christmas with the cardozas

One of our favorite evenings in Christmas is our dinner and gift exchange with the Cardoza family.  This is a family that we love as family and are so thankful for!  The last few years we have gotten together on Christmas Eve which just makes the tradition more special.  Leslie did a really cute reindeer ornament craft with them, we had a delicious dinner of Prime Rib and yummy sides, got pretty decent pictures of the crazies all together, and exchanged presents.  Zach and Matt got their usual gifts of a big jug of nutella for Zach and scones and coffee for Matt.  We gave William a nerf football and Isabella a pair of leopard print sunglasses and some leaf earrings.  I gave Leslie a blanket scarf and monogrammed jewelry plate that I made and she gave me a beautiful piece of Milkglass that we had seen in an antique store on a shopping trip with church girlfriends.

Such a fun night!

ornaments

Ever since our honeymoon, Zach and I purchase an ornament on all our trips to remember all the great places we go together.  Our tree is more of a eclectic scrapbook than a matching piece of art anyway so they always fit right in! I love having Zach take pictures of the new ones each year so that I can share the memories on here as well.  This year I got smart and saved all of our purchases in a separate bag so that they would be easy to find and photograph.

There's really no better ornament to buy on a trip to Vegas than the one of the iconic sign that welcomes you in.

This past summer when we came to visit my family we took a trip to the Aviation Museum and I saw this pretty thing in the gift shop.  Just a little reminder of my hometown made out of Alabama clay.

Zach took a trip to Denver the week after my birthday and brought back this cute moose.

These cute little birdies weren't from a trip but they are one of my favorites of the year.  A friend was making a lot of items for a handmade sale she was being a vendor at and would always post her creations to ask for suggestions.  When she posted this sweet little red bird I commented that it was adorable and she needed to make a blue one so that I could buy them both and they could be friends on my tree.  Instead she made a blue one and surprised me with both on my birthday.  I love this sweet little birdie friends!

For our 10 year anniversary my husband surprised me with a vow renewal ceremony and a trip to Charleston.  Baskets and other items made of sweetgrass are made by a lot of people from an island off the coast of Charleston so that was the ornament we decided on.  It smells so good!

On our same trip to Vegas we spent a lot of time outside the city the first weekend hiking.  We bought this cute little metal bird while hiking in Red Rock Canyon.

This last one came from our yurting trip near Zach's parents house.  It's really just a patch but I'm planning on making it an ornament by gluing it to a slice of wood.

merry christmas

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field,

keeping watch over their flock by night.

And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy,

which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes

lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly host

praising God and saying

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
And all they heard it wondered at those things where were told them by the shepherds.

Luke 2:8-18, KJV

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

~Romans 15:13

our house at christmas

advent 16-20

Day 16 we were supposed to make marshmallow sculptures but the weather was so gorgeous the boys played outside all afternoon and did their Christmas carols concert for Zach.

Day 17 we went Christmas shopping for Zach so no pictures.   Secrets :-)

Day 18 we decorated a roll of brown craft paper with Christmas stamps to use for presents.  We didn't have a lot going on that afternoon so we did our marshmallow sculptures too!

On day 19 Micah and I had his party at school.   I'm his room mom this year so I get to plan the parties.   His teacher and I voted for fun and simple.  We did some fun Christmas rotations and ate brunch.   In the rotations the kids made an ornament,  played charades,  did the gingerbread dice game  (a family fav), Christmas trivia, and made snowman snow poppers (which were a HUGE hit!)

That night we were all supposed to go caroling with church friends and to visit the covington square for their Christmas activities but Connor was diagnosed with the flu that morning so he and I stayed home for a movie night while Zach took the other two.  Connor wanted a Star Wars movie so we picked The Empire Strikes Back.  The snow made it the most Christmassy  ;-)

On Day 20 we had to split up again.   Our good friend Mike Kinnebrew was doing a Christmas concert at our church so I went there with Micah and Zach stayed home and played games with Connor and Logan.