the Christmas festivities!
January 1, 2010For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6

After our trip to North Carolina, Brandon and I were looking forward to a few days of respite at home. But then we learned of a giant storm (the one that plagued most of America Christmas week) rolling through the Midwest. We would need to leave that day or miss out on the holidays with our families. So we hit the road!
Most of our annual Christmas traditions were postponed due to illness and nasty winter driving. We began to refer to the storm as the Blizzard of 2009. We were snowed in for a few days and Christmas Eve candlelight service at my hometown church was canceled.
When the snow and ice let up a bit, we gathered together on Saturday at my grandparents’ home.

They make THE BEST soups every Christmas Eve. Clam chowder has become a family tradition and the hamburger soup is so yummy too. It’s hard to choose, so I usually have a few spoonfuls of both!

Then we convened in the living room and tore into our gifts. Here’s Brandon with my cousin, Elliot.

We were thrilled when my sister Aubrey and her fiance Josh arrived. Their wedding will take place in just ONE WEEK!

Here we are at mom and dad’s!

Emma sure enjoyed her Christmas present too! She wore her festive red holiday bandana to chew her new bone. I love how puppy-ish she looks here.

We also enjoyed two editions of “White Elephant Gift Exchange”, one at my grandma’s and one at Brandon’s mom’s house. The white elephant involves bringing small gifts that are homemade, found, and generally not very valuable. Then each participant chooses a gift in order. Brandon spent several days creating the white elephant trophy for the exchange at his mom’s since it was our first year. The result is a colorful circus-themed work of art. He is so creative!


The glass cylinder is filled will peanuts, the white elephant’s favorite snack. His sister Rhonda, also a creative artist, sculpted this cute clay mouse to guard the door of the tent.

Isn’t he cute? I love his little worried expression.
The gift exchange was wonderful. Here I am opening my first gift choice…some lovely arrowheads and deer “scent” (pee).

Luckily, my nephew Brandon wanted the collection of hunting goods, and I ended up with this adorable pipe cleaner flower made by my niece Liz. Yay! It’s so pretty.

Brandon also opened a bag of lego candy from grandma that he LOVED!

And Brandon made my Christmas even sweeter by stealing this snowgirl that Rhonda made. She is whimsical, glittery, and even has a tiny flower in her hat!

Rhonda’s husband Wade was the lucky one who ended up with the trophy, so he will wrap it up for Christmas 2010! And there’s Rhonda documenting the fun evening in photos. You can read all about Rhonda’s creative adventures in her blog: http://rhonda4kids.blogspot.com/
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year, everyone!
xoxo
Erika
P.S. Just a couple of photos from the gingerbread house competition at Grove Park Inn in Asheville! Thanks again for sharing with us, Chris and Rayna!
































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a'tris posted the following on January 2, 2010 at 10:03 am.
Happy new year Erika! I’m so glad to see that the holidays treated you well!
Thank you again for all of your support last year. We were all inspired by your kindness and your art.
Hope this finds you feeling healthy!
-Mason