Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways
acknowledge him,and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6

Monday, December 20, 2010

The Joys of Christmas

I'm pretty new at this "blogging thing" and try to do my best to write something that at least has a little bit of interest to it.  There are so many things that could be written about this time of year.  Ways to give, how to remember THE point of Christmas which is the birth of our Saviour.  I think most of us know those things already and reading about them is a nice way to be reminded.  But, this time, I'm being a bit selfish.  I've had a few busy days, oh, wait, FUN days..and have managed to snap some cute pictures that have to be shared.  I have some family that has said how much they enjoyed the blog and recent days have brought about some cherished moments for me that I feel are definitely worth sharing.

Let's begin with cookies....I have lost track of how many cookies I've made through Pam's Heavenly Delights at The Picket Fence.  I lost count somewhere around 17 dozen...most of which were Christmas cookies and definitely fun to make.



The boys and I had a fun day of shopping.  Leave it to Caleb to say, "Picture me, Mom" on a rock in the middle of Moore Plaza.  LOL
We couldn't forget Randy!  So, I tossed him in there at the last moment and it has turned out to be one of my favorite pictures of the season!


Then came time for the Schmitt Family Christmas party on Silver Creek.   Nearly everyone was here this year, except for Z. -- my Marine Corp nephew and his new bride M. who were out of state and not arriving until the actual weekend of Christmas.  What a blessing that will be for their family. 

Here is a shot of my niece S., granddaughter A., grandson H., and Uncle C. (the nickname given to Caleb by my son D. and DIL when the boys were itty-bitty.)   You see, Caleb is the uncle, but he's 2 1/2 months younger.  Hee hee.


And here is my new grandpuppy, Eli.  He's just a couple of months old and eveyone fights over holding him. 

Here's a picture of Caleb after opening a gift.  He seems excited doesn't he?


Aren't these two guys the most adorable little boys you've ever laid eyes on?  Well, okay, I admit I am a bit biased.  But, most people would agree with me and say they are stink'n cute!  


In the middle of baking and Christmas planning we were cordially invited to the 1st birthday party for a sweet little one, P.  I had the distinct pleasure of making this VERY special birthday cake!!!  Here is a picture of a portion of her party invitation.  My goal was to emmulate the picture of the cake.


What do you think?  How did I do?  Pretty cute, huh?  It was probably the heaviest cake I'd ever done for a child's birthday party.  The entire cake was my version of a white cake.  The top two layers were covered in my home made decorator icing and the bottom layer was covered in chocolate buttercream.  Um, yeah....yummy, if I do say so myself!  Any brown you see was chocolate buttercream.   A nice little bite of chocolate here and there.  It was definitely a fun cake to make.
We can't forget the cookies....So much fun working with all this pink!!
Or the smash cake....what is a first birthday without a little cake for the birthday girl to smash!


Aren't these just the cutest party favor gifts?  Pretzels rolled in colorful sprinkles.  What a fun and creative idea!   We walked away with two bundles since Randy and Caleb both attended the party.  Here's Randy's bundle...

The drive from the party to home was about 12 minutes.  Before we were even on the last turn into Papalote, this is the remains of Caleb's bundle.  I believe my son has one of the rarest qualities...He LOVES pretzels, but is not a fan of chocolate.  So, here is a picture of HIS bundle of candied pretzels:

Take a close look and you can plainly see that all the uncandied parts of the pretzels, what could easily be called the handle, are eaten clean off!  Left behind are the candied portions.  This is the same boy who wants desperately for me to buy him a Lunchable for a treat, only to toss out the candy and the cheese.  Um, yeah...we don't do that real often.  We make a lot of home made lunchables with ham and Ritz crackers.  LOL

After the sweetest birthday party I'd ever been to was over, (right now I wish I'd snapped at least ONE photo of this precious little girl), we came home to discover that Santa had come while we were gone.  Not only had Santa come, but he'd left Caleb a personal video message that was quite a hit.  If you'd like, check it out here....Caleb's Video from Santa .  He was very impressed.  I loved watching him nod his head as Santa talked to him and get an almost embarrassed grin on his face when he realized Santa knew he'd played soccer and wanted the Batman Cave for Christmas...!!

Here is a very humble and slightly embarrassed young man listening to Santa.  (Notice the fingers in the mouth.  Not a normal thing for Caleb to do.)


Randy's Christmas request was something I'd never personally heard of myself, but after an easy "Google-search" found it immediately.  It was an "Ocarina," which happens to be a flute type instrument that you blow into and cover more or less holes to make higher and lower pitched whistle sounds.  A very interesting instrument, that Ocarina.


Another interesting gift was this Root Beer kit.  Randy loves things that are different and unusual and definitely when it is something he can create and/or build.  A root beer drinker, this seemed to be a fun gift choice for him.  We'll have to let you know how it turns out.

Here's Caleb with his treasured Batman Cave.  I don't think I'd ever seen him so happy since he received the "Blue Mr. Incredible" for Christmas two years ago.

I have always been the sort of mom who treasures the gifts that her children give her.  In the past I've received scrapbook kits, jewelry of various colors and sizes - - mind you most earrings, etc, KILL my ears, but I find it in me somehow to wear them anyway.  They were given from the heart and what my kids have bought for me I know they picked out specifically FOR me.  I can tell by the gifts that my children have given me they have put MUCH thought into their purchase and this year was no exception.  So far I've received two very special gifts.  A sweet book of prayers from R. and a band mom t-shirt from A.

Isn't that the most adorable band mom t-shirt?  I absolutely love it and cannot wait to wear it at the next appropriate band function...


Lastly are photo's that did not make the photo greeting card this year.  The obvious reason?  We took them before Randy was here.  Here's a couple that weren't tooooooo, bad.




As you can see, a lot has taken place these last few days.  There is more excitement and fun yet to come I'm sure.  I wish everyone a blessed Christmas.  May God bless you and your families abundantly during this time we celebrate the birth of Jesus.  I pray traveling mercies on any and all who might find themselves on the road at this time of year.

God bless you one and all!






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