Good friends & sweet memories!


   Are you feeling the hustle and bustle of the season? Or are you feeling the peace and joy? Make some time to do something that puts you in the spirit....make some cookies....put on some Christmas music...have coffee with a friend...find a way to serve others...don't forget to spend daily time with "The reason for the season" my wonderful Savior Jesus Christ.


   Comment below and tell me how you "Kick-off" the Christmas season.