Does Lizzie look like happy?! We had so much fun taking turns holding baby Kathryn on Christmas Day. I wanted to start my blog post with a nice picture, but let me start back on Christmas Eve to show you how we spent our Christmas.

We went to church for our Christmas Eve Candlelight Service at 6 pm. There were four special music numbers. This year's service was different from our previous years. I wasn't surprised when I read on Sarah's blog that she thought the service was "tedious." I wouldn't call it tedious...but definitely different. I tried to get a picture of the beautiful altar table but couldn't figure out what setting to use.

I like this picture of Sarah with two of her favorite friends, Susan and Linda.

After the Candlelight Service, we went to the Ritz Carlton Hotel for a Christmas party. I'm teasing...we went to my friend Susan's home. It is so beautiful.

Susan's lovely tree. The pictures look so calm...but the many children spent most of the evening downstairs playing ping pong. What a feast we had. Meatballs, ham, 7 layer dip, veggie salad, garden bars, and waldorf salad.

I took this picture of the "silverware" that was actually plastic!

Susan went out of her way to make sure there was plenty to eat for our family. What a sweetheart. This salad was delicious...

...as was this veggie salad. I loved the many different kinds of beans.

Someone made these spinach and stuffing balls. They weren't egg free, but I took this picture to remind me to find a way to make them without eggs.

We had such a fun time. It was 11:30 before we knew it. Thank you for inviting us, Susan.

Christmas Day at 4 pm, we went over to my brother's home for our extended family's Christmas. What a wonderful time we had...as usual. Here's baby Kathryn dressed for the occasion.

Darling Abigail was such a doll. She spent most of her time playing with her new barbie dolls. What an angel. Her parents were so busy feeding us and being the perfect hosts.

My brother Floyd's grandbaby, Zoe. I was glad they were able to come. Sarah crocheted the booties and hat.

Dessert time. The menu was delicious...stuffed ham, turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, oyster stuffing, fried oysters (a real favorite!!), shrimp cocktail, and veggies. Simba made almost everything dairy and eggfree, so it was a real treat for our family.

Simba tried this recipe from Paula Dean that was just fabulous. I loved it. I am definitely going to try making this.

Anna taking her turn with baby Kathryn. Leslie and Mike have asked my twins to be Kathryn's Godparents. They are thrilled with the honor!

I was glad my nephew Dustin could pull himself away from his girlfriend long enough to visit.

Natalie's live tree.

Maggie's plate of treats that she and Lizzie made. All dairy and egg free, so we all got to enjoy it.

Simba, Dad, and brother Mike.

Natalie and Abigail sharing dessert. Natalie put together an excellent trivia game for us to play. Sarah won 1st prize and my hubby Mike won 2nd. Afterwards we had our first Chinese Auction instead of our usual Christmas Drawing for exchanging gifts. I'm not sure if it was a success or not. It seemed most people went home with their own gifts.

The whole time we were at Natalie and Simba's home, we kept our eyes on the weather. It was snowing the whole time. Fortunately there was only an inch on the roads when we came home. We ended up getting 3 or 4 inches total. I love a white Christmas!

Yesterday I took Maggie up to Walter Reed Army Hospital for her regular accupuncture appointment. Just like last year, there was a piano on the second floor that could be heard throughout the entire lobbies on all the floors. This pianist was playing all sorts of classical pieces which made me wonder if Christmas is "out" in this military that has a growing number of muslims. However, just as we were leaving, I saw her pull out a music book called Classic Praise Hymns. I wonder what she was going to play! You just never know.

Today we are back to cleaning and splitting wood. Sarah's friend is flying in from Alabama tonight, so we are eagerly awaiting their arrival. Meanwhile there is much cleaning to be done before our New Year's Eve party. Never a dull moment.

Anna is busy putting together her missions packets to send to folks as a way of gaining prayer and financial support for her upcoming missions trip to Cambodia and Nepal. We had no idea how much money it took just to print and mail her packets! Anna's leaders feel it is important for the team members to go through the entire process of gaining support so that they will learn the costs of being missionaries. Some education!

If you are reading this, and would like to be a part of Anna's trip, whether financially or prayerfully, send me your address and I will make sure you get a packet.

There are so many little details that have to be taken care of before Anna gets on the plane. One of the details I find interesting is that Anna's entire name must be the same on her plane ticket that is on her passport. If one letter is different, she will be unable to get on the plane. Times have really changed since I went to Europe in 1978!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. There were many handmade gifts given this year, so I will start tracking them down and posting them. Many blessings ~ Kathie