Tis the Season - for lots of Pictures!!

     I haven't really anything to say exactly. No profound thoughts have come to me. I haven't picked up my pen to record an epic tale or hilarious story! But with a full schedule ahead of me, I thought now might be a good time to catch up before all the crazy of family, friends, and traveling begins. For those of you who for whatever reason seem compelled to read these posts regularly and stay informed of my life, you may appreciate the little things that have accumulated to make such a splendid Christmas Season thus far. For lack of a better system, I shall simply narrate the pictures from my camera & phone that have captured my life these past few weeks.

     First things first - we got our Christmas tree! I don't care what Febreeze or Yankee claims: there is no substitute for a fresh cut pine in one's house at Christmas time! Traditionally, we get our tree the Friday after Thanksgiving. But as weather and travels would have it, we had to wait till the Tuesday after.

mmmm! piney!

    The Friday following,  I quite enjoyed myself - along with my family and a few friends from church - at the Northland International University production of A Christmas Carol!  As many times as I've seen it and as much as I can quote it, I was truly riveted by this unique, musical, and stellar retelling of the classic! And of course it's always fun and extra special when one's friends are members of the cast! Bravo! "God Bless Us!"

Mrs. Fezziwig & Bob Cratchit (photo bombed by Ebeneezer Scrooge himself!)

Most of our NIU team & some of our IBC representatives! 

     No doubt - as some of you are aware - my least favourite part of the holidays is Christmas shopping!!! Ba Humbug! Somehow my sisters convinced me yet again to brave the crowds and risk my life on Black Friday. And not one but TWO Saturdays this month have been spent on a pilgrimage to the the malls of the Fox Valley area! Yikes! However, one trip did provide Emily with the opportunity to spontaneously play away on a piano in the middle of the shopping plaza! So... I guess that was worth it...

Emily playing her little heart out and fulfilling her dream! :)

    The following Sunday, we had our greatly anticipated Youth Christmas Party! We had some concerns beforehand that few people would be able to attend, but it turned out to be a full house! Our white-elephant gift exchange included such things as army rations, a Justin Bieber CD, a Unicorn chapter book, and a very coveted bag of movie candy! Our first attempt at Christmas Karaoke provided our group with plenty of laughs and gradually turned into IBY's version of "The Voice"! (In case you're wondering - yes, I did sing! My lot fell to "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch"! Aaaaaand I rocked it!! JK! ;) ) It could be said that we had no shortage of fun - and Cheetos, Puppy Chow, and liters of pop for that matter!! No one wanted the night to end!

Rockin' out! 

     These past few weeks have included some school programs, too, of course. The 5th-8th Grade & High School programs were, um, festive. But tonight's 5K-4th Grade promises to be quite entertaining! 

standing room only for the 5th-8th grade!

     Of course all month our most consuming event was our Christmas program! Due to the fact that very few of our Wednesday KidsClub kiddos (including our college team) can attend the Sunday of the program, we endeavored to remedy that this year by dressing them all up on Wednesdays and taking their photographs in costume while posing in various nativity scenes. Those photos were then incorporated into our Christmas reader's theatre program so that everyone was involved! So for the last 5 weeks, we'd been practicing their songs and shooting their scenes! It was kind of a lot of work but definitely a lot of fun and the end result was quite special!

Let the show begin!

the kiddos singing away!

And of course no Christmas Program Sunday would be complete without the traditional sibling photo in front of the Christmas tree (courtesy of mother!)

Okay, well, I guess that about sums up December so far...Enjoy the holidays and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

And don't forget about the greatest gift of all!