Some Christmas spirit

This gal sure blew us away in our Christmas concert at school. Love the end.

The Christmas parade

Our congregation at church participated in the Harrisonburg Christmas Parade. The theme was "Snowmen at Night" or something, but we did the Nativity instead. Gotta remember the real meaning of the season, right?

Clara wanted to participate. We weren't sure whether she really would when it came right down to it, but she did so well.

 Our float was rather humble, but so was the stable in Bethlehem, right?

 It was a cooollld night, but fortunately Clara was warm in her sheep costume layered over a coat, sweater, and turtleneck. She was quite the trooper. All the kids were, actually. They sung Christmas songs while they were waiting and waved to the parade watchers.

I also had to include this random picture of Michael with the Chick-fil-A cow and his float. I have to mention that Clara is both in love with and freaked out by these big dressed-up people. They scared me when I was a kid and I had (have) no desire to hug or give one a high-five. Clara gets so excited by them, though. Pretty funny.

It was a fun experience--I had never been in a parade before, and I was amazed at how many people were out there in such weather. Good times.

A Saturday morning

With the busyness that we've been experiencing 'round these parts lately, we're just grateful that it doesn't take too much to make this girl happy. Who needs Christmas presents when you have a half-sleeping dad to climb on in the middle of the hallway?

Clever

Last Friday morning, Clara came in wearing all black. "Wow!" I said. "You're all dressed in black!"

"Yeah," she responded. "It's Black Friday."

I couldn't laugh out loud or her feelings would have been hurt, but this just put a smile on my face the rest of the day.

{I don't know if I could possibly have gotten a worse picture, but my camera died right after this shot, so I decided to post it anyway.}

Thankful for a family visit

We were treated to a visit from Michael's sister, Tabitha, her husband, Tommy, and their two adorable kids, Adam and Hannah, for Thanksgiving last week.

I remembered to snag a quick pic of our "gratitude door" (each leaf had something we were grateful for).

 Thanksgiving morning we played at a fun older park, but the kids--and adults--were all moving around so much I got only a few poor pictures. Adam and Hyrum looked like they were having a blast climbing through all the cubby holes.

 Clara really took to Tommy this trip, which was very sweet. It was not so sweet when she decided to play in freezing cold puddles.

 Waiting for dinner. I think Hannah's pigtails are just about the cutest thing ever.

 The spread. Every time I learn something new. This year, I learned that we will be grilling steaks next year.

 What a handsome family!

 The curse of having an open kitchen/dining area: dishes in the background.

You just can't help but smile when looking at this kid. Boy. Guy. Young man. Whatever.

Birthday boy

My husband turned 33 last week. He still looks ten years younger than that, which I think is a compliment to the good care he has taken of himself lo these many years of marriage.

I forgot to get a picture of all of us together, but I did manage a couple of the candle-blowing.

 I decided to alter a recipe and make an ice cream trifle. It worked pretty well, but next time I will make it with brownies instead of chocolate cake because brownies would be chewier even when frozen.

I absolutely love Clara's face here. Classic.

Happy birthday, darling!