Homeschool Christmas Party

The homeschool group had a Christmas party.  They had some really great crafts for the kids to do, everybody brought snacks and they had a Santa visit.  The little children loved it.

This little boy, Deacon, loves Mary.  He always runs and gives her a hug good bye when she leaves.

 

Here is the whole gang with Santa.  It was a lovely day.  A little cold but the sun was shinning!

Hanukkah 2017

We celebrated Hanukkah again this year.  We celebrate it with a messianic view.  We read scriptures about Jesus being the light.  Mary in this pictures is lighting the first candle on day one of Hanukkah which lasts 8 days.

On the 7th day of Hanukkah we were blessed to share the celebration with some new friends we have made through the homeschool group.  We had them over for some Hanukkah food.  Hanukkah food are deep fried to commemorate the miracle of the oil that one days supply lasted 8 days.
 

 

Rich deep friend battered chicken and potato wedges.  So yummy!

 

 

Here is Rich hard at work.

 

 

After dinner we turned out the lights and had the children light 7 of the 8 candles.  We read the Hanukkah blessing and scriptures.  We read the story of Hanukkah to everyone and then sang some songs. 

 

We were so blessed by the fellowship and fun of the evening.  They have 4 girls with the oldest being 5 1/2.  They are 20 years younger than us, the age of our nieces and nephews, but Dan and Rich have become close friends and spend lots of time talking about the scriptures together.  They are very close in their beliefs and are an answer to our prayer of fellowship since we left attending traditional church 4 years ago.  We pray for God to increase our numbers and be a blessing to this whole area.

 

Christmas and Homeschool Fun

We started into the holiday season with a bang.  After Thanksgiving we decorated our Christmas tree.  Our new ornament this year is of Mary's kitty, Ellie.  She is such a sweetie!

We went to the poinsettia festival in Ashland.  It was beautiful!  We got so many lovely pictures for our Christmas cards this year.

The homeschool kids got together and made ginger bread houses out of graham crackers.  Mary had a blast constructing a 3 story candy chalet.  It came crashing down on the way home, as the mortar didn't hold.  So we had fun munching on it over the next few days.

 

We went to the Christmas parade in Jacksonville for the first time.  We love how the town is decorated so pretty and the Victorian theme.  As you can see it was really cold, Brrrr!

 

Our friends Dan, Marissa and girls came and watched the parade with us.

 

It was a short and sweet parade.  So much home town fun and feeling.

We walked down California Street and did some shopping for Christmas.  So many cute people and dogs.  Lots of fun and we really got in the Christmas spirit with the cold, the decorations and the shopping!

We hope you all are enjoying this wonderful time of year.  We are so blessed and thankful for what the Lord is doing in our lives.  So thankful for our Lord Jesus Christ coming to earth.  The king of the universe coming as a baby, born in stable, showing us the way and giving his life for us!

The Dinner

Rich made some wonderful stuffing from my homemade bread.  He cut 2 loaves up into cubes and toasted them.  It was the first time I had stuffing from fresh bread.  He also made the sausage that he put in the stuffing.  So Yummy!

We watched the Macy's Day parade while Rich cooked the turkey and stuffing.  Lots of color and fun music.

The finished stuffing!

Mary had fun making this little turkey at the last homeschool play date.

We bought a Thanksgiving flower arrangement for the folks.  We brought it along with the stuffing and 22 lb turkey.

Rich's sister had a fabulous spread of chips and dip for us to snack on while we waited for the dinner to finish.

This one was goat cheese with peach jam, basil and pistachios.

Rich's turkey!

Mary watching Grandma cut the cranberry sauce.

The whole gang for dinner.

 

We had a very blessed day and so thankful for all we have!

Happy Thanksgiving to our wonderful friends and family!!