Family, Friends, Food!

Tis the season of social gathering and eating.  I love it all!  I really feel like this year I have been truly able to enjoy the season.  For some reason, this year more than any other, I have been more aware of the wonder and mystery of Christmas...that my God would choose to be among the messy stuff of earth just to be near to us.   To me, because Jesus is near, there is hope!  The sense of hope allowed me to enjoy everything so much more this season.  Here's some photos!

We got together with Kevin's brothers for dinner.  Poor Ethan was sick so he's missing from the photo.

Our church small group Christmas dinner.  You can't see here but Lyndon is helping Michelle (the hostessess with the mostest) get the GIANT turkey out of the pan.

We do love gathering with our church small group.  The kids especially love the Christmas gathering since there is a kids gift exchange (masterminded by the parents of course)

My daughter was super excited about her gift.  It was a small baking set.  She loved the flat silicon spatula in the set.  Have I ever mentioned that my daughter loves to bake? I don't like baking or cooking so it's nice to have her growing up and taking on more of the kitchen tasks. 

This past Wednesday I convinced my husband that he should spend my sabbath day with me and we could go to the Christmas market downtown at the distillery.
However, things didn't quite work out as planned.
Michelle had an orthodontist consult to determine if she needed braces.  I thought it would be a quick check and then I could drop her back at school but it turned into a much longer visit since it was determined she needed braces and it made sense to get all the molds and x-rays done so we wouldn't have to do another visit.

On top of that Ethan was still sick so the doctor told us to take him for an x-ray.  Ethan didn't want to miss any school in the morning because that's when he has his harder subjects like English, history and math so he said to get him in the afternoon. 

This left us only with a small window in the late morning and early afternoon to brave the DVP highway traffic and get downtown but we did it! 

We ate lunch at a yummy Mexican style restaurant, and enjoyed a few shops.  Everything about the day was delightful...even the appointments because I just enjoyed being with my family. 

Of course there's nothing like doing things at the last minute.  Here's some Christmas baking for the teachers...thankfully Michelle did a lot of it since my little Nathaniel kept calling me from the craft cave to help him make an extra special Christmas card for his teacher. (sorry forgot to take a picture)  An already made Christmas card from my existing stash was unacceptable.  He had to make one from scratch! 

Then there's the last minute crafting of Christmas gifts.  This is the one time of year that my husband will craft because he needs gifts.
Crafting with my husband is fun.  Over the years he has definitely become a better stamper so this year I didn't have to help him at all.  He's a clown when he stamps though.  Here he is sporting a glitter banner mustache.

So that's a slice of the family, friends and food I have enjoyed this week.  Sunday I'll be hosting Christmas dinner so it will be a buzz of activity around here! 

Wishing you a blessed season of family friends and food too!