A Christmas Celebration

This Christmas was so special and filled with faith, hope, love and joy!! We have started a tradition on Christmas Eve of going to the Christmas Eve service at church and then having my family over to our house for games and goodies. I love it, it's so much fun!!

Christmas morning Kyle and I exchanged gifts at home before going over to my parents' house. I got Kyle a really awesome Dremel tool that he has been eyeing for a while and a few other things. He got me a new camera!!!! A Nikon D3000. I'm so happy! I love it! I'm so excited to learn how to use it and take really great pictures.

We spent most of Christmas Day at my parents' house. My grandparents and aunt and uncle also came over. My Dad cooked his standing rib roast like he does every year! Yes, Lord! We had a wonderful day and opened lots of presents. Some of my favorite gifts included my new Brighton necklace, an NC State serving tray and the gift my sister gave me... feeding a hungry baby through Samaritan's purse. Kyle loaded up with some shirts and a pocket knife.

Since we were expecting a significant amount of snow, we decided to head to Jacksonville Saturday night instead of Sunday. We were excited to have a second Christmas with the Fescoes and definitely did not want to get snowed in and miss it! The whole family was there this year so it was great to see everyone! Ava and Lincoln get cuter and sweeter every time we see them! We were also blessed with more gifts! Rick made me a shelf for my knick-knacks and I absolutely LOVE it! A RHF original as he calls it. It's beautiful and definitely one of the best gifts I have ever received. We also had a delicious, healthy meal made by Michelle and Courtney! And we got SNOW!! It was a beautiful snow and perfect for snowballs and snowmen!! We played outside in it for a while, it was so much fun!

We made some really great memories this year while celebrating the birth of the Christ Child, Immanuel, God with us! So thankful for that gift, truly the best gift anyone could ever receive!

Dad and the roast!

G-pa and Mom

Leah and Alex

Lesley and Eric, love this pic of them!

G-ma and Auntie Lou

Mom and Dad

Uncle Kyle and Lincoln

Linc and Zsa Zsa

I was so happy to get my shelf!

Cuteness!

Pretty Ava posing for me!

building a gingerbread house

Ava and the finished product

These two are crazy! Fighting on the Wii!

Yoda and Linc

Uncle Kyle and Aunt Lindsey with the kids

Love this pic!

Chad and his hat!

my shelf hung and decorated!

it's beautiful, I love it! Thanks, Rick!

Christmas Goodies

The holiday baking has begun!!! Here's what I've done so far:

I tried a new Peppermint Bark recipe...

and I'm in love!!! These are amazing!

Sausage balls make the list every year!

Peanut Blossoms!!

Chocolate and peanut butter is my absolute favorite food combination in the whole world!!

What goodies are you making this year??

Biltmore

Back in November we visited some friends who live in Asheville, NC. We had a wonderful visit and we spent almost an entire day at the Biltmore Estate. We got to tour the Antler Hill Village on the property which included the farm and the winery and of course we walked through the mansion. I'm still in shock that people can have that much money. Wow. They had it decorated for Christmas and it was absolutely beautiful! Thanks Wes and Kristina for hosting us, we had a wonderful time!!!

Antler Hill Village

the farmland

view from the balcony at the back of the house

Bag of Blessings

I really loved Kristen's post about the Reason for the Season. Jesus is truly the reason that we celebrate Christmas whether you believe it or not, it's true. Kyle and I give and serve others on a regular basis throughout the year but we definitely have a giving spirit at Christmas time! When you meet people's needs at the most basic level, it really opens up the door for you to share the Gospel with them. People want to see that you truly care about them, that you're not just "doing your religious duty" or trying to work your way to heaven. Which we know you can't work your way to heaven anyway ("Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us." Titus 3:5a and "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast." Ephesians 2:9-10) Our goal is for people to see that we love them because God loves them and we want them to spend eternity in heaven with God and us! "We love because he first loved us." 1 John 4:19.

So..... this is why I absolutely LOVE what our church is doing this year. We are combining local missions with foreign missions. Our Pastors have asked each family at our church to make a "Bag of Blessings." They handed out white cloth bags to every family and asked us to decorate it and fill it with essential goodies for the homeless people living in downtown Raleigh. Once they collect all the bags, they will take them downtown and distribute them. I'm thrilled about this because it's so practical. We get to decorate the bags with a message to the individual who receives it. We get to see exactly where our money is going and who gets to benefit from it. We get to fill it with whatever we want!!! The person can reuse the bag and use it to carry their belongings! This is my cup of tea right here, people!!! This is it!!

Then, on the assigned date we are to bring our bags back to church and with the bag we will include our donation for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering which goes to support foreign missions. It's really a great picture of what the church is here for: spreading the Gospel by helping people down the street and across the globe. I'm praising God for giving us Pastors who see this and believe this and encourage us in doing this!!!

Here is our bag of blessings. We are praying for the individual who receives this bag, that they may know God's love for them and receive his free gift of salvation.

We included: winter items like a blanket, hat and gloves, a Bible, food, water and hygiene items.

My Goofy Husband

I thought he was kidding, but clearly he wasn't. Kyle has created his own version of Elf on the Shelf. See for yourself...




This is where I found the abominable snowman yesterday...

and today...

Also - we are excited to have a new tree this year!! It's a little bigger than our last one and it's sooo pretty! Thanks to our neighbor, Mr. Dan who gave it to us!!!