My dears on Christmas. Love them so..
Tag: Christmas
Merry Christmas Eve!
Everything is set out—croissants for morning breakfast sandwiches, warm cookies on the stove, stacked up in plates and tupperware, waiting to be packed up in the morning for the family party. The bike and play kitchen have been assembled, mostly with ease except for my personal low moment, frustrated by my growing belly and shortness of breath trying to retrieve the screw I’d dropped on the ground for the fourth time (James stepped in valiantly to rescue me on that one).
We’ve watched some favorites as the nights gone on, Family Man, The Santa Clause and SNL best Christmas skits. I am thrilled and thankful in my Christmas Eve cocoon, filled with excitement for the kids and what the morning holds. At peace as the rain patters against the skylight and gutters gush outside our windows, and we look on at the sparkling lights and burning fire.
I have so much I am thankful for in this moment, and am struck by the beautiful hope, peace, reconciliation and love brought with this season.
O come, Desire of the nations, bind
in one the hearts of all mankind;
bid every strife and quarrel cease
and fill the world with heaven’s peace.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!
Capitola lights
Riding home from swim lessons is the closest touch we have with any semblance of an evening commute. But more thrilling than the long drawn out lines of red lights in front and white lights across, are the busy Continue reading “Capitola lights”
Snippets of Christmas
This was such a fun day! We ventured out deep into the woods of Soquel (which is neither far nor woody..) to find a tree at a wild tree lot, and to our dismay, we found only the most gargantuan trees possible. So we stopped by another quaint little spot, off the beaten path called “home depót” 😉 And well, it worked for us so here we go, she’s up people!!
Christmastime been so fun this year, the kids’ excitement is through the roof and most especially, decorations. Although they mostly want to dig through boxes for possible toys. Or to “decorate” with one item and get their ever so prized hot chocolate.
There’s so much joy in it, counting down, lighting the Advent candles at church, preparing Continue reading “Snippets of Christmas”
Bits and pieces
This Christmas season was filled with so many non material gifts for our family–so much quality time being near the top of the list. We started off break with a great end to James’ school semester and a fog of sickness. Whilst recovering, we did day trips to local spots, an evening at a fun light show over the hill from us, had drinks with friends and spent some time catching ourselves up on life and looking at the upcoming year. Continue reading “Bits and pieces”
The kiddos at Christmastime
I’ve been remarkably bad at yearly holiday cards. I trailed off after our first year of marriage, when I burned myself out on wedding invites, thank you’s and of course, the beloved Christmas card. The timing of our wedding thank you’s in conjunction with the Christmas send out was unnecessarily stressful to say the least! I am in awe of families who have a professional shoot, followed up by a beautiful photo cards mass mailing. You, my friends, are on another level and I salute you. Continue reading “The kiddos at Christmastime”
All things christmas!
merry christmas (belatedly..) to you!! we have had the week off since christmas so there’s been lots of after christmas activities + just a tad bit of delirium! we’ve enjoyed it so much and i can’t believe how fast it all went! i mean..new years eve is just days away {shocker!}
we spent christmas eve getting ready for services + planning an awesome obstacle course (if i do say so mah-self!) for the littles in our church fam and ringing in christmas day at the midnight service with lots of loved ones…i love the midnight “candlelight” service, even though i’m quite sleepy by then 🙂 ..christmas day was relaxing and i’m pretty sure we could’ve slept a loooooot longer! we got to spend time with one another in the morning, open our gifts + stockings (so much fun, we done good, people), then headed over to mama’s for more relaxing + present exchanging, and then to aunt ella’s for even more goodness! in a word, lots of sugar + love over there people..
annnd..i got to share with our youth on christmas eve and this year, what was especially on my mind, was the hope that jesus presented to us when he entered the world!! ..thus, christmastime! i had them think about what situation or “thing” in their life where they are desperate for hope to show up, and we were able to pray that hope would come in those places 🙂 i’ve been mulling over that the last few days and considering the same thing for mah-self {oh boy, places i need hope? not difficult!!}.
i love that christmas helps remind me of all that hope + wonder ♥
…and i hope that it was such for you!
midnight service below! i was a bit punchy but definitely my fave service 🙂
suggggarrrrrrr!!
muah!!
Decking our halls
Christmas has come and graced our walls and halls and floors and shelves and pretty much any space possible with christmas cheer! who knew how far a grocery bag could go?! Thank you grandma for all your Christmas craftiness..you’ve passed on so many wonderful items that help coax people into thinking i have incredible embroidery/sewing skills {i don’t}. you’ll see a couple of her creations below!
mrscaseyann 