December was a special month for us. Last year, we spent most of the month being very ill, so we were thankful for relatively good health this year. Here are some photos to give you a peek into our family life this past month.
Snow was a big feature of the second half of the month. We took time for a much needed new website photo amidst the first few flakes that began to fall.
After church on Sunday, someone had a pan that worked great as a sled!
Peter took the kids sledding a couple more times and even Grandma got in on the action!
Making a gingerbread house . . .
And cranberry muffins . . .
And “snowballs!” (NOTE: spot the finger in mouth!) We ended up with lots of plates of goodies to deliver to neighbours and friends. We tramped through the snow to deliver the nearby ones!
One evening after an early supper, we took the train into the centre of London to see the big Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square. It was a cold, but fun trip. Here are the children shivering on the train platform.
Here we are in Bristol playing a Christmas board game with both sets of grandparents. We were happily unaware that on the way home, our car would break down and we would spend a cold evening in our car while we waited for help. Thankfully we had blankets with us so we could’ve been much colder! We were finally rescued by friends about 1:30am – an adventure we won’t soon forget!
Princess Mariah in Bristol . . . (new pressie from Bristol grandparents)
Hannah and Aliyah found creative uses for their new scarves!
And it wouldn’t be Christmas without performances . . . Here is Hannah playing “Mum” in the homeschool play.
Here’s the whole group (our three girls are in the middle) singing . . . “Follow the Bethlehem Star.”
More singing . . . (Aliyah’s dressed as an inn keeper)
Even Joel got to take part in the church play. Here he is with Shepherdess Aliyah. He was beyond cute, trying hard to sing at the right times and also trying to hook the microphone with his crook!
Mariah was a very sweet angel . . .
Hannah singing with the youth choir . . .
The children received some very nice presents. Here’s Mariah with a new dress . . .
And Joel finally has a “real” microphone to sing with! (he can stop using hammers, bananas, etc)
Christmas feast
“We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!”
It’s been a fun 2 week break from school but come Monday, it’s back to the books. (Not that Christmas vacation has stopped them reading piles of books! ‘Aliyah even pulled out her math book the other day and did a page. She said, “I can’t stand not doing math for this long!”)
PS We’ve just added a family values poster on the right hand menu. I’ll just add the thumbnail here for you to click:
