More pictures from our family Christmas.

Me: Quick! Get the camera . . . then spray her with the water.

Straight from Iraq to Heather, courtesy of Dan. If you want to send Dan cool stuff, let me know and I’ll send you his address.

The trees are apparently shy, because they haven’t sprouted yet.

More pictures of the plant progress . . .

Run, run as fast as you can
You can’t catch me, I’m the Gingerbread Man.

I decided to try making gingerbread man cookies, and they were surprisingly easy to make. I’d never worked with gingerbread before, and the dough proved to be the greatest test for my mixer so far. It actually slowed down when trying to mix in the flour. Talk about some thick dough!

By the time the cookies were done I was covered in flour and smelled like molasses. But the tiny, tasty men were worth the effort!

Read on for more pictures.

Here are some pics from my cookie making adventure. There are more pictures on our photo site (if you haven’t had enough already!).

The recipe is from Betty Crocker: Gingerbread Cutouts

Day 1: Pour water into the “Successful Soil” pellet. Then sow the seeds.

Done. I expect a tiny spruce tree and some snow flurries tomorrow afternoon.

Interesting fact about the song (from Wikipedia):

On 24 December 1906, Reginald Fessenden, a Canadian inventor, broadcast the first AM radio program, which included him playing “O Holy Night” on the violin. The carol therefore appears to have been the first piece of music to be broadcast on radio.

I don’t think it’s an accident this song has endured so long. Take time to read the lyrics this season. Or if you want to hear it in all its musical glory, our church choir director will be singing it at our Christmas program on December 14.

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of our dear Saviour's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
'Til He appear'd and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees! O, hear the angels' voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born;
O night divine, O night, O night Divine.

Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,
Here come the wise men from Orient land.
The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger;
In all our trials born to be our friend.

He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger,
Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!
Behold your King, Behold your King.

Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;
And in His name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy name.

Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever,
His power and glory evermore proclaim.
His power and glory evermore proclaim.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Roger and I ate a huge lunch and dinner with his family. Chanell and crew came in from Charleston, LaNell and the kids came from Conyers, and we all hung out at Roger’s parents for the day. We even went bowling after lunch. I took some pictures, but they are dreadfully blurry. I’ll still post them to our photo site though (eventually).

Tonight we managed to get the Christmas tree decorated. We even have a few presents underneath…

Edit: Thanksgiving pictures are now posted.