| CHRISTMAS |
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| The Gifts: |
| She got the stable and horses for her birthday. But Santa left the table (although with the receipt of more gifts, these didn't stay here. You can see where everything ended up in her toy room). |
| Santa also left this octagonal train table. Too bad it didn't come assembled. Momma got to do that (good thing our friend Matt was there to help). And Santa also left a puppet theater (left). Being an only child right now, Santa left A LOT of stuff this year. Hope she doesn't get too use to it. LOL! |
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| The Playing: |
| All these toys could not go untouched for very long. Sydney started playing right away. |
| We went to church service on Christmas eve to see our friends that wouldn't be there on Christmas Day. We wanted the chance to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. |
| On Christmas Eve: |
| At home (trying to get a good pic of the girl). |
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| We got up early on Christmas morning and opened our gifts. At 11am, we went to church (where we were doing the Advent reading), then headed to Donna & Nancy's house for the afternoon. Sydney never got tired of opening gifts. |
| All Sydney asked for was a white horse. Now, we're pretty sure she was asking for a REAL white horse, but this one is the closest Santa could manage. It's big - 20" tall. And she got two others just like it in brown and black. |
| At the church, in front of the Christmon Tree. A Christmon tree differs from a traditional Christmas tree in a couple ways. Every ornament on the tree symbolizes Christ in some way (examples include: crosses, fish, doves, angels, stars, etc.). And every ornament is either white or gold, symbolizing Chist's holiness and purity. |
| In the front of the sanctuary, tons of poinsettas. And with her friend Japhy (who is holding one of the boxes of the cookies that we put together with all our baking goodies). |
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| ------------>>>>>> Proof that Santa had been to our house. Hee hee! |
| Later on: |
| Sydney wore the outfit that Grama made for her (in the shoot pics) to church on Christmas Day. Then we headed to Donna & Nancy's where there was another huge lot of gifts to open. [Didn't get many pics, but here are a couple.] Nancy's parents, brother, and nieces were all there. It was nice to spend the day with such a loving bunch. We had a great time. |
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| GETTING READY FOR CHRISTMAS |
| To get her into the spirit, Mere decided to do some baking this year. But it turned into A LOT of baking. We gave all these yummy treats with gifts this year. |
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| Chocolate Peaunt butter Thumbprints |
| Loaded Oatmeal (includes chocolate chunks and walnuts) |
| Peanut butter Blossoms (a favorite all around!) |
| Cream Cheese cookies (a pecan half, hidden by a melted carmel square and dabbed with melted chocolate) |
| The Cookies: |
| The Bars: |
| Peanut butter chocolate cookie bars |
| Butterscotch walnut cookie bars |
| S'mores cereal bars |
| Yogurt and fruit bars |
| These are called Crunch or Toffee bars. Using saltine crackers, a butter/sugar concoction, melted milk chocolate, and nuts. Yummy!! |
| The Fudge: |
| Top: Plain ol' chocolate fudge Bottom: same with walnuts |
| Top: butterscotch Bottom: peanut butter with chocolate topping |
| Top: white chocolate Bottom: tiger butter (white chocolate with peanut butter and milk chocolate swirled in) |
| This was Mere's first attempt at making fudge. It was a hit! |
| The Helper: |
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| The Decorations: |
| Sydney loved helping Momma make all the cookies! |
| Mere made this nativity while she was taking ceramics back in 1990. |
| The tree |
| On top of the entertainment cabinet |
| Another little tree. |
| This was the tree we let Sydney decorate. When she was done, all the ornaments were on the same branch. LOL! |
| Our Advent calender that Sydney's Grama (Mere's mother) made for us. |
| These cute crafty lightbulbs were painted by Mere's friend Heidi. An elf, a reindeer, a snowman, and Santa & Mrs. Claus. So cute! |
| Even the wine bottles got in the spirit. |
| --------------->>>>> The aprons are ready for more baking! |
| The Card (that never was): |
| We did a little photo shoot for the Holiday card. And after Mere made the card, she had so much trouble getting it printed. She decided to put it off until after the new year. So no Holiday cards this year (but there will be New Year's cards). |
| Mere's mom made the sweater and the skirt that Sydney is wearing in the above pics. Below she is wearing the horsey pajamas that she got for her birthday. |
| And here's what the card WOULD have looked like. |
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| We got all dressed up to go to the Internal Medicine Holiday party. |
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