~Isaiah 9:6~
For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Then Jesus cried out and said,
“He who believes in Me, believes not in Me
but in Him who sent Me.
And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.
I have come as a light into the world,
that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.
And if anyone hears My words and does not believe,
I do not judge him;
for I did not come to judge the world
but to save the world."

~John 12:44-47~

Wishing you a blessed Christmas!

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Come, Dasher.
Come, Dancer.
Come, Prancer and Vixen.
Come, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen.
Come, Rudolph.

For when we leave cookies and milk for Santa Daddy,
we will also leave nibbles for all the reindeer Moma.

Sure, it might look like dog food, but it definitely doesn't taste like it...
Not that I know what dog food tastes like!!:):):)

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The Blessings say the blessing...

When praying, the older girls will thank God for everything He has “provided” or has “given us.” Blessings #s 3&4 are usually more detailed. B#4 thanks God for pretty dresses, daddy’s birthday, “moma letting us watch a video,” B#3’s “new bed so that I can have my bed closer to the window,” and so on.

Last night, B#3 was praying for dinner:

"...and thank you for everything you made for us. For moma making this spaghetti and for these yummy new red and green noodles. And thank you for broccoli even though I don’t like broccoli and thank you for..."

After he finished, B#5 said, “I wanna pray! I wanna pray! I wanna pray!”

So we let our food get a little colder, and, of course, we let him pray, too! He took a slightly different approach:

"Dear God, thank you for this day. Thank you for this food. Thank you for my family. Thank you for everything we made. We made lunch. We made noodles. We made our bed. In Jesus’ name, Amen."

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As promised, here they are...! I re-recorded them this morning before church.

Pause the video in the sidebar, and turn up your speaker volume!

Aren't they precious?!:):):)

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Last weekend, Blessing #2 signed up my little monkeys to perform in our church’s family Christmas program. I was a little shocked, as my troop has not exactly been the singing & performing type... at least not in a public setting! But we were on the list, so we figured something out. We didn’t get a whole lot of practice in because they weren’t too cooperative with the whole idea of that (unless it was bedtime, and then they all got very eager to practice!), but they were all pretty excited to "do the show.”

We had the program last night. They did great; we could hear their sweet voices; it was really cute.

So rather than just brag about my monkeys, here is where I put up the video I shot of the Big 5 standing on stage, singing loud & proud. The first thing I did when we got home was rush in to play it back and upload it for the blog!

But, alas, I did not record them. No, instead I recorded my lap and a bunch garble-garble of in-between-performances audience chatter.

ARGGHHH!!!!

I guess when I hit the record button, I was only taking it out of standby, and when I hit the button again to stop the recording, I was actually starting it.

ARGGHHH!!!!

So now I will have to line them up in the living room and have them perform for a slightly smaller audience (of me!) so you can hear them sing “Jesus Christ is Coming Again” to the tune of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” It won’t be the same, but it will have to do.

So frustrating.

Along with the church programs and carols and garland and bows and bells and nativities and lights and all the great stuff to start getting you in the Christmas mood (and a moma video mess-up to get me in the Scrooge mood), it has also been snowing the last few days... so it is really feeling like Christmas time.

School was on a 2-hour delay today because of the snow and ice, but did I let my kids sleep in and enjoy it? No way! Did I tell them? No way! I got them up as usual, had them dressed, fed, bundled up, and out the door at the usual time. Because (*SURPRISE!*) what better way was there to start off this new week than for me to make a trip to the post office on the busiest postal day of the entire year? To make a trip to the post office on the busiest postal day of the entire year with six tag-alongs!

The snow was actually to my advantage, I think. Maybe a few less brave souls were willing to get to the post office at opening time... and I was also able to put a couple to work as box carriers.

So into the post office we trekked... B#6 in the back seat of the stroller, the biggest box in the front seat, B#s 1&2 carrying a big box each. The Big 5 and I stomped in through snow piles, while B#6 rolled along and ate her breakfast.

We made it just in time. There were only 5 or 6 people in front of us... and in just a couple minutes there was already a dozen behind us. We made it to the counter in just a few minutes. The kids were good, but they were probably happy to see us go, as the monkeys spread out and we practically took over the place. And a stroller makes a good step-stool... because when it was my turn, I had all the monkeys trying to hang over the counter and be nosy!

Oh, and just because I thought of it, here’s a good laugh. I stopped by the grocery store yesterday to pick up a few serrano chiles for my salsa trio I was putting together (pico de gallo, salsa verde, black bean & corn) for the food after the Christmas program. I had already bought my chiles the day before but had accidentally roasted all of them when I meant to leave a couple fresh serranos for the pico de gallo.

I digress.

I go in to buy 2 serranos. They have none. So I grab a jalapeno pepper. But because it seems a little silly to make a trip to the over-priced grocery store to buy 1 jalapeno pepper, I grab a few more and get in line with my baggie of 5 jalapeno peppers. As I’m paying, I pull out the check card and ask the cashier to run it as credit.

While leaving I look at the receipt and realize I’ve just charged 62 cents.

Now that’s silly.

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We saw this four-man group on PBS last night, and they were really fun to hear and to watch. The kids were dancing in the family room! Totally a cappella... a barbershop quartet with some beatboxin' thrown in.

PAUSE THE VIDEO IN THE SIDEBAR!

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Who's there?

Overheard, Blessing #3 to B#5:

"Hey, you are really knocking on my nerves."

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