Christmas Pics

So I thought I would post a couple random pictures from Christmas. I will have to get pictures from others of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. So until then here are a couple pictures of the season. Below is a nativity scene that my dear friend Emily put in my fish tank. For a couple years she has wanted to put one of my many nativity scenes in the tank and this year I said okay, but the ones I could think about putting in the tank all floated. So she made her own...

One fun activity of Christmas is making sugar cookie Christmas trees. The girls made a tree to take home and one to give to someone else. It was fun to see them decorate them and then to watch them give them to someone else. (Around the table...Rachel in red, Emily, Cara, and Katie)

The Last Couple Weeks

Well, this is an exciting evening at my house. Emily and Carmen come over with their laptops and the three of us sit watching a movie or TV show while catching up on emails, Facebook, or other computer tasks. We all love the wireless!

The Sunday after Thanksgiving I had a decorating party. Dave and Mary, friends from Dallas, OR, were here as well as Emily and Carmen. Emily has decorated with me for 3 years now. Here she is next to one of my favorite nativity sets. She thinks they look cold since they are blue, so she has placed them on a white "snow" cloth and the packing pieces are snowballs. I have to admit that the packing pieces somehow disappeared.
Here are Carmen and Mary decorating the tree. Having Carmen help this year was a great addition. Her height comes in handy when stringing lights, hanging pictures, wrapping garland, and so much more.

Dave accomplished a task that has not happened at my house before. I brought outside lights over with me in 2002 or 2004 and they have never been up. The lights hadn't even been used since Christmas of 1999 back at Camp Tapawingo. Anyway, Dave strung them up outside and they worked!

Then this past weekend was our Christmas Festival. It is our day to shop. Basically it is a bazaar held in our gym, but we like to think of it as the mall. Emily, Carmen and I were decked out with our Christmas bilas (decoration) and shopped all evening, but took a break to get dinner from the junior class. Very similar to a food court.