Christmas is Coming!

It's a busy but wonderful time of year, with  many Christmas activities and projects going on!   Here's a brief snapshot of what we've been up to these past two weeks:

After decorating our house for Christmas, we had our church small group over for the dessert portion of the annual progressive dinner.  I decided to give this delicious chocolate pound cake some holiday cheer by adding "holly cookies" around the edge.

Later that weekend, our middle school youth group was here for a little Christmas party.  We played a few games and they really got into Christmas Charades!

Last Monday was a big day at the middle school; we took 120 students to Wal-mart to shop for our Christmas Basket program (are we crazy, or just very optimistic??)  Back at school, the students wrapped gifts and packed up the baskets.  The whole day actually went very well and it was cool to see the middle school students in a spirit of giving!

 

Yesterday our house turned into a Peanut Butter Ball factory.  Turns out the recipe made *way* more peanut butter balls than I anticipated!  Four hours later (and with a lot of help from Jonathan!) we could finally enjoy the finished product.

 This afternoon we enjoyed a beautiful concert from the Rehoboth choir!  Jonathan accompanied some of the songs with his violin.  This was a great way to start the busy last week of the semester with an hour of peace and worship.

Next weekend we will travel to the East Coast for the holidays!  Until then--enjoy a wonderful Christmas season!

Giving Thanks

After a busy week, it's finally time to catch up on my blog!  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Jonathan's parents, his sister Hannah, and my friend Genavee.  On the day before Thanksgiving we took a short hike back to First Canyon--other than the very sticky mud along the way, it was a great walk!

Hannah arrived on the train Thursday morning and we all went to church together.  Then, back at home, we finished cooking our Thanksgiving feast and shared it with our neighbor, Mr. Fred.

Once the meal was cleaned up, we drove to Santa Fe for the weekend!  Our beautiful Hilton hotel was within walking distance of the historic plaza, so on Friday morning we set out to see the sights: Loretto Chapel with its "miraculous staircase", San Miguel church (the oldest church in America!), the Georgia O'Keefe museum, and lots of interesting shops along the way!

Hotel lobby

Our own artistic attempts, inspired by Georgia O'Keefe  :)

That evening we saw Frozen, the amazing new Disney movie, then ate some delicious New Mexican food at Tomasitas restaurant.

The next day we walked around the Farmer's Market and went to the New Mexico History Museum.  Look at those authentic cowgirls!

Sadly, it was time to drive back to Albuquerque for Genavee to catch her flight.  The rest of us went to the mall and I did some maternity clothes shopping before reluctantly saying goodbye and making the late-night drive back to Gallup.

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving--we have very much to be thankful for!