A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS EVE

Woke to rain still drizzling down making for a dreary Christmas Eve 2014.

After chores and breakfast it was gift wrapping time as I have not wrapped anything yet but last Sunday night's family gathering gifts.
Hubbie helped which was great, although he would only wrap the square boxed ones , haha !!
We took a break and ate lunch during the wrapping to give you an idea how many gifts there were !
We did get it finished and all the gifts under the tree in time to make a delivery up to the church with gifts for the pastors.

These two thought all this activity was pretty boring !! This was how they chose to spend a rainy Christmas eve. I emptied 1 3/4 inch of rain from the gauge this evening bringing the total for this storm to well over 2 inches.

I started cooking about mid afternoon, getting the sweet potatoes baked for the casserole and getting the ham ready to go into the oven so it could finish cooking while we were at the candle light service at church. I tried the warm and hold setting on my oven for the sweet potato casserole and a cherry pie while we were gone and it worked beautifully and the green beans were cooked,covered and left sitting on the stove top. The girls are bringing most of the other foods so it was a light day of cooking for me.
Chores were done early and g-son arrived to stay with us while his mom went early to go over the music once again and his dad and Aa went to place the traditional "Santa" gag decoration on the porch of the associate pastor's house. This "Santa" gets moved to a new undisclosed location each year ! This is the associate pastor's wife with him after they found him residing with them tonight.

I love the fun these young people have with each other and the love they have for one another. Their kids are very lucky.
The candlelight service was very nice as usual, this is my favorite service of the year.

 I love singing and listening to all the old traditional Christmas carols.

We got to church early so we could help with little EL and also get a seat downstairs instead of the balcony like last year. The church filled to capacity again this year as 6:00 rolled around.

D-in-love plays the violin in the right side of this blurry picture.  I'm either going to have to figure out how to work this "smart" camera or get another that maybe is not so "smart"  !!

As we got ready for the service to start the excitement of this night was evident in all the kids.G-son and El are joined by the associate pastor's daughter Tatum.

G-son was ready to have his candle lit !!!

The kids did as good as expected during this service, both were entranced by the candles.

 The last song was the best in my humble opinion  "Oh Holy Night" , it was a fitting end to the service.

Then the entire congregation carried our candles outside and sang Joy to the World for the community to hear.
It was a beautiful way to begin a night of celebrating the birth of our precious Savior.
All of us plus #2 son who was just getting off work made our way to our house for our normal dinner and Christmas present opening party.
The kids were both vibrating with excitement at the sight of all these pretty wrapped packages They could hardly hold still for one picture before the celebrating began. Sorry a lot of these pics are blurry, part because I can't figure out how to operate this camera and part because the kids were moving so fast,haha !!  A prayer was fitting as this evening began even it was on TV.

Their first task was to hand out all the presents under the tree and EL thought this was great and she was so cute giving everyone their gifts.

Finally it was time to open presents and see what was inside all these boxes and bags.
I think by the expressions on the faces that all were pleased with what was inside the pretty wrapping paper.

This art set was a special gift from g-son's uncle D, #2 son, who is an artist and drew sketches on the first couple pages in the canvas book to give g-son a start. I hope he treasures these drawings from his uncle D.

El loves to mash buttons so this toy was right up her alley.

 One of our gifts to g-son was a sleeping bag to use on his scouting outings.

Some things will take some help from dad to get going.

 Oh My !!!  A real gun, not exactly but a real BB gun !!! 

Kids really do make Christmas fun and these two lived up to all the expectations of the excitement of Christmas tonight, love them so much !!!
After all the packages were opened and the excitement of the evening wore off they were ready to conk out.

Miss Sleepy eyes !!!

I am very happy with my gifts, thank you so much kids !!!!

 Two new charms to add to my new bracelet, love them !!!

After everyone left it was as if the air bubble I've been in for the last month was stuck by a pin. As hubbie and I picked up and cleaned the dishes it is always hard to believe all the preparations for this night come to an end so fast.
As I went out to shut the doors of the hen houses, I made this picture of the back of the house with all the lights on for probably the last time this season.

The last photo of the night , how could we have all this excitement and not include the 4-legged kids who also got new furry toys to play with but had already tucked them safely away in their special places.

MERRY  CHRISTMAS TO ALL  !!!!

GOD HAS BLESSED US GREATLY AND WE ARE FOREVER HUMBLY GRATEFUL !

BUSY LAST BEFORE CHRISTMAS MARKET DAY

A wet morning with slick mud everywhere as I sloshed through morning chores and got loaded for market. I am very glad this is my last market day before Christmas as I am ready for some rest and relaxation to enjoy the season.
Market was very busy and I was glad daughter was there to help as well as hubbie , who stayed until almost lunch time to help customers carry the large orders to their cars.
Daughter and I had a long busy day and sold almost everything we had. After talking to hubbie who had stopped to finish up some of our shopping at a couple places and he said how crowded everything was even the roads, daughter and I decided to do some last minute shopping in the market.
I bought stocking stuffers and small appreciation gifts for some people from neighboring market vendors.
With my list completed I made a stop at the bank and Aldi for some baking supplies for Friday and for tomorrow night's family dinner then headed home taking all back roads to avoid traffic jams.
After we got the van unloaded it was nice to sit down and relax without anything to do for at least a little while until it was chore time and time to deliver the last cake order of the season.
Back home I shut the hen houses, dumped 1/2 inch of rain from the gauge and came inside out of the now heavy rainfall.
I didn't turn on the Christmas lights in all the rain tonight.
I went through all my gifts tonight making sure I didn't need to make an emergency shopping trip in the morning.  Thankfully it looks like I will get to spend a rainy morning doing whatever I want tomorrow after I get the presents wrapped ,that is !!
G-son had a change of heart about sitting on Santa's lap this year.

Our chances of a white Christmas this year are getting rained out as is many other places,even places that have had snow are watching their white Christmas wash away in all this rain that is predicted for the next 48 hours.

Thankful for the wonderful blessings of this season and especially God's special Gift to all mankind.
Good Night , God Bless and Merry Christmas.

BUSY BAKING MONDAY AND 1994 CHRISTMAS

A nasty day with cool temp and light rain making it feel like it should be snowing.  They are predicting over 3 inches of rain for area by Christmas day. I wonder how much snow that would be if the temps were about 6 degrees lower??
After chores and breakfast I dove into my cake baking for the day. I baked 18 caramel, 5 coconut, 4 chocolate, 5 pound and 2 blackberry wine cakes before having a late lunch.
Daughter had left her car here early this morning while her and Re went into Asheville to do some shopping and go to see the gingerbread creations at the Grove Park Inn along with a couple other errands.
They came back and had lunch here of last night's left overs.  Re went home to let El get a nap while daughter went to get her hair cut.  I iced 6 caramel cakes while I waited on them to finish these things before we all went back to Asheville to do more shopping at a Belks store that is closing.
We all finally got together about 4:30 and hubbie went along also. Hubbie and I rode with Re and EL and daughter met us over there.
We shopped for 2 hours finding quite a few great deals before we wore out and headed home.As we walked back to the car from the store we felt tiny snow flakes hitting our faces but the rain began on the way home and last all night.
I spent the rest of the evening back in the kitchen icing caramel,chocolate and coconut cakes, finishing and getting to bed at 1am.
With no pics today I will continue with my decade photo post.  In December of 1994 our kids were 13, 11, and 9 years old. Christmas of course had lost some of its shine but they were still excited on Christmas morning.
This was our tree and gifts that year.

#1 son enjoying his gifts.

#2 son...

Daughter always had a big smile on her face on Christmas morning.

With my mother gone and hubbie's grandmother gone there wasn't that many places to go for our Christmas in these years.
This is my side of the family's Christmas, that year at my oldest brother, Robert's house. He got the boobby gift that year  !!!

The kids all had a good time when they got together.

This is my oldest brother and his wife, Lauren with their 2 kids.

My youngest brother , his wife and 2 of their kids.

I was laughing to myself as I post these pictures that the older the kids got the less pictures there are of our activities.

Thankful for the Reason for the Season !
Good Night , God Bless and Merry Christmas.