25 Days of Christmas: Day 24

Merry Christmas Eve!

I cannot believe that it is Christmas Eve and the next to last post of my 25 days of Christmas! I feel like December has flown by!

Today was a long day...just wrapping up a lot of unfinished things--pun intended--, and normal Christmas Eve day activities!

Even though we've done our usual Christmas traditions, and Santa Paws has already stopped by our house, it still doesn't feel like Christmas to me for some reason!! Time to light more of those Christmas candles to get in the spirit, right Matt?? ;)

There's only but so much rambling I can do right now, so let's just move on to the pictures that tell the day ;)

When I brought my Christmas blanket out this morning, I threw it up on the couch and Maple started sniffing it for a minute.  Then, she laid her head up on the sofa, knowing it was a new soft blanket, so she was just testing it out.  I finally said to her, "It's okay, Maple, you can get on that blanket," and she snuggled on it all day long! She knows it's Christmas and she knows Santa Paws is coming tonight!!! :)

We tried taking a little nap..

 Every year, we always go to church for the Christmas Eve Candlelight service.

Abby, Brandy and I take a picture in front of the tree just about every year :)

Also, I had both grandmas with me tonight, as I pulled out some of their old Christmas jewelry I had chosen.

The reindeer was Ganny's and the present was Memaw's.

After Christmas Eve service, we went over to Papa's / Aunt Vickie's and Scott's house for something to eat!  We had a great spread of snacks--thanks, Vickie!!! :) :)  We also had a good ol' time sitting around talking.  I wish I took some pictures, though!

When we left there, we headed home to pick up Maple and some Christmas gifts!  We went to Matt's parent's house to exchange gifts with them, and Matt's brother and his girlfriend.  And, of course, exchanged gifts with Maple, Autumn and Summer :)

 Someone found a chew bone!

Maple loves playing with Summer!  They move so quickly it was hard to get a good picture that wasn't blurry!

Free belly rubs!!

Autumn opening her gift from Maple.

I think she likes it!!! :)

25 Days of Christmas: Day 14

Tonight was the annual Christmas Cantata at church.  The theme this year was "Happy Birthday to Jesus!"  The choir and children's choir did such a great job with their performances--all of the songs were fun, and upbeat, and some even made you feel like you were on the islands for Christmas! haha

Our Sunday School class combined our Christmas giving project with the choir's theme of Jesus' birthday.  The choir director, Michelle, came up with this great idea, so that we could really emphasize giving during this time of year.  We asked everyone to bring any kinds of items from toiletries, cleaning supplies, non-perishable foods, etc., that could be donated to a family or families in need this Christmas.

Also, how pretty are all the Christmas decorations in church??  I love it!

These little ones were very entertaining and put on quite a show!

 

 The adult choir and children's choir all singing together at the end.

The last song of the evening was everyone singing Happy Birthday.

 

Afterwards, there were refreshments for everyone in the gym.

Thanks, Mom, for taking these pictures for me :)

 

Mom's cookies :)

 Birthday cake for Jesus!

25 Days of Christmas: Day 1

It's that time of year again! I can hardly believe it!! It feels like I was just making 25 different Christmas cookies and different treats last year, and now it's time for a new round of my 25 days of Christmas!!

It took me a lonnnnnng time trying to figure out what I was going to do for this year's 25 days.  I've done my 25 favorite Christmas songs (2010), 25 favorite Christmas ornaments (2011), 25 favorite Christmas movies (2012), and, of course, 25 Christmas cookies/treats (2013).

For this year, I thought about my very first 25 Days of Christmas posts in 2009.  Each day, I just shared something Christmasy I did each day leading up to Christmas.  I thought about last year's 25 posts and how much of a challenge it was to keep up with all of the baking! Don't get me wrong, I loved doing it (as did everyone who got to enjoy the snacks I made!), but some days, I just didn't feel like making something, I was running out of hours in the day, and quite frankly, it started taking the fun out of the spirit of what I wanted the posts to be.  In addition to that, I was also working a seasonal job, in addition to working at Varina, which took up my weekends, so I was rarely home and felt like I could've spent more time at home doing and enjoying more Christmasy things.  Therefore, I'm kind of going to "repeat" on the 2009 series, and each day this time around, I'll share something Christmas related that I've done!  I think this one will be a lot different though, because a lot of the posts in 2009 were things that I was doing at Longwood for Christmas. Unfortunately, haven't been doing much of that lately. :( Plus, hopefully no one will get bored of reading about movies or songs or cookies everyday! haha.

So, enough rambling, time for the first post, right???

If you didn't know, I play in the Bell Choir at church. I really enjoy it....especially at Christmas!! We've been working on Christmas songs for several weeks now, and it has been getting me very excited for Christmas.  Tonight, we had bell practice and organized our music for when we play all of our Christmas music at church!  If you're not doing anything, definitely come to Fort Lee Baptist Church on December 21st at 10:30am to hear all of our great songs we have been working on!! There are some fun songs!! It's going to be great!

See you tomorrow for another fun Christmasy post! :)